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 similes and metaphors from Michael Crummy…. Michael Crummy was born in Buchans, a mining town in the interior of Newfoundland — “as far from the salt water as you can […]
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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: mauzy… When I travel, I like to read a book set in the place I’m travelling to. My husband and I spent two weeks in Newfoundland this summer
What does ‘mauzy’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: Just over 3 minutes Most of us know it’s a good idea to show compassion to others but how often do we consider showing ourselves some simple self-compassion? Writers are prone to self-criticism. We tend to embrace directives such as, “Our children can achieve great things when we set high expectations for them.” (Jeb
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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 about facing the blank page….. If you give me a choice between reading a blog post or watching a
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Reading time: Just over 1 minute Do you try to read articles or blog posts as soon as you see them? With an app called Pocket you can safely put them aside until a time that’s more convenient for you. Nothing thrills me more than being able to use some sort of technology. What do
Put it in your pocket 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 some figurative language from Jill Lepore… I am so profoundly tired of the American election that when I rediscovered a note I’d written to myself about it back in August, I sighed. Isn’t it
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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: cruft… My word-of-the-week comes from my good friend Eve Johnson. She stumbled across it twice in one day. The word, cruft, was new to me as well. It means
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Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Predicting what might go wrong is not a dark art — it’s an essential skill for anyone who wants to pursue a career as a writer… My husband considers me to be an awfulizer. By this he means a person who expects the worst to happen. For example, if
How to stop yourself from being a quitter 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 written by Cal Newport… I discovered Cal Newport (pictured above) five or six years ago via a post headlined something like:
Beware of attention residue when you’re writing Read More »
Reading time: Just over 1 minute It’s easy to spend your time processing email. The real challenge is to do the important work. Here’s how… Did you do anything important today? Note that I’m not asking whether you completed your “to do” list. Nor am I asking how many meetings you attended. Nor am I
Do the important work first Read More »
