Reading time: About 4 minutes Here’s some practical advice on how to write more concisely…and if you can’t do that, how to edit the extra verbiage you’ve produced… When I started writing, 40 years ago, I always wrote short. If a client or boss wanted 750 words, I’d struggle to […]
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Reading time: About 4 minutes Scientists now believe there are excellent reasons you should doodle. Don’t view doodling as dilly-dallying or time-wasting… My mother became an artist at the age of 65. She took up chalk pastels and almost immediately started producing beautiful, saleable work. That’s a photo of one
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If you want to become a better proofreader, here are some easy-to-use tips that will make a big difference for you… Do you clean your own gutters? Change the oil in your own car? Bake every birthday cake from scratch? I’m guessing you don’t do many — if any —
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Reading time: About 3 minutes Have you ever kept a writing tracking record? This simple document — you can create it easily in your own word processing software — will revolutionize your productivity…. When I wrote my first book, I made so many mistakes. I didn’t have a daily writing
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Reading time: Just over 3 minutes Some people just never seem to find the time to be able to write. Here is my best advice on how to prioritize writing…. I learned some hard lessons when I wrote my first book. It took me more than a year of angst-ridden,
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Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Are you good at collecting quotes from your interview subjects? Here’s a primer on how to ask better questions… As a former journalist, I’ve done more than my share of interviews, many of them with then big-name Canadian authors. I was a books editor
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Reading time: Less than 3 minutes There are many benefits of walking for writers. Staying in shape is one of them. But becoming more creative is the biggest gain… I have a neighbour who often drove her three kids to school. I’m too polite to have told her off for
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Reading time: About 3 minutes You’ve certainly heard of standing desks, but have you ever heard of walking ones? Here are some treadmill desk benefits… I am an eccentric. Here are some of my credentials: I have a computer file with all my recipes and I make a menu plan once
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Reading time: Less than 4 minutes I know this may sound crazy, but, for writers, the benefits of boredom outweigh its downsides…. I’m going to ask you to do something difficult. I’d like you to stop seeing boredom as automatically undesirable, bad or negative. Instead, I ask you to see
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Reading time: Just over 3 minutes Multi-tasking isn’t the good idea it’s often cracked up to be. But there are some especially important reasons why writers shouldn’t multi-task… I have a simple question I ask everyone I coach and it’s this: Do you let your computer collect your email for
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