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: 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 spend enough time on the […]
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 words! Why? I’m guessing that
How to improve your readability… Read More »
Word count: 721 words Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Do you allow yourself to get tied up in your own writing problems? Here are five strategies to try the next time you get stuck. My husband and I were in Oregon last week and spent several days on the Coast, home to some of the
5 writing lessons from the Oregon Trail Read More »
Word count: 741 words Reading time: Less than 3 minutes We are all good at something. Too bad we don’t get to choose our talents. I’d like to be able to sing….or to learn languages easily…or even to write… My triplets turned 19 on Saturday. The family milestone has set my rapidly graying head spinning:
Why your writing talent doesn’t matter Read More »
Word count: 732 words Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Some people don’t think they’re creative enough to write. If that feeling plagues you, be sure to consider these five tips on how to boost your creativity. I was reading the book Imagine by Jonah Lehrer last week and had the deeply weird experience of
5 more ways to boost your creativity for writing Read More »
Word count: 654 words Reading time: Less than 3 minutes You probably learned the difference between past, present and future in preschool. But how hard do you think about tense when you’re writing? Perhaps, not hard enough…. I am fascinated by tense. Not becoming tense, of course. Just tense. What do I mean? Well, tense
Are you tense over your verbs? Read More »
Word count: 767 words Reading time: About 3 minutes When I use the phrase “expressing yourself,” I’m making a pun. Today’s column is about my recent Battle Royale with American Express…. I’ve been fighting a guerrilla war with American Express since last November. On the theory that my experience might help you in expressing yourself
Do you have difficulty expressing yourself? Read More »
Word count: 661 words Reading time: About 2.5 minutes Do you ever take a holiday from your writing? Here’s why you should consider it…. I just participated in a 10-day, two-person workshop designed to improve my writing. It required me to take a plane to a different country and it meant I had to work
Time to take a break? Read More »
Word count: 762 words Reading time: About 3 minutes Do you need to undaunt yourself over your writing? Here are three tips I can offer from the one task that has always daunted me: bookkeeping! While I’m no longer a procrastinating writer, I am a procrastinating bookkeeper. But I’ve just accomplished something remarkable. I got
How to undaunt yourself Read More »
Word count: 756 words Reading time: About 3 minutes Being called a copycat is generally an insult. Instead, I think it’s a valuable tool for writers to try… If you’d been able to sneak into my home office last Wednesday at 6:15 am, you would have found me hunched over my computer, coping text from
Why you should be a copycat Read More »
