When writers ask me how they can improve their writing skills I always ask them about their reading. They often look at me somewhat deflated – ‘Did she not hear what I was asking?’ I can see them wondering. But, truly, emulating the work of other writers is the best way to improve your own writing. When I read, I’m always looking for great sentences. And when I find them, I write them down. (I’ve learned to do this immediately, usually by entering them into my iPhone.) Each week, I share one with you, providing the sentence, the author and my description of why I figure the sentence worked so well.
Reading time: About 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: roiling … I attended college at the very end of the 1970s. The place my children now attend — my own alma mater — seems vastly […]
What does ‘roiling’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute A great way to improve your writing is to emulate the work of others. That’s why, every week, I present a sentence that I’d happily imitate. I comment today on one written by Michael Pollan. Thanks to the urging of my email buddy, Bob,
What looks very much like a sly smile… Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute A great way to improve your writing is to emulate the work of others. That’s why, every week, I present a sentence that I’d happily imitate. I comment today on one written by novelist Cathy Marie Buchanan. I picked up the novel The Painted Girls by
A bobbing little nod…. Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute A great way to improve your writing is to emulate the work of others. That’s why, every week, I present a sentence that I’d happily imitate. I comment today on one written by Jeanette Walls. I am in the minority when it comes to writer
Bringing those big crazy birds back home… Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute A great way to improve your writing is to emulate the work of others. That’s why, every week, I present a sentence that I’d happily imitate. I comment today on one written by New Yorker writer Ian Frazier… How do you deal with homelessness? Do
Several thousand of them would have to stand… Read More »
Reading time: Just over 1 minute A great way to improve your writing is to emulate the work of others. That’s why, every week, I present a sentence that I’d happily imitate. I comment today on one written by D.T. Max. D.T. Max is a graduate of Harvard University and a
Dorsey never feels the obligation to fill a silence…. Read More »
Reading time: Just over 1 minute A great way to improve your writing is to emulate the work of others. That’s why, every week, I present a sentence that I’d happily imitate. I comment today on one produced by the talented American fiction writer Maile Meloy. I don’t typically read
As though he were turning to himself to ask a question… Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute A great way to improve your writing is to emulate the work of others. That’s why, every week, I present a sentence that I’d happily imitate. I comment today on a sentence written by Jeremy Denk. Is it because my son is studying to
A deep nostalgia for closets… Read More »
Reading time: Just over 1 minute A great way to improve your writing is to emulate the work of others. That’s why, every week, I present a sentence that I’d happily imitate. I comment today on a sentence written by Hendrik Hertzberg I read the New Yorker enthusiastically but unreliably. So,
Improbable and inexorable Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute A great way to improve your writing is to emulate the work of others. That’s why, every week, I present a sentence that I’d happily imitate. I comment today on a sentence written by American novelist John Williams. Every once in awhile, I like
Year by year, the earth would take them… Read More »
