Reading time: Less than 1 minute When you’re stressed or overwhelmed or disorganized — be smart and concentrate on one action: simply taking one step forward… I am almost neurotically well organized. But some days my organization doesn’t lead to my getting very much done. I get distracted by email. A client calls with a major […]
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Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about similes and metaphors from writer Ian McEwan’s new novel, Nutshell. As a longtime fan of British writer Ian McEwan (pictured above), I am always cheered when he produces a new book and I
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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: chthonic… When I read the novel Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff, I was puzzled to encounter a word that I not only didn’t know but that seemed absurdly impossible
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Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Do you ever long to engage in a couple of days of binge writing? If that kind of practice holds any appeal for you, read on to learn why you should change your mind… Right now my husband and I are binge-watching the period TV show The Americans. Set
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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 and Youtube video about bookmobiles… I grew up in a big family — I was the eldest of
Reading time: Less than 2 minutes If you want to look smart in meetings here is some practical advice that will turn you into a meeting superstar… I was going to being this post with the line: Have you ever attended a bad meeting? But, d’uh, of course you have! Bad meetings outnumber good ones
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Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about figurative language from novelist Emma Donoghue… Born in Dublin, Emma Donoghue (pictured above) is an award-winning writer now living in Canada. Like thousands of other readers, I was impressed with her gripping novel Room,
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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: parvenu. I learned the word parvenu as a child. My father was extraordinarily pompous and used it to describe people he didn’t like: wealthy people with no class
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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 you’re a writer or copy
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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 to 2,000 words as possible) per
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