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: euchred…. The sad, cautionary and yet deeply funny story of Lee Israel is one of my favourite memoirs. You may be more
What does ‘euchred’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: About 4 mins. It might surprise you to learn that the curse of knowledge is not a blessing in disguise. In fact, it’s a considerable disadvantage for writers… If you’re a writer, you’re probably a know-it-all. Not in the sense of a 6-year-old bully who says things like,
How the curse of knowledge is harming your writing Read More »
Reading time: Less than 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 on ‘who’ vs. ‘whom’… Many friends, colleagues, readers and even family mistakenly see
Who wins in ‘who’ vs. ‘whom’? Read More »
Viewing time: 3 min. 58 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 #40, about when to give up on your writing. The post first ran
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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 a series of metaphors from Jean Echenoz… French writer Jean Echenoz published his first book, Le Méridien de Greenwich in 1979, and received the Fénéon Prize for it in
The figurative language of Jean Echenoz… 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: badinage… When I read the word badinage I could guess at its meaning from context. It appeared in the highly-praised new novel
What does the word ‘badinage’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: About 3 minutes Are you already a Timely Tom or Tina? Or do you need to learn how to stop missing deadlines? Are you the kind of writer who misses deadlines? I know you well. In fact, I used to be you. When I was at university, many
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Reading time: Less than 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 by Kristine Kathryn Rusch… I don’t read sci fi or fantasy or (usually)
Writers: What’s your guilty pleasure? Read More »
Viewing time: 3 mins. 27 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 #39, about how to write better blog posts. The post first ran on
How to write better blog posts (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 a series of similes from Bonnie Garmus…. Bonnie Garmus is an American copywriter and creative director who currently lives in London. Now, she has a best-selling breakout
The figurative language of Bonnie Garmus… Read More »
