Reading time: Less than 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: riverine…. In reading the New Yorker, I encountered a word I’d never seen before. It appeared an Aug. 21/17 article headlined, “Is
What does ‘riverine’ mean? Read More »
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: stygian…. I didn’t used to read murder mysteries or thrillers but recently, thanks to the fine writing of Tana French, I’ve come to
What does the word ‘stygian’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 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: frangible…. I found the Alison Wearing memoir, Moments of Glad Grace to be exceptionally easy to read. Featuring mostly short sentences, plenty
What does the word ‘frangible’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: About 6 minutes (but very scannable) Looking for some recommended books in time for summer reading? Here’s my semi-annual roundup of books I’ve read this year. I aim to read 52 books every 12 months, and my habit is to post a complete list of the names of them for
Recommended books: Summer 2020 Read More »
Reading time: 11 minutes (but easily skimmable) When I was a child I learned that I could make time pass more quickly by reading. Here are more than 52 novels to read during the pandemic… I’ve kept a book diary for the last 25 years. The list comes in handy
52 novels to read during the pandemic Read More »
Reading time: Just over 5 minutes Looking for some recommended books in time for holiday reading? Here’s my semi-annual roundup of books I’ve read this year. I aim to read 52 books every 12 months and my habit is to post a complete list of the names of them for
Recommended books: Christmas 2019 Read More »
Each week I go through a Halloween grab bag of more than 100 blogs about writing, publishing and psychology, pulling out the Crunchie bars and Smarties I especially like. Here’s my take on the 10 most interesting pieces I’ve read or seen during the last month (each headline is linked
PubCoach Top 10: November 2019 Read More »
Reading time: Less than one minute I’m too exhausted from the launch of my new book to be able to write a figurative language post as I do most Thursdays. Instead, I ask you to consider whether you might be a world-class procrastinator. Would you prefer scrubbing your toilet to
Are you a world-class procrastinator? Read More »
Reading time: About 9 minutes (skimmable in 4) Few subjects are as mysterious as the art of finding your voice. If you’re a writer struggling with that problem, here’s what I suggest you do… What is writer’s voice? And, how can you find yours? You’d think this should be a simple
What is writer’s voice? And how can you find yours? Read More »
Reading time: Just over 4 minutes Looking for some recommended books in time for summer reading? Here’s my semi-annual roundup of books I’ve read this year. I aim to read 52 books every 12 months, and my habit is to post a complete list of the names of them for you, in
Recommended books: Summer 2019 Read More »
