Reading time: Less than 1 minute This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world to find websites, books and articles to help other writers. Today I discuss a CBC blog post about whether algorithms help writing… When listening to one of my regular podcasts, the one for the […]
Can algorithms help writing? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute I write today about some figurative language from noted Canadian writer, and two-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, Terry Fallis…. I discovered writer Terry Fallis (pictured above) in 2009, shortly after he had won his first Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour for his very funny novel
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Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary, and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: skeevy…. I choose today’s word, skeevy, not because I didn’t know what it meant but because I wanted to take the chance to explore its etymology. I
What does the word ‘skeevy’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute I post every Tuesday with my thoughts about writing. But, today, I’m asking you to tell me what’s on YOUR mind. I’m working to plan future articles and resources, and I would love to know the following: What’s one of the writing challenges you’re struggling with the most? Just
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Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of similes from Celeste Ng…. I was gobsmacked by the first novel, Everything I Never Told You written by Celeste Ng. The story of a Chinese American family living
More figurative language from Celeste Ng…. Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: fulminating…. When I read the novel Where’d You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple, I didn’t expect to find my word of the week. I was grateful enough
What does ‘fulminating’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about some similes and metaphors from John Green…. I first heard about John Green (pictured above) about eight years ago, when my kids were still teenagers. He was famous to them as
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Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: inchoate…. I’ve long held a particular fondness for the adjective inchoate. Perhaps it’s the idiosyncratic pronunciation that charms me — the CH sound is not soft, as in
What does ‘inchoate’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: About 3 minutes Perhaps your writing — or writing practice — seems inadequate to you? Here are some ideas about how to get from where you are to where you want to be…. I was almost 30 years old when I first visited the UK. To this day, I still remember standing on
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Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of similes from novelist Claire Messud…. American novelist and creative writing professor Claire Messud (pictured above) is best known for her novels The Emperor’s Children (2006) and The Woman Upstairs (2013). The first
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