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: ginnel… When I read English authors, I often encounter words that are idiosyncratically British. Of course I can figure out the obvious ones: lift (elevator), boot (car […]
What’s a ‘ginnel’? Read More »
Reading time: Just over 4 minutes Do you know how to exercise during the pandemic? If you’re having a hard time writing, consider lack of exercise may be part of the problem… Is the pandemic keeping you from exercising? If your writing habit is going to heck, lack of exercise may be one of the main
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I know we’re in the middle of a pandemic right now and your writing may be suffering. That said, take a few minutes right now to review the kinds of attitudes and principles that best support a writing life. And — if you’re finding yourself heading in an unproductive direction right now — these tips
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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: infanta… When I stumbled across the word infanta, I knew I’d seen it before (and probably looked up its meaning) but I couldn’t recall it. I encountered
What is an ‘infanta’? Read More »
Reading time: Just over 4 minutes Has your productivity taken a nose-dive during the pandemic? Mine sure has! Here’s why we should all STOP trying to be productive during the pandemic… Before you read today’s post, can I ask you to take 30 seconds to complete a one-question survey? I’m going to be offering no-charge
Stop trying to be productive during the pandemic Read More »
Whenever I teach an in-person writing workshop, I almost always ask participants to calculate how they divide up their writing time. I ask them to imagine writing as something that takes place in three stages: Step 1: Preparing to write – and by this, I mean interviewing, researching, mindmapping and planning. Step 2: Writing –
How to spend the right amount of time researching 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: nictitating… My reading last week once again proved the limits of a liberal-arts-oriented education. I encountered the fascinating word nictitating in the (otherwise forgettable) murder mystery Still
What does ‘nictitating’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: 11 minutes (but easily skimmable) When I was a child I learned that I could make time pass more quickly by reading. Here are more than 52 novels to read during the pandemic… I’ve kept a book diary for the last 25 years. The list comes in handy whenever I want to buy
52 novels to read during the pandemic Read More »
Just about everyone in the world is working from home (except for health care workers, grocery clerks and cleaners) right now. As a result, more people than ever before are wondering how to make themselves more effective. Particularly when their attention is pulled in a multitude of directions (kids, household chores, job-related work and monitoring
How NOT to stretch a little bit of work so it takes up the whole day 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: spraddling…. Something about the pandemic is causing me to read more murder mysteries than usual. I’m not sure why except perhaps that I find reading such books
What does ‘spraddling’ mean? Read More »
