As a former journalist and a communications consultant for more than 30 years, I devour books and articles about writing the way other people might eat bowlsfull of potato chips. If there is a book about writing, I’ve likely read it. (And if there’s a new one, I’m reading it shortly.) I also read about 90 blogs daily and scan the Internet voraciously, looking for new material about writing or related areas such as creativity, time management and freelancing. Writing about writing is a special pleasure for me because it helps me unite my core interests – reading and writing – and my lifetime of experience as a professional writer.
Reading time: About one minute This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world to find websites, books and articles to help other writers. Today I explore the question: why write fiction? Do you have romantic ideas about the life of being a fiction writer? Do you think it’s […]
Why write fiction? Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world to find websites, books and articles to help other writers. Today I discuss a blog post about writing dialogue… Are you a novelist faced with writing dialogue? If so, you almost certainly know that dialogue
Writing dialogue: the ins and outs Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world to find info to help other writers. Today I talk about permission for epigraphs… Last Monday I wrote about the need to check the source of quotes and epigraphs— those quotes from famous people set
Do you need permission for epigraphs? Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world to find websites, books and articles to help other writers. Today I discuss what to do if you want to use quotes in your writing… Many writers like to use quotes in their writing —
Do you want to use quotes? Make sure they’re accurate Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world to find websites, books and articles to help other writers. Today I discuss a blog post about sitting too much… Are you a writer who’s spending too much time at your desk and not
Are you sitting too much? Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world to find websites, books and articles to help other writers. Today I discuss a Seth Godin post about redundancy in writing… I’ve long appreciated the pithiness of Seth Godin‘s thinking and writing. In a recent
Redundancy – why you should avoid it Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute Do you need to become better at accepting feedback? This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world to find materials to help other writers… Some writers have a hard time accepting feedback for their work. And when I hear about the sort of
How to get better at accepting feedback Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world to find websites, books and articles to help other writers. Today I discuss a blog post about cleaning your writing office… Is your office (or your desk) relatively tidy? Or does it look like mine
Is it worth cleaning your writing office? Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world to find websites, books and articles to help other writers. Today I discuss a New York Times article addressing the question ‘how much can writers earn’? It’s a great time to be a writer. The
How much can writers earn? Read More »
Reading time: Just over 1 minute This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world to find websites, books and articles to help other writers. Today I discuss a BBC post giving advice on how to read more… Most people who consult my website know that I read at
