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: 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 »
Word count: 741 words Reading time: About 3 minutes How did it get so late so soon, asked Dr. Seuss. Whether I’m walking or writing, I often marvel at the amount of time that’s slipped by. But is writing time worth it? Let’s see. When I was a child, our
Why I spend precious hours writing Read More »
Word count: 756 words Reading time: About 3 minutes Do you habitually leave everything until the last minute? Or are you smart enough to plan your writing time? Here’s how you can plan it in reverse…. Last week I was out for breakfast with friends when I received an urgent
How to plan your writing time Read More »
Reading time: About 3 minutes Today’s post is a letter I’ve written to one of my coaching students (I’ve changed her name to preserve anonymity.) I think you might find these thoughts helpful, as well. Dear Sarah, I’m writing to follow up on our last coaching call. I think you’re
Why you should stay longer with your writing questions Read More »
Word count: 730 words Reading time: About 3 minutes How do you work when you really, really don’t want to? Take my advice on how to overcome adversity in your writing… I’m blaming it on a hard-boiled egg. I had food poisoning last week. I’m guessing the egg, although refrigerated, had
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Word count: 632 words Reading time: About 2.5 minutes Our need to learn doesn’t stop when we graduate from college. So why do so many of us act as though it does?…. I am 55 years old. I have an honours degree in political science. I’ve written professionally for 33
5 reasons you might want to learn more Read More »
Word count: 649 words Reading time: About 2.5 minutes I’m frequently impressed by the parallels between writing and music. Today I find writing inspiration from the musical work of Jonathan Mann. I can’t remember who told me about Jonathan Mann (pictured above) but I’m grateful for the tip. I don’t
5 reasons why being relentless is a good career strategy Read More »
Word count: 710 words Reading time: less than 3 minutes If you’re unfamiliar with readability statistics, here’s an introduction. And if you haven’t gone beyond the Flesch-Kincaid index, here’s a new idea for you… Did you know that in pre-Elizabethan times an average written sentence was 50 words long? Fifty
How to improve your readability… Read More »
