Reading time: About 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. Today’s comes from Cheryl Strayed, author of the memoir, Wild. I’d heard nothing but rave reviews about Wild by Cheryl Strayed. “I couldn’t put it down,” said one friend. “How I […]
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Word count: 254 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: desiderata I know I’m dating myself when I admit this, but I had an onionskin copy of the prose poem,
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Word count: 762 words Reading time: About 3 minutes Do you need to undaunt yourself over your writing? Here are three tips I can offer from the one task that has always daunted me: bookkeeping! While I’m no longer a procrastinating writer, I am a procrastinating bookkeeper. But I’ve just
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Word count: 295 words Reading time: About 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 find an interesting piece on the problem of too much attention. I usually work with
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Word count: 289 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 Rebecca Mead via The New Yorker. I’m a big believer
The lighting was persuasively unflattering… 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 Emily Nussbaum, via the New Yorker. My son and I spent many happy hours watching The West Wing. I loved that talky, realistic, dramatic show, about one of
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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
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
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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
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
Oz is fifty-two and jauntily fit… Read More »
