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 3 minutes Do you know how to write freely? Here’s a metaphor that might help. Pretend you’re a jazz musician who’s improvising… When I moved away from home at the age of 21, I started pondering how to take music lessons. I’d always wanted to learn […]
Why you should write like a jazz musician plays Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Do you ever suffer from literary envy? If so, today’s column is for you. I’ve been lucky enough to be born with little envy for other writers. I think this is because I’ve never identified primarily as a writer. My thing? Editing. I was born
How to stop envying other writers Read More »
Reading time: About 2.5 minutes Do you find it hard to get back into writing after taking a break from it for awhile? Here’s what to do… One of my clients is a successful novelist. She has a high-profile, New-York-based agent, and has already had one of her books published, to
How to re-establish your writing habit after taking a break Read More »
Reading time: About 3.5 minutes Here’s some practical advice on how to write better English if it’s not your native language… I was briefly fluent in French when I was 20. I knew this for two reasons: First, I’d gone to visit a friend in Quebec City and ended up
How non-English speakers can write better Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Do you want to learn how to cure procrastination? Try lying to yourself… I used to hate writing. Twenty years ago, if you’d told me that I could tell myself a simple lie and — suddenly, magically — it would make writing easier and
How to write (when you really don’t want to) Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Are you determined enough to get your writing done? Believe it or not, stubbornness is a virtue… When one of my daughters was two she chose to present her unique personality on a family camping trip. I was about to go for a walk, and
Why stubbornness is a virtue for writers Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Are you always able to write the perfect amount of copy? It’s not related to luck. It’s the product of good planning and diligent editing… I awoke at 6 this morning, as I do most mornings, and went to my office to meditate. Then I
How to write the perfect amount of copy Read More »
Reading time: About 4 minutes The price of groceries is rising these days. But that’s not true of everything. The Internet allows us to do so much at absolutely no charge. Here’s a digest of great no-cost tools for writers… Do you ever feel that there’s just not enough time in
26 fantastic no-cost tools for writers Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Is your writing as fast as you want it to be? If not, perhaps it’s time to think about email productivity for writers… I typically receive somewhere between 200 and 350 emails a day, by which I mean emails that I must answer. (In
Is email derailing your writing? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Do you think there ought to be some new year’s resolutions for writers? Let me suggest something that will work even better… I know it’s resolution season. New year’s plans seem to lurk in blogs like dangerous creatures in swamps. But not here. I
Here’s a non-resolution that could change your writing life Read More »
