Reading time: About 3 minutes Do you have enough sentence length variation in what you write? The biggest problem? Most people don’t use nearly enough very short sentences. Perhaps it’s time to consider the age-old question: does length really matter? I’m talking about writing, and sentence length of course. Let’s […]
Are your sentences the right length? 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 writers. Today I discuss the blog Rejected and Alone: A Writer’s Life by Jon Stark….. Jon Stark is not as negative
Rejected and alone…really? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute A great way to improve your writing is to emulate the work of others. That’s why, every week, I present a sentence that I’d happily imitate. I comment today on a sentence written by Jeremy Denk. Is it because my son is studying to
A deep nostalgia for closets… Read More »
Reading time: Just over 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a metaphor by B.C. writer Tom Hawthorne. I used to work with Tom Hawthorne, an award-winning freelance journalist who was recently named Harvey Southam guest lecturer
The figurative language of Tom Hawthorn… 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: scalawag. I’m the eldest of five children and, when I was a youngster, my parents used to call all of us kids
What does scalawag mean? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes It took a less than perfect vacation to remind me of the value of stories…. As vacations go, it was more like a prison sentence. Time: seven days. My husband Eric and I had long planned an October trip to Washington, DC. He’d never
What I learned from my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad vacation Read More »
Reading time: About 3 minutes It’s no trying to overcome fear of writing. Trust me. I’ve dealt with a bellyful of fear in my lifetime… Here’s the most dangerous thing I’ve ever done: When I was about 25, I went on a spur-of-the-moment hiking trip with an athletic friend who
How to overcome fear of writing 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 writers. Today I discuss a New York Times Opinionator column by Carol Kaufmann. I love to walk while I write. But
Why do we try to write while held hostage… Read More »
Reading time: Just over 1 minute A great way to improve your writing is to emulate the work of others. That’s why, every week, I present a sentence that I’d happily imitate. I comment today on a sentence written by Hendrik Hertzberg I read the New Yorker enthusiastically but unreliably. So,
Improbable and inexorable Read More »
Reading time: Just over 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a metaphorical sentence by James Wolcott. American journalist James Wolcott produces elaborate, labyrinthine sentences, seeping with metaphors. The cultural critic for Vanity Fair magazine and a contributing
The figurative language of James Wolcott… Read More »
