Word count: 726 words Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Have you ever had your well-made plans go completely and thoroughly wrong? Here’s what happened to me, recently… My husband and I spent a week in the Okanagan, last month, in the Canadian equivalent of California’s Napa Valley. It has rolling hills. Lots of vineyards. […]
Welcome to my holiday nightmare Read More »
Word count: 447 words 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 writers. Today I discuss an article written by Cody Walker. If you’ve read my blog for awhile, you will have noticed that
Working on captions will make you a better writer Read More »
Word count: 263 words Reading time: About 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.Today’s comes from Kate Southwood. As someone who lives in the Pacific Coast earthquake zone, who has picked up debris from
A delicate blue that deepens quickly… 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 English novelist Jeanette Winterson. I’ve heard Jeanette Winterson interviewed on the radio several times. She’s so engaging that each interview has inspired me to pick up one of her books. First, I
The figurative language of Jeanette Winterson… Read More »
Word count: 259 words Reading time: About 1 minute Here is some important information for people who follow my blog using an RSS reader. Normally, I give you my “word-of-the-week” on Wednesdays. Today, however, is an urgent note for anyone who reads my blog using an RSS reader. As you may know, Google Reader is
Say goodbye to Google as your RSS reader Read More »
Word count: 786 words Reading time: About 3 minutes Looking for some summer book suggestions? I’m on track for reaching my year-end goal of reading 52 books and here is my semi-annual accounting that may give you some of your own reading ideas. My habit is to post for you the names of ALL the
Recommended books: Summer 2013 Read More »
Word count: 233 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 provide a link to an article by Tim Kreider. When I first read an article written by Tim Kreider,
How much we don’t know… Read More »
Word count: 271 words Reading time: About 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 Herman Koch. The novel, The Dinner, by Herman Koch (pictured here) earns 3.5 stars on Amazon.
You have voids and then you have voids… Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. Today’s comes from Walter Kirn in the New Yorker. I cannot remember where I first read about “Clark Rockefeller”. Perhaps it was in Vanity Fair. That seems the right place to have learned about a villain
The figurative language of Walker Kirn… Read More »
Word count: 228 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: importunate. I’d never have predicted I’d discover a story on mushrooms — used as a packing material, replacing Styrofoam of all things —
What does importunate mean? Read More »
