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.
Word count: 720 words Reading time: Less than 3 minutes A bag of hammers typically refers to something that’s dumb or stupid. But I prefer Michael J. Fox’s definition — he takes it to mean anything that makes our lives more difficult…. I’m not generally a star-struck kind of person […]
How to carry your bag of hammers Read More »
Word count: 766 words Reading time: About 3 minutes If you don’t know how to handle quotes from your sources, your life as a corporate writer will likely be miserable. Check out my quick guide here…. My training as a writer came from newspapers. I started at a community weekly
9 ways to lift your quotes Read More »
Word count: 722 words Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Are you one of those people who thinks that change is bad? Read on to learn about the benefits of fluctuations… My husband and I went for a walk in Capilano Canyon last week. We skipped the famous suspension bridge
3 simple reasons to accept fluctuations Read More »
Reading time: About 3 minutes Most people don’t deliberately do things wrong. But if you really thought about it, what would you try to do differently? I admit it. I borrowed this column idea (and headline) from someone else. Her name is Penelope Trunk. I read her blog weekly and
Writers: are you making bad decisions (like me)? Read More »
Word count: 748 words Reading time: Less than 3 minutes If you’re looking for the secret formula to making writing easier, it’s time to give mindmapping another try… I was speaking at a conference several years ago and talking about mindmapping. (If you don’t know what mindmapping is, check out
Why you should try this magic bullet for writers Read More »
Word count: 726 words Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Have you ever had your well-made plans go completely and thoroughly wrong? Here’s what happened to me, recently… My husband and I spent a week in the Okanagan, last month, in the Canadian equivalent of California’s Napa Valley. It has
Welcome to my holiday nightmare Read More »
Word count: 786 words Reading time: About 3 minutes Looking for some summer book suggestions? I’m on track for reaching my year-end goal of reading 52 books and here is my semi-annual accounting that may give you some of your own reading ideas. My habit is to post for you
Recommended books: Summer 2013 Read More »
Word count: 754 words Reading time: About 3 minutes Ambiguous writing is generally a bad thing. But there are times when a writer ought to welcome a healthy does of ambiguity. Here’s why… When I learned I was pregnant with triplets, 20 years ago, I was desperate to know their
Why writers should embrace ambiguity Read More »
Word count: 667 words Reading time: About 2.5 minutes Have you ever struggled with how to improve your writing? Here are five ideas so simple you may kick yourself for not having used them before now…. When I was a senior editor at a daily newspaper, I occasionally used to
5 stupidly simple ways to improve your writing Read More »
Word count: 706 words Reading time: Less than 3 minutes People often ask me how much writing success I attribute to hard work versus talent. But few people think to question the element of luck. Here’s the role I think it plays… A friend of mine, who’s travelled widely in
Is your writing “lucky” enough? Read More »
