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: lambent. I don’t typically read autobiographies written by TV performers, but I made an exception for Kate Mulgrew, one of the stars of […]
What does the word ‘lambent’ mean? 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 an blog post written by Ann Betz… You may know me as someone who’s particularly keen on
Why metaphors are lint catchers for the brain Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute You’ve undoubtedly heard the expression “a photo is worth thousand words.” No where is that more true than when it comes to refugee photos… The heartbreaking photos of a 3-year-old drowned Syrian boy, Alan Kurdi, have finally woken up the world to the Syrian refugee
Worth a thousand words… 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 and similes from Hector Tobar… Over my summer holidays I read the novel The Barbarian Nurseries by Hector Tobar, a Los Angeles-based writer and journalist. The story
The figurative language of Hector Tobar… 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: kerfuffe… I read the novel Death in Summer — a sort of a mystery with more emphasis on human emotion rather than plot
What’s the origin of the word kerfuffle? Read More »
Reading time: Just over 3 minutes You may hate being predictable but did you know there are typical sticking points for writers? And my guess is that you’re facing more than one of them… I’ve spent years trying to get my financial books to my bookkeeper earlier than January 31. Mostly,
Six sticking points for writers and how to fix them 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 an article on brevity in writing that appeared recently in the Prospero blog… From 1992 until 1999 The Economist published a
Lauding brevity in writing Read More »
Reading time: Just over 1 minute Have you ever had to be involved with a corporate video? Here are five suggestions that will help you achieve a better result… I worked at a videotaping session last week — not for anything remotely Hollywood-ish or even corporate — but instead for a
Making a better corporate video 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 two metaphors from Julian Barnes. The best book I read this summer was a true but fictionalized account of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (creator of Sherlock Holmes) and
The figurative language of Julian Barnes… 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: halcyon. I had never known the shameful story of the Hungarian Gold Train until I read Ayelet Waldman’s striking 2014 novel, Love and
What’s the root of the word halcyon? Read More »
