Power Writing began as a weekly newsletter in April 2006. Its purpose? To give tips and advice about writing, to tell interesting stories and to help writers everywhere work faster, better. I distribute the newsletter by email to thousands of readers around the world every week and, since March 2012, it has become the Tuesday entry of my blog.
You can read many Power Writing entries here – I back-entered all columns until the beginning of 2009, and a handful of ones that were earlier than that. But I hope you’ll consider subscribing, too. Just enter your name and email in the box next to my photo on the home page of my website. If you do that, you’ll not only receive Power Writing by email each week, you’ll also automatically get access to a 10-minute video on how to unblock your writing.
Reading time: Less than 5 minutes Looking for some recommended books in time for summer reading? Here’s my semi-annual roundup of books I’ve read this year. I aim to read 52 books every 12 months, and my habit is to post a complete list of the names of them for you, in July and December. Here is […]
Recommended books: Summer 2018 Read More »
Reading time: Just over 3 minutes Do you regularly “run out” of time? Psychologist Gay Hendricks has some intriguing ideas that can help writers find more time to write. How do you visualize time? Perhaps you see it as a bucket full of water, being drained? Or maybe you imagine it as a heat map
How to find more time to write Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Do you ever struggle with ‘important writing’ versus ‘urgent everything else’? Here’s how to change your mindset, so you actually accomplish your writing…. I have a date with myself to write this column at 9 a.m. every Thursday. But guess what happened last week? Someone else scheduled a meeting
How to protect the important from the urgent Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes When you take a vacation should you also take time off from writing? Here’s a quick guide to handling holiday writing… Even if I didn’t have a calendar and was oblivious to the days getting longer and the temperatures becoming warmer, I would still know vacation time is approaching.
How to handle writing while travelling or on holiday Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes When you write, write. Don’t distract yourself with concerns about publication. That was the lesson Tom Wolfe learned with his book The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby… When veteran writer Tom Wolfe died at the age of 88 last week, I reflected on the first time I had heard the
Writing lessons from Tom Wolfe Read More »
Reading time: Just over 3 minutes I’m sure you’ve read elsewhere that good writers are always good readers. Here are the reasons why…. A grade 2 teacher reported to my parents more than 50 years ago that I wasn’t reading enough. The reaction? It was like an alarm going off in a nuclear plant. My parents dusted off
Why the best readers make the best writers Read More »
Reading time: Just over 3 minutes Social media gets a lot of attention these days, but you also need to know how to promote your writing without Facebook or Twitter. Here are some suggestions…. I watch my time like a mama bear guarding her cubs. I recently quit Facebook, and I constrain my Twitter time
How to promote your writing WITHOUT social media Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Do you ever ponder the writing rituals of famous authors? Pondering is okay, but don’t use their habits as a model for your own behaviour…. Did you know that Sylvia Plath (pictured above) and Benjamin Franklin started their writing days at 4 am and 5 am, respectively? Oliver Sacks was
Why you should resist the writing rituals of famous authors Read More »
Reading time: Just over 3 minutes 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 New York Times article about imposter syndrome….. I was 27-years old when I became the features editor of a large metropolitan
Do you suffer from imposter syndrome? Read More »
Reading time: Just over 3 minutes Does the mere thought of a test make your stomach clench? Here are some basic writing assessment test tips… I once failed a personality test. OK, to be honest, it’s not technically possible to fail such a test because we all have personalities. But I didn’t do well on it
How to ace a writing assessment test Read More »
