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: effulgent… I can no longer remember how I discovered the heartbreaking New York Magazine story “The Day I started Lying to Ruth,” written
What does ‘effulgent’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Grammarly is a free app with a paid-for premium option. Is it worth spending the money for the more expensive option? One of my clients has a subscription to the grammar-checker service Grammarly. The basic function offered by Grammarly — identifying most spelling and grammar errors — is
Is it worth paying for Grammarly? Read More »
Reading time: about 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 BBC podcast called Soul Music… I worry that I’m veering ever-so-slightly off topic in today’s blog. The podcast
Could soul music inspire your writing? 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 metaphors relating to time… I just about gave up on the podcast S-Town, produced by the same team who brings us This American Life and Serial. Initially, the
The figurative language of time… 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 phrase: etymological fallicist… As a result of my own recent foray into video —you can see my work here — I’ve started watching more Internet videos. No cat
What’s an ‘etymological fallicist’? Read More »
Reading time: Just over 5 minutes How can you improve your writing? Here are 33 lessons I’ve learned over the past 33 years…. I accepted a job as a senior editor at a metropolitan daily newspaper some 33 years ago. Little did the company understand I knew almost nothing about
33 writing lessons from 33 years of writing… 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 Guardian article written about novelist Wyl Menmuir… I had never before heard of UK writer Wyl Menmuir, although I
Becoming a more productive writer Read More »
Reading time: Less than 2 minutes 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 British writer Claire Fuller… I recently finished the exquisitely written novel Swimming Lessons by British writer Claire Fuller. To be fair, I
The figurative language of Claire Fuller… 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: anomie… Steven Heighton is a Canadian novelist, short story writer and poet. I’ve never read any of his books — the most famous of
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Ignoring advice may seem like a misguided idea, but sometimes it makes sense to do that. Here’s a description of when to go against what you’ve been told… After my blog post about an easy productivity hack last week, I received an email from a
When ignoring advice makes sense Read More »
