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: aldehydic… The novel The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro was a book I shouldn’t have bothered to finish. The story — about […]
What does aldehydic mean? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes “Fail” is one of the most dreaded four-letter words. But it shouldn’t be! Here’s why you should overcome the fear of writing failure… When I worked in daily newspapers, in the early 1980s, I wrote and edited my stories on a computer. This was
Why we should WANT to fail as writers 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 by Seth Godin… I don’t check Seth Godin’s blog every day. But when I
Seth Godin searches for metaphor Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute ‘Avoid jargon,’ corporate writers are often told. My advice regarding jargon is a lot more specific than that… Does jargon ever have a place in corporate communications? You might be surprised to hear me answer ‘yes.’ But let me quickly define exactly what I
What’s the use of jargon? 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 Steven Galloway…. I read the Steven Galloway novel The Cellist of Sarajavo in 2013 and found it slow going. Set in Bosnia, in the 1990s,
The figurative language of Steven Galloway… Read More »
Reading time: Just over 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: tycoon. Right now I’m reading the non-fiction book, In the Kingdom of Ice by Hampton Sides. (Thanks so much to the reader who recommended it.) It tells
What’s the origin of the word ‘tycoon’? 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 New York Times article written by Marilyn Katzman… I admit it: Jargon makes me crazy.
Are you baffled by buzzwords? Read More »
Reading time: Just over 1 minute Email is fast and efficient, but it also comes with risks. If you’re a smart communicator, you’ll be wary of the shortcomings of email… If you work in communications, email is likely your superhighway. You use it to connect with clients, coworkers, media outlets
Beware of the shortcomings of email 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 simile from Martin Cruz Smith… I read, a lot — a minimum of 52 books each year. (See my latest summary here.) That’s why I find it
The figurative language of Martin Cruz Smith… Read More »
Reading time: Less than one 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: celerity… While on holiday last weekend I was reading a novel that I’d describe as chic lit meets the Da Vinci Code. Not
What does celerity mean? Read More »
