Reading time: About 1 minute This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world for material to help other writers. Today I discuss a blog post about what to do when you feel like quitting. Do you ever feel like quitting? Maybe you have too many responsibilities? Perhaps you’ve […]
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Viewing time: 3 mins 38 secs The Write Question is a weekly video podcast about writing that I started in 2017 and that ran, more or less weekly, until April 2022. This is a republication of issue #192, which addresses how to improve undergrad writing. The post first ran on June 25/21. Transcript: How
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Reading time: About 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about similes from Megan Hunter… Megan Hunter is an English novelist and poet who achieved some acclaim with her 2017 debut novel The End We Start From which was It was adapted into
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Reading time: About one minute Canadian writer Nicholas Ruddock says that writing is neither easy nor hard. Instead, “it’s a million steps between”…. Nicholas Ruddock is a Canadian physician and writer. He has published three novels, The Parabolist, Night Ambulance, and Last Hummingbird West of Chile (audiobook by Gerard Doyle 2025), short stories in How
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Reading time: About 2 minutes Being observant is practically a job requirement for writers. Here’s how to get better at noticing… Once, when I was a teenager, I’d lined up for lunch in the cafeteria with friends. I remember looking at the appalling desserts in the glass case and commenting that the lemon meringue pie
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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 other writers. Today I discuss a blog post about better email etiquette… The email manoeuvre I dislike the most occurs when someone emails a chain of
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Viewing time: 3 mins 50 secs The Write Question is a weekly video podcast about writing that I started in 2017 and that ran, more or less weekly, until April 2022. This is a republication of issue #191, which addresses whether it’s necessary to write in the morning. The post first ran on June 18/21.
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Reading time: About 2 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about similes and metaphors from Mick Herron… Mick Herron is a British mystery and thriller novelist. He is the author of the Slough House series, early novels of that have been adapted into the Slow Horses television series. He won
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Reading time: About 2 minutes Mel Williams believes that writing is less a talent and more of a learned practice and a deliberate act… Mel Williams is a Toronto-based writer living with an acquired disability. She practices narrative advocacy — telling stories that quietly challenge societal norms and broaden our understanding of one another. She
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Reading time: About 3 minutes There’s a big difference between simple and simplistic. Is your writing too simple? Probably not… I’m guessing you’d be unhappy if someone called your writing “dumbed down.” Yup, that’s an insult. The word “dumb” is the clue. But what if someone described your writing as “clear and easy to read”?
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