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.
Word count: 287 words Reading time: Just over 1 minute In searching for my sentence-of-the week, I consider a variety of attributes. Today’s example might strike you as banal or dull but I like it because it perfectly illustrates perfectly how that difficult piece of punctuation, the semi-colon, should be […]
How to use a semi-colon Read More »
Word count: 200 words Reading time: Less than a minute I read as much of the New Yorker my time will allow each week. Not infrequently, I am way behind. As a former journalist, articles about newspapers, magazines and non-fiction writers frequently grab my eye. Thus, I recently read a story about
Dwight Macdonald was at risk of becoming a journalist Read More »
Word count: 150 words Reading time: half a minute I appreciated many of the fine novels by Ann Patchett, particularly, Bel Canto and deeply disliked only one, Run. I felt lukewarm, however, about her most recent book, State of Wonder. The plot was moderately engaging, and the writing moderately good. But
Ann Patchett and her state of wonder Read More »
Word count: 209 words Reading time: less than 1 minute A great way to improve your writing skills is to emulate the work of others. Here is a sentence I read recently that I’d happily imitate. It’s about the TV show The Good Wife. I always like a good legal
The good wife has a helmet of hair Read More »
Word count: 150 words Reading time: about 30 seconds A great way to improve your writing skills is to emulate the work of others. Here is a sentence, about Arnold Schwarzenegger, I read recently that I’d happily imitate. A story, headlined “California and Bust” was written by Michael Lewis
Arnold Schwarzenegger profile packs a punch Read More »
