Word count: 194 words Reading time: Less than 1 minute A great way to improve your writing is to emulate the work of others. Here is a sentence I read recently that I’d happily imitate. This one offers a how-to lesson on dealing with cliches. I always enjoying seeing cliches exploded — either by being […]
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Reading time: About 2 minutes I read widely, watch movies and listen to the radio. Here, catch an interesting piece of figurative language I’ve encountered recently. Today’s choice comes from the Obama 2012 speech that wrapped up the election. I had no vote in this week’s US presidential election. I’m a Canadian. But I’m a
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Word count: 354 words Reading time: About 1.5 minutes If you increase your vocabulary you’ll not only help your reading, you’ll also make your writing more precise. Here is my word of the week: anodyne. I’m still reading Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres and I continue to find words that stump me. In
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Word count: 750 words Reading time: About 3 minutes It’s hard to feel much joy when you’re reading really bad writing. But I have an idea that might just help turn your frown upside down… The managing editor couldn’t have been any nastier. “We’ve had a bomb threat,” he said in an email to the
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Word count: 371 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 look at the book English Prepositional Idioms. My father was a bit of a crank. Eccentric, bull-headed and verbose, he
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Reading time: Just over 1 minute A great way to improve your writing skills is to emulate the work of others. Here is a sentence by David Sedaris I read recently that I’d happily imitate. I used to host a book club and I’ll never forget the meeting about eight years ago at which one
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Reading time: Less than 1 minute I read widely, watch movies and listen to the radio. Here, catch an interesting piece of figurative language I’ve encountered recently, which comes from a New Yorker article describing Steinway Hall. I remember exploring Steinway Hall’s quiet corridors about two years ago, when my husband, son and I were
Steinway Hall has the ponderous stillness of a funeral home Read More »
Word count: 290 words Reading time: Just over 1 minute If you increase your vocabulary you’ll not only help your reading, you’ll also make your writing more precise. Today, my word of the week is sessile. I like to think I have a large vocabulary but there’s one part of my brain that’s so empty
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Word count: 731 words Reading time: About 3 minutes Attention Deficit Disorder doesn’t just affect school children. It can also have an impact on writers. Read on to learn more…. Last week I was visiting a friend who lives in downtown Vancouver. We were sitting in her living room, chatting, and I suddenly noticed it was
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Word count: 275 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 a website focusing on stories. I’m a big believer in the power of stories. I can see the
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