I am not writing a regular blog post today as it is Canada Day, marking the country’s 154th birthday. That said, Canada has many reparations to make to the Indigenous people who lived here first, for countless generations. I was recently deeply saddened to learn of the 215 Indigenous children whose bodies were discovered on […]
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: roshambo… A charming novel by Sameer Pandya — a creative writing and Asian American literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara — gives me my word of
What does ‘roshambo’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: About 5 mins (faster if scanning) Here are my 10 favourite articles or posts from last month, focusing on the most useful, helpful and entertaining pieces for writers. I love blue, cloudless skies, but I don’t much like heat, unless I can park myself beside a big pool — under an umbrella for
PubCoach top 10: June 2021* Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of similes and metaphors by Sameer Pandya…. A professor of creative writing and Asian American literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Sameer Pandya is also the author of
The figurative language of Sameer Pandya 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: synecdoche… When I read Rumaan Alam’s latest novel Leave the World Behind, the word synecdoche, rang a dim bell in my mind, although I couldn’t remember what it
What does synecdoche mean? Read More »
Reading time: About 5 mins. Looking for some recommended books in time for summer reading? Here’s my semi-annual roundup of books I’ve read this year. I aim to read 52 books every 12 months, and my habit is to post a complete list of the names of them for you, in early summer and December. Here is
Recommended books: summer 2021 Read More »
Reading time: About 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 Jean Kyoung Frazier… I like reading debut novels. While they are usually flawed, they often spark with little shards of brightness. Such is the case with Jean
The figurative language of Jean Kyoung Frazier… Read More »
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: susurrus. I love onomatopoeia which occurs when words phonetically imitate, resemble or suggest the source of the sound that they describe. Some of these words are related to water: splash, spray and sprinkle. Others recall the human voice: giggle, growl and grunt. Still
What does the word ‘susurrus’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: About 5 minutes If you’re feeling overwhelmed right now, perhaps the concept of project management software for writers has crossed your mind. Be very careful before you take the step of buying something… Writers sometimes ask me to recommend project management software. I must confess, I’ve never used it myself, but I recently
The best project management software for writers Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of similes and metaphors from Rumaan Alam…. An American writer of Bangladeshi origin, Rumaan Alam, studied writing at Oberlin College and currently lives in New York. He is the author
The figurative language of Rumaan Alam…. Read More »
