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 on product naming written by Neal Gabler… That I read the article headlined “The Weird Science […]
What’s in a (product) name? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute I speak convincingly and passionately. But I’ve recently learned a secret to giving better presentations thanks to nervousness of a client… In a couple of weeks I’m going to be doing three important workshops for a client. They have 60 senior people who need to become better writers and I’m going
Practicing til you can’t get it wrong 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 featuring US senator Bernie Sanders. I’m no expert on American politics but I read the New Yorker weekly and the New York Times (online) daily. As a result, I pick
As if he were conducting electricity… 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: hoyden. I read the novel Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger when I was about 13-years-old. I enjoyed it moderately, as I recall, although I remember being uncertain
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Change can be both exciting and difficult. I confess I’ve held both feelings as I’ve worked on my website redesign… When I was features editor at a large metropolitan daily newspaper — this was in my previous life — I had one experience I will never forget. It was about
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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 an article on how to pay attention, published in the online magazine Re-Form. I’m constantly struck by how often writers remain convinced
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Reading time: Just over one minute So many people massacre their PowerPoint presentations. Here are three tips to teach you how to punch up PowerPoint… Do you ever use PowerPoint? I find the vast majority of PowerPoint presentations are far too dull — snooze-fests, seemingly designed to lull the audience into somnolence rather than awaken them with
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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 simile from Eudora Welty…. Eudora Welty (1909—2001) was a prolific writer from the American South who wrote in many different genres, including novels, short stories, speeches and essays. She is most famous for
The figurative language of Eudora Welty… 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: threnody. I read Anne-Marie MacDonald’s landmark novel, Fall on Your Knees, back in 1997, the year in which it was published. Set largely in a Nova Scotia coal mining
What is a threnody? Read More »
Reading time: Just over 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 containing a description of Jerry Seinfeld’s writing strategy… Are you the kind of writer who procrastinates? A lot? Let me share with you
Jerry Seinfeld’s writing strategy Read More »
