Word count: 868 words Reading time: About 3 minutes Does the idea of writing a book seem impossibly delicious and ridiculously improbable? I’m here to tell you, you can do it! You can learn how to write a book, if you do it with me. When I first dreamed of writing a book, I had […]
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Word count: 170 words 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 writers. Today I discuss a series of photos of writers’ hands commissioned by Wofford College. Wofford College in South Carolina has done
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Word count: 332 words 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 sentence written by English author Neil Gaiman. I loved the 2009 novel Coraline by Neil Gaiman
The moon was a thin white smile… 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 an image from novelist Claire Messud. The novel The Emperor’s Children published in 2006 and written by Claire Messud was one of my favourite books of the last five years. Smartly written
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Word count: 272 words 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: solipsist… I must have read the word solipsist dozens — if not hundreds — of times over the last 20 years. And I’ve never
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Word count: 703 words Reading time: Less than 3 minutes We all need friends. Writers, perhaps, need them more than most. Read on to learn how you can join my writing community, at no charge… I’m lucky enough to have a group of bright and vigorous writing companions who are as interested in writing and
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Word count: 300 words 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 an article in the Huffington Post by Ella Frances Sanders….. My son learned the word schadenfreude (joy in
Finding the perfect word… Read More »
Word count: 229 words 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 write today about one produced by Canadian novelist Don Gillmor. I’ve been a longtime believer in the magic
A fountain of money that shot out of the ground… 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 a couple of very funny metaphors about actor Mandy Patinkin. I’ve been a Mandy Patinkin fan for almost 20 years. I first saw the actor on the TV show Chicago Hope but
Figurative language about Mandy Patinkin… Read More »
Word count: 237 words 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: potemkin. If you’d asked me about the meaning of the word potemkin, three weeks ago, all I’d have been able to tell you
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