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: fissiparous… From time to time, I like to read books that I’d describe as unchallenging but engaging. Political thrillers fall into that category for me, and Robert […]
What does ‘fissiparous’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: About 4 minutes Some writers think their worth is measured only by their writing. Not true. The most successful writers always learn how to care more… I recently resigned from a job I’ve been doing for more than 20 years. I’m not retiring from this column or from any of my coaching —
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 ask the question why are you talking? Not infrequently, clients will ask me to help them burnish their interviewing skills. I learned to
Writers: Why are you talking so much? Read More »
Viewing time: 4 mins 54 secs The Write Question is a weekly video podcast all about writing. Today’s question? How to break the cycle of procrastination. This is the last issue of my Write Question video series. Starting soon, I’m going to switch to a quarterly video that’s longer and more polished, covering important issues
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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 crime writer Tana French…. I’ve become a recent fan of the Irish crime writer Tana French. I like the way she uses such sophisticated language to tell
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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: katabatic… I had heard of the book The Golden Spruce, by John Vaillant, more than 10 years ago but for reasons I don’t understand, had never persuaded myself
Why does ‘katabatic’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: About 8 minutes (you can scan much faster, though) This list of the 50 best memoirs I’ve read over the last several decades might help you become a fan of the interesting and often sophisticated genre. My reading tends to fall upon fairly predictable lines: literary fiction (with the occasional mystery or thriller) and
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Reading time: About 1 minute This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the internet to help other writers. Today I discuss a post about using too many big words… Every once in awhile, I will admire a big or unusual word. But far more often, I’m suspicious of it.
Are you using too many big words? Read More »
Viewing time: 3 mins 30 secs The Write Question is a weekly video podcast all about writing. Today’s question? When do you need permission for book material? If you have a question you’d like me to answer you can email me, tweet me @pubcoach, or leave a message for me at the Skype account, 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 a series of images from Etgar Keret… Etgar Keret is an Israeli writer known for his short stories, graphic novels, and scriptwriting for film and television. I was completely unfamiliar with him until a
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