Reading time: Less than 2 minutes If you want to ask me something or share your opinion of what I’m writing about, here’s a step-by-step guide for how to comment on my blog… Readers sometimes tell me they’re unable to comment on my blog. I’ve spoken to my webmaster about this and he assures me […]
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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 metaphor from Nathan Heller. I love San Francisco. My husband and I went there for our honeymoon and returned for our 10th wedding anniversary. (The remarkable aspect of that, was that we left 5-year-old
The figurative language of Nathan Heller…. 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: cagoule. I seldom encounter words that offer me terra incognita. But a word in the very fine novel, Landing Gear, by Kate Pullinger, took me into just such a
Reading time: About 3 minutes My husband and I recently returned from a three-week trip to Europe. Here is part 3 of a three-part series on each of the cities we visited. Today I focus on Vienna with a piece on the importance of accepting help from others. (Part 1, on Amsterdam, and part 2 on Prague are both
Do you let others help you (write)? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 2 minutes 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 terrific new book written by Phyllis Rose… Anyone who knows me is aware that my nose is frequently in a text of one
Adventures in extreme reading Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute Kris Bulcroft doesn’t look as harsh as her sculpture suggests. But she doesn’t behave with the authority of a really smart leader either… Here’s a basic rule about leadership: If you have thin skin, stay out of the business. Kris Bulcroft, president and vice-chancellor of Capilano University in North Vancouver, doesn’t
A portrait crossed with a ventriloquist’s dummy Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about an effective — and amusing — metaphor from Janet Maslin. I pay $3.82 per week for a digital subscription to the New York Times. To me, it’s worth every penny for ease
The figurative language of Janet Maslin… 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: marmoreal. I’ve never read anything by William S. Burroughs, not even Naked Lunch (1959), but when flipping through a stack of my beloved New Yorkers, just before handing them
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Reading time: About 2 minutes My husband and I recently returned from a three-week trip to Europe. Here is part 2 of a three-part series on each of the cities we visited. Today I focus on Prague with a piece on the importance of separating writing and editing. (Part 1, on Amsterdam, is still available for those who
Writing advice from the Czech president 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 headlined, “A Tiny Good Deed Can Go a Long Way”…. The article I want to discuss today — A Tiny Good
The surprising results of tiny good deeds… Read More »
