The Write Question

Viewing time: 59 seconds Knowing where readers should land gives every paragraph a job and keeps your writing on track. Yes, write your final sentence first.  Transcript Here is a trick that will sharpen everything you write. Write your final sentence first. Sounds odd, I know. We are taught

Viewing time: 1 minute Big writing project feeling daunting? Join my free Oct. 8 class and learn how 250 words a day can move your manuscript forward.  Transcript You open your long manuscript to see how much more you have left to write. Then you close it again. Another

Recording time: 56 seconds You can be forgiven for quickly answering “no” to the question: Can grammar ever be fun? But you’d be wrong. Just ask Karen Elizabeth Gordon.    Transcript: Grammar books put many writers to sleep. This one does the opposite. The Transitive Vampire, by Karen Elizabeth

Viewing time: 1 minute Writing perfectionism keeps you staring at a blank page. Good writers aren’t better at first drafts. They’re better at revision.  Transcript Here’s a myth that keeps writers stuck: good writers get it perfect the first time. They don’t. Not one of them. The blank-page genius

Viewing time: 59 seconds Concise writing has rules. Learn them in The Concision Power Hour, a one-hour class that helps you cut long drafts faster. Transcript Your first draft is too long. Mine is too. That’s normal. Overwriting is how drafts get made, but trouble starts when nobody goes back

Viewing time: 59 seconds How to focus your writing: find the one idea your draft is really about, then cut every line that doesn’t serve it. One idea wins. Transcript Many drafts sprawl because the writer is trying to say everything at once. Here’s the fix. Ask yourself one question

Viewing time: 59 seconds Should you count words or time? Word count goals set you up to fail. Set a 10-minute timer instead, and the words will follow. Transcript If you set a word count goal, you may sabotage yourself. Here is the problem. You cannot control how many words

Viewing time: 4 mins 54 secs The Write Question is a weekly video podcast about writing that I started in 2017 and that ran, more or less weekly, until April 2022. This is a republication of issue #225, which describes how to break the cycle of porcrastination. The post first

Viewing time: 3 mins 30 secs  The Write Question is a weekly video podcast about writing that I started in 2017 and that ran, more or less weekly, until April 2022. This is a republication of issue #224, which describes when you need permission for book material. The post first

Viewing time: 4 mins 39 secs  The Write Question is a weekly video podcast about writing that I started in 2017 and that ran, more or less weekly, until April 2022. This is a republication of issue #223, which describes how to handle lengthy quotes. The post first ran on