Word count: 243 words Reading time: About 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: trilby. I had a Danish boyfriend when I was young and I learned a little about the culture but not enough to recognize the […]
Word count: 756 words Reading time: About 3 minutes Being called a copycat is generally an insult. Instead, I think it’s a valuable tool for writers to try… If you’d been able to sneak into my home office last Wednesday at 6:15 am, you would have found me hunched over my computer, coping text from
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Word count: 440 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 discuss John Lehrer’s apology for plagiarism. I was a longtime fan of Jonah Lehrer. I loved his 2009 book How
Word count: 267 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 Michael Specter in the New York Times. I’ve never much liked Dr. Mehmet Oz. He seems
Oz is fifty-two and jauntily fit… 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 John Medina, author of Brain Rules. I’m the kind of person who aced English and Social Studies classes while in high school — and passed Science and Math only by dumb luck. (Or
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Word count: 232 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: lèse-majesté . I was in grade 6 when Richard Nixon was elected to office. I was too young for him to have much of
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Word count: 641 words How did you fall in love with writing? Here is my story…. I’ve sounded off many times about the difficulties I’ve had with writing – the horror of producing my honours’ thesis, my mean Scottish editor, and my struggle to stop editing while I wrote. But I don’t think I’ve ever
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Word count: 271 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 look at a new book on introverts. If you’re a writer you might want to take a look at
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Word count: 297 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 is by Adam Gopnik. I’ve long admired the writing of Adam Gopnik, and not just because he
A glint-eyed scientist with a tiny box… Read More »
Reading time: Just over 1 minute I read widely, watch movies and listen to the radio. In today’s post you’ll see an interesting piece of figurative language by John McPhee that I encountered recently. Many years ago I mentored a young student. He took off to journalism school in New York City and, when he
The figurative language of John McPhee… Read More »
