Reading time: Less than 1 minute I read widely, watch movies and listen to the radio. Here, catch an interesting piece of figurative language I’ve encountered recently, which comes from a New Yorker article describing Steinway Hall. I remember exploring Steinway Hall’s quiet corridors about two years ago, when my husband, son and I were […]
Steinway Hall has the ponderous stillness of a funeral home Read More »
Reading time: About 1.5 minutes I read widely, watch movies and listen to the radio. Here, catch an interesting piece of figurative language I’ve encountered recently. For many years, I subscribed to the magazine Cook’s Illustrated. I liked its old-fashioned appearance, complete with botanic drawings and the kind of fonts you might see in a
Cook’s Illustrated dissed by NY Times Read More »
Word count: 250 words Reading time: 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 writers. One of my weekly blog entries now relates to figurative language. Does this seem odd for someone who specializes in non-fiction writing? I
Why you should consider Metaphorically Selling Read More »
Word count: 796 words Reading time: About 3 minutes Here is the second entry in my three-part series on Deliberate Practice for writers. Be sure to read part 1 first! Here is the most important thing to know about Deliberate Practice. It is not a writing activity. It’s either a preparatory job or an editing
How to use Deliberate Practice when writing – part 2 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: teasel… I keep a Word document containing all the new and interesting words I encounter in my daily reading. When I collected the word teasel from Maggie
What is a ‘teasel’? 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: euchred…. The sad, cautionary and yet deeply funny story of Lee Israel is one of my favourite memoirs. You may be more likely to remember Israel as
What does ‘euchred’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: About 4 mins. It might surprise you to learn that the curse of knowledge is not a blessing in disguise. In fact, it’s a considerable disadvantage for writers… If you’re a writer, you’re probably a know-it-all. Not in the sense of a 6-year-old bully who says things like, “my dad knows way more
How the curse of knowledge is harming your writing 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: birl… The contemporary definition of the word birl, refers to a boy(ish)-girl or girl(ish)-boy. In other words, it is someone who falls in between the traditional binary
What does ‘birl’ mean? 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 song about word crimes written by Weird Al Yancovic… I was charmed when my friend Marcelle sent me a link to
What does Weird Al know about word crimes? 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: bibelots. When I studied French in high school, I loathed the subject. I think I might even have had a mild learning disability with languages when I
What are bibelots? Read More »
