Reading time: About 4 minutes Here’s some practical advice on how to write more concisely…and if you can’t do that, how to edit the extra verbiage you’ve produced… When I started writing, 40 years ago, I always wrote short. If a client or boss wanted 750 words, I’d struggle to produce 675. If the total […]
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Viewing time: 4 min. 42 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 #46, about why you should start your stories in medias res. The post first ran on Feb. 16/18. Transcript:
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Reading time: About 3 minutes For whom do you write? I know your work might be for a client or for the public. But, really, you should always write for one person… I’ve received a great deal of advice over the years. Some of this advice has been silly — “don’t go swimming until an
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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 Dec. 1/17. Transcript: Welcome to
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Viewing time: 4 mins. 42 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 #36, about improving writing focus. The post first ran on Nov. 10/17. Transcript: Welcome to The Write Question,
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Viewing time: 4 minutes and 5 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 #12, focusing on writing a bio. The post first ran on April 7/17. Transcript: Welcome to The Write
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Reading time: Less than 4 minutes Is it worth even thinking about writing during holiday time? If your answer is “maybe,” consider the ways in which you might be able to improve your focus… While many writing bloggers are currently addressing burning issues like best holiday gifts for writers and how to take a break during
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Reading time: About 3 minutes Perhaps your writing — or writing practice — seems inadequate to you? Here are some ideas about how to get from where you are to where you want to be…. I was almost 30 years old when I first visited the UK. To this day, I still remember standing on
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Reading time: About 4 minutes Can an electronic editor like ProWritingAid help you improve your writing? Here are my thoughts after having tested the program for several years…. When I wrote about the grammar-checking software Grammarly several years ago, my post generated huge reader response (some 279 comments online) and it still regularly generates emails
Is it worth paying for ProWritingAid? (And is it better than Grammarly?) Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Are you good at collecting quotes from your interview subjects? Here’s a primer on how to ask better questions… As a former journalist, I’ve done more than my share of interviews, many of them with then big-name Canadian authors. I was a books editor at a metropolitan daily for
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