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: brachiated…. The word brachiated is an interesting one. I recently encountered it in Elizabeth McCracken’s amusing novel, Bowlaway. Here is how she used it: The Salford Devil […]
What does ‘brachiated’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: About 3 minutes Are you doing enough stuff that is purposeless, fun and pleasurable? If not, perhaps you need to add more play to your life… I’ve always disliked playing cards and most games. Monopoly? Boring and it takes too long. Candyland? I played way too many rounds of that when my triplets
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I recently read a blog post about the alleged benefits of writing a rough draft by hand. Too bad the author, Bryn Donovan, hasn’t consulted any of the science! If you’d like to see an interesting video about the scientific benefits of writing with a keyboard, please check out a 10-minute video by Clive Thompson,
When you shouldn’t write by hand 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: perfidious…. I confess there are words I’ve heard multiple times and I still don’t know exactly what they mean. Back in the days when I had to
What does the word ‘perfidious’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes In view of last week’s death of American Supreme Court associate justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, I am re-running a column I wrote in 2017 focusing on some of her writing advice…. I have long admired the feistiness, clear writing style and commitment to hard work displayed by Ruth Bader
Writing advice from the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg Read More »
People in the Get It Done group are sometimes surprised when I suggest they plan NOT to write on certain days. Why do I make this counterintuitive suggestion? Basically, this idea is about common sense. On some days, we simply have too much else going on in our lives. Perhaps you are leading a workshop
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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: glossolalic… As a former high school debater and debate coach, I don’t think I’ve ever before encountered debating as an event in a novel. Or, indeed, a
What does ‘glossolalic’ mean Read More »
Reading time: About 5 minutes Here are my 10 favourite articles or posts from last month, focusing on the most useful, helpful and healthful pieces for writers. Covid, fires, floods, police violence, demonstrations, elections… What’s next? Swarming locusts? If you want a break from all the horror, check out 10 blog posts I’ve custom-picked for
PubCoach top 10: September 2020 Read More »
Many clients tell me — with something approaching shame in their voices — that they have no writing talent. Usually, they are surprised when I tell them it doesn’t matter. While talent makes life easier, it doesn’t eliminate the need for hard work. And many people with talent can’t be bothered doing the hard work.
Do you have a growth mindset? 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 several similes from American journalist Farhad Manjoo… Don’t panic or anything, but machines are learning how to write. New artificial intelligence software, called GPT-3, has been created by an artificial-intelligence research lab
The figurative language of Farhad Manjoo…. Read More »
