Reading time: About 1 minute I like to share similes and metaphors I encounter in my reading. I write today about the figurative language of Julian Barnes…. I read Julian Barnes’ latest novel, The Only Story, earlier this year. While I enjoyed the beginning, I can’t say the book was up …
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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: uxorious…. When I encountered the word uxorious in Patricia Hampl’s very fine non-fiction book The Art of the Wasted Day, I had …
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Reading time: About 4 minutes Do you think you need to be happy or inspired to write? You have it exactly backwards! Instead, mood follows action…. Have you ever tried to write and found yourself unable to do it? My hunch is that you were waiting to feel more inspired. …
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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 New York Times article addressing the question ‘how much can writers earn’? It’s a great time …
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Viewing time: 4 min. 4 sec. The Write Question is a weekly video podcast about writing that I started in 2017 and that ran, more or less weekly, until April 2022. This is a republication of issue #47, about how mindmapping books helps writers. The post first ran on Feb. …
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Reading time: About 2 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of arresting images from American writer Amor Towles…. I love receiving books — they are my favourite gift in the world. Particularly if the giver …
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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: hajj…. Some writers are clearly well educated and deeply literate and when I picked up Patricia Hampl’s book The Art of the …
Reading time: About 4 minutes Scientists now believe there are excellent reasons you should doodle. Don’t view doodling as dilly-dallying or time-wasting… My mother became an artist at the age of 65. She took up chalk pastels and almost immediately started producing beautiful, saleable work. That’s a photo of one …
Can’t write? Can’t draw? Here’s why you should doodle Read More »
Viewing time: 4 min. 42 sec. The Write Question is a weekly video podcast about writing that I started in 2017 and that ran, more or less weekly, until April 2022. This is a republication of issue #46, about why you should start your stories in medias res. The post first …
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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 a series of similes from young adult author Vicki Grant…. I don’t typically read a lot of young adult fiction. I make a happy exception for …
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