Blog - Page 119 of 291 - Publication Coach

Is it worth paying for ProWritingAid? (And is it better than Grammarly?)

Reading time: About 4 minutes Can an electronic editor like ProWritingAid help you improve your writing? Here are my thoughts after having tested the program for several years…. When I wrote about the grammar-checking software Grammarly several years ago, my post generated huge reader response (some 279 comments online) and it still regularly generates emails […]

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How to prioritize writing

Reading time: Just over 3 minutes Some people just never seem to find the time to be able to write. Here is my best advice on how to prioritize writing…. I learned some hard lessons when I wrote my first book. It took me more than a year of angst-ridden, slogging work, and while I

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The figurative language of Tom Perrotta….

Reading time: Just over 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of metaphors and similes from novelist and screenplay writer Tom Perrotta…. Tom Perrotta (pictured above) is the bestselling author of nine works of fiction, including Election and Little Children, both of which were

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What is ‘prosody’?

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: prosody…. As a voracious reader, I regularly encounter words I’ve seen many times before but that I’m still hard-pressed to define. Prosody is one such word. I

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How to ask better questions…

Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Are you good at collecting quotes from your interview subjects? Here’s a primer on how to ask better questions… As a former journalist, I’ve done more than my share of interviews, many of them with then big-name Canadian authors. I was a books editor at a metropolitan daily for

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The figurative language of Emma Straub

Reading time: Just over 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of metaphors and similes from Emma Straub…. I don’t normally enjoy books that might be described as “chick lit.” I find them too banal and predictable and stuck like

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What’s a ‘guignol’?

Reading time: About 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: guignol … When reader John Friesen sent me the word guignol, I didn’t recognize it, although I knew immediately it was French. He found it in the book book Alexander 11:

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Why you should walk more if you’re a writer

Reading time: Less than 3 minutes There are many benefits of walking for writers. Staying in shape is one of them. But becoming more creative is the biggest gain… I have a neighbour who often drove her three kids to school. I’m too polite to have told her off for this, but they lived a

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Maria Semple and her figurative language…

Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about similes and metaphors from American writer Maria Semple… American novelist and screenwriter Maria Semple (pictured above) earned her first writing credit in 1992 for the television show Beverly Hills, 90210. Later, in 1997, she

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What does ‘wilco’ mean?

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: wilco…. I was texting a good friend recently and after a brief exchange, received the following message from him: wilco. I immediately knew what he meant, of course: “Sure, I’ll

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