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: scagliola… In Rachel Cusk’s plot-free novel Outline, she presents a word I had never before seen, scagliola. Upon using the dictionary, however, I came to learn I […]
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Reading time: About 6 minutes (easy to scan, though) You’ve probably read a lot about artificial intelligence in the last few weeks. What about ChatGPT for writers? I started paying attention to chatter about artificial intelligence and writing late last year. I was reading a post about it by a blogger I follow. Turns out,
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Reading time: About 1 minute This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world to find info to help other writers. Today I talk about permission for epigraphs… Last Monday I wrote about the need to check the source of quotes and epigraphs— those quotes from famous people set
Do you need permission for epigraphs? Read More »
Viewing time: 4 min. 15 sec. 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 #53, with tips for improving English fluency. The post first ran on April 20/18. Transcript: Welcome to The
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Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about some similes from Reema Patel… Reema Patel is a Canadian writer and lawyer based in Toronto who has spent the last ten years working in provincial and municipal governments. Born in
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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: scion…. If you’d asked me if I understood the meaning of the term scion, I would have said yes. But I would never have been able to
Reading time: About 3 minutes Don’t fear change. Instead, embrace it. Become an adaptable writer who is able and willing to face whatever comes your way… When I worked at a daily newspaper in the 1980s, my desk was in a large room with roughly 100 other people, most of them talking on the phone.
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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 other writers. Today I discuss what to do if you want to use quotes in your writing… Many writers like to use quotes in their writing —
Do you want to use quotes? Make sure they’re accurate Read More »
Viewing time: 4 min. 2 sec. 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 #52, with solutions to a mindmapping problem. The post first ran on April 6/18. Transcript: Welcome to The
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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 figurative language from Liane Moriarty… Liane Moriarty is an Australian author who has written nine novels, including the New York Times bestsellers Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers, which were adapted into television series for
The figurative language of Liane Moriarty… Read More »
