Power Writing

Reading time: About 4 minutes How do you increase your attention? You consider these seven steps to deal with attention residue, that’s how! Do you ever feel as though your mind has become like a library bulletin board, plastered with reminders you never requested? Even if you’re not aware of the problem, the answer is […]

Reading time: About 2 minutes Being observant is practically a job requirement for writers. Here’s how to get better at noticing… Once, when I was a teenager, I’d lined up for lunch in the cafeteria with friends. I remember looking at the appalling desserts in the glass case and commenting that the lemon meringue pie

Reading time: About 3 minutes There’s a big difference between simple and simplistic. Is your writing too simple? Probably not… I’m guessing you’d be unhappy if someone called your writing “dumbed down.” Yup, that’s an insult. The word “dumb” is the clue. But what if someone described your writing as “clear and easy to read”?

Reading time: About 3 minutes If you want to become a better writer, you need to understand that writing practice beats theory every time… When I started learning how to write for newspapers, back in my late teens, I felt as though I was hitting my head against a wall. A brick one. Repeatedly. I

Reading time: About 4 minutes Don’t avoid the vulnerability of making decisions. Instead, learn how to deal with your analysis paralysis… Most of us get a certain delicious pleasure when we hear rhymes. The Cat in the Hat One, Two, Buckle My Shoe Jack and Jill Went Up the Hill Analysis Paralysis I hope that

Reading time: About 4 minutes No writing project ever goes perfectly. Today I describe what you can do when your writing hits an inevitable wall… Would you like to write without the angst and distress often associated with getting started. This is a reminder about my one-hour class, The Right-Hook Power Hour, on Thursday. If

Reading time: About 3 minutes If you’ve never learned how to forgive yourself for not writing, take a few minutes to learn how to do that today…. I was eight years old, and a neighbourhood friend — the same age as me — dropped by to visit. I opened the door and noticed a bunch of

Reading time: About 4 minutes From reluctant reader to 52 books a year: your guide to reading more begins with finding what you actually love… I read at least 52 books every year. As a result, people often ask me how they can boost their reading efforts habits (let’s face it, calling it “efforts” makes

Reading time: About 3 minutes Do you lose writing time to doomscrolling? Here are seven ways to stop doomscrolling… Are you guilty of doomscrolling? I know I am! And frankly, I’m getting tired of my own nonsense. My distraction of choice is the New York Times, and I’ll scroll through it mindlessly, all day long,

Reading time: About 3 minutes Have you been misled into thinking that writing improvement is always linear — moving forward in a predictable way? A recent email from a client started me thinking about the lies we tell ourselves about progress. Here, in part, is what she said: “I am a proficient writer. I don’t