Word count: 287 words Reading time: Just over 1 minute A great way to improve your writing skills is to emulate the work of others. That’s why, every week, I present a sentence that I’d happily imitate. Today’s comes from Jonah Lehrer. I know. It’s not de rigueur to like […]
The world is full of natural outsiders… Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. Today’s comes from New Yorker movie reviewer Anthony Lane. I have never seen a single James Bond film, or any of the Die Hard franchise. (By the way, I’m not
The figurative language of Anthony Lane… Read More »
Word count: 209 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: simony. Although Christine Pountney’s writing has been described by the Toronto Star as: “confident, precise and readable,” I
Word count: 654 words Reading time: Less than 3 minutes You probably learned the difference between past, present and future in preschool. But how hard do you think about tense when you’re writing? Perhaps, not hard enough…. I am fascinated by tense. Not becoming tense, of course. Just tense. What
Are you tense over your verbs? Read More »
Word count: 353 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 focus on a remembrance of Nora Ephron. When my mother died in 2005, I
About Norah Ephron’s final act… Read More »
Word count: 377 words Reading time: Just over 1 minute A great way to improve your writing skills is to emulate the work of others. That’s why, every week, I present a sentence that I’d happily imitate. Today’s comes from Erin Morgenstern. I heard about the book The Night Circus when
A cage of black silk Read More »
Reading time: Just over 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. Today’s comes from novelist Michael Chabon. The first Michael Chabon book I failed to read was The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay. It was a book club assignment. But
The figurative language of Michael Chabon… Read More »
Word count: 242 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: autodidact. Gun stories sadden me. Gun stories that occur on a university campus seem even more deplorable. New
What’s an autodidact? Read More »
Word count: 767 words Reading time: About 3 minutes When I use the phrase “expressing yourself,” I’m making a pun. Today’s column is about my recent Battle Royale with American Express…. I’ve been fighting a guerrilla war with American Express since last November. On the theory that my experience might
Do you have difficulty expressing yourself? Read More »
Word count: 329 words Reading time: About 1.5 minutes 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 write about a blog post that warned self-published authors about troubles with Amazon. I was
Blog rings alarm bell for self-published authors Read More »
