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 2 minutes How do you improve creativity? Neuroscientists suggest that you embrace the concept of messiness. I can’t write if my desk is untidy. That’s why I obsessively jam everything into my large wire inbox so my desktop at least gives the appearance of being clean. But my brain? I want […]
Is your mind messy enough for writing? Read More »
Reading time: Just over 3 minutes I didn’t get to travel when I was young because I had to work at a family business. Nor did I get the chance when I had my own family, because my kids were triplets. I’m making up for lost time now… I’m hoping you didn’t realize I’ve been
Cooking lessons from the heart of Italy Read More »
Reading time: About 3 minutes The year 2015 marked the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II across Europe, the 80th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s birth and, oh, the 500th edition of this column. Welcome to the 500th issue of this column. I’m a big believer in
Happy anniversary to me! Read More »
Reading time: About 4 minutes It doesn’t matter if you’re a freelancer or if you have a boss for whom you write. You need to learn how to win over editors… I’ll never forget the first article I wrote for a national magazine. I’d spent two years pitching the editor on a wide variety of
10 ways to appear shockingly smart to any editor Read More »
Reading time: Just over 3 minutes You may hate being predictable but did you know there are typical sticking points for writers? And my guess is that you’re facing more than one of them… I’ve spent years trying to get my financial books to my bookkeeper earlier than January 31. Mostly, I haven’t succeeded. Last week,
Six sticking points for writers and how to fix them Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Frank Sinatra began his musical career as a boy singer with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey. But did you know he ended it as a writing inspiration coach? Read on… I’m a longtime fan of Frank Sinatra. Almost incredibly, so are my 21-year-old triplets. One of their babysitters used
Writing advice from Frank Sinatra Read More »
Reading time: About 5 minutes Have you ever wondered how to build a style sheet? Has your boss ever asked you to create one? Here’s a straightforward guide on how to accomplish the task… I’ve long held the belief that good copy editors are born, not made. I’m a very good substantive editor — I understand how
How to build your own style sheet Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Can you write a good sentence? Try one for this cartoon and you could be the winner of it… If I had a dollar for every person who told me they had “no writing talent,” I could treat myself to a no-expense-spared trip to Manhattan. I won’t subject you
Write a great cartoon caption and win a piece of art… Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes “Fail” is one of the most dreaded four-letter words. But it shouldn’t be! Here’s why you should overcome the fear of writing failure… When I worked in daily newspapers, in the early 1980s, I wrote and edited my stories on a computer. This was shortly before desktop computers were
Why we should WANT to fail as writers Read More »
Reading time: About 4 minutes Video: Just under 7 minutes Have you ever struggled with mindmapping? Here is a video, and a post, designed to teach you how to create a mindmap… Like a cardiologist who see nothing but hearts with problems — and therefore finds them easier to diagnose — I see a
How to mindmap… (video) Read More »