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 Grammarly blog post about the Oxford comma… Where do you stand on the Oxford comma? If […]
Do you use the Oxford comma? Read More »
Reading time: Just over 1 minute How long should you make blog posts? The answer might surprise you. I know it shocked me… My webmaster keeps telling me I should write longer posts. “That’s what Google wants,” he says. I’ve accommodated him by agreeing to write one super-long post (a close
What’s the best length for a blog post? Read More »
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 from novelist Elizabeth Hay… As a longtime fan of the Canadian novelist Elizabeth Hay, pictured above, I was delighted to learn this summer that
The figurative language of Elizabeth Hay 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: hypotaxis. I’ve watched the upcoming American election with more than my usual interest (I have an undergrad degree in political science), as a
What’s ‘hypotaxis’? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes “That’s bad writing” is a phrase I hear a lot, whether applied to a book, magazine article or blog post. But what, specifically, makes writing “bad” and what can we do about it? When I recommended the Gregory Maguire novel, Wicked, to a neighbour of
‘Bad writing’ — what deserves that label? Read More »
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 blog post about creativity based on the thoughts of psychologist Jerome Bruner… Harvard psychologist Jerome
Jerome Bruner’s essential conditions of creativity Read More »
Reading time: Just over 1 minute If you want to make your web searches more fruitful and more effective, consider downloading a free app called OneTab for your Chrome browser…. I’m a fan of writer and tech expert Clive Thompson, pictured above. You may have seen a link to one of
How to clean up your digital life 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 a series of metaphors from Lauren Groff… Lauren Groff is a New York-born novelist who now lives in Gainesville, Florida. Her most recent book, Fates and Furies, won the 2015 American
The figurative language of Lauren Groff 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: pullulated. I may not know the precise meaning of a word but I seldom meet one I have never heard or seen before. Hence
What does ‘pullulated’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Writing something stupid makes sense when the alternative is simply staring at a blank computer screen… When I was a teenager, I used to babysit a girl I’ll call Michelle. She lived directly across the street from me and she was famous in our
Why it’s better to write than to BE right Read More »
