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: galumphing…. I’ve known since I was a teenager that the verb to galumph meant to move in a clumsy or noisy manner. When I was 13, my parents […]
What’s the origin of the word ‘galumphing’? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Do you suffer from holiday guilt? Not only is this unnecessary, it’s also a really bad idea. With inadequate breaks, you’ll see your productivity decline and your writing will worsen…. Do you postpone holidays? Or feel guilty about taking time off? The purpose of my column today is to
Why you shouldn’t feel holiday guilt Read More »
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 a blog post about creative rituals…. Do you have any creative rituals? For example, do you have a special place to write?
What are your creative rituals? Read More »
Viewing time: 3 mins. 16 seconds 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 #10, about whether it makes sense to write in your first language, which first ran on March 24/17. Transcript:
Should you write in your first language? (video) Read More »
Reading time: About 2 mins. I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about similes and metaphors from John Banville…. John Banville is an Irish novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. He has won the 1976 James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the 2003 International Nonino Prize, the 2005 Booker Prize
The figurative language of John Banville… Read More »
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: brume…. If you’d asked me to describe brume and I hadn’t seen the spelling, I’d have thought you were talking about the herbaceous plant in the Fabaceae family. Common
Reading time: About 3 minutes Have you ever kept a writing tracking record? This simple document — you can create it easily in your own word processing software — will revolutionize your productivity…. When I wrote my first book, I made so many mistakes. I didn’t have a daily writing goal that was specific enough
Why writers should use a secret sauce — tracking Read More »
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 feeling shame after publishing… A recent post on the website Lit Hub featured five writers talking about
Is it weird to feel shame after publishing? Read More »
Viewing time: 2 minutes 45 seconds 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 #9, about how to get better at budgeting writing time. It ran first ran on March 17/17. Transcript: Welcome
How to be better at budgeting your writing time (video) Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about images from Edward Carey… If anyone recommends a book of historical fiction to me, I’ll take a close look and probably read it. This is what happened with Little — a fictionalized,
The figurative language of Edward Carey… Read More »
