Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Here’s a new verb: to satisfice. And let me explain why you should satisfice your writing… When my triplets were born in 1994, I knew I needed help. That said, we didn’t want to hire a nanny. We had no space in our house […]
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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 an article about smartphone habits. I know, most people don’t write novels on their smartphones. (Although, of
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Reading time: About 3 minutes Having a “vocabulary” of writing problems might sound like a strange idea but there are some terrific benefits from knowing how to ID your bad writing… I was speaking with a coaching client last week about “bad writing.” Here’s what we decided: Most writing is
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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 novelist Zadie Smith’s 10 rules of writing. I read and was impressed by Zadie Smith’s 2000 novel
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Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Does the act of writing have its own rules? Yes! In fact, I think there are three laws of physics for writing… Do you remember Sir Isaac Newton’s First Law of Motion? If a body is at rest it remains at rest or if it
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Reading time: Less than 3 minutes There are five excellent reasons why you should say yes to writing more often. Here is a real-life email from one of my potential clients who wants to write for the theatre. It said: “I’ve put a hold on my play. I’m afraid of the
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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 an article on messy desks written by David Burkus… I’ve long advocated that writers clear their desks
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Reading time: About 3 minutes Today’s message may seem a little strange but you can learn how to write faster by going on holiday or at least by pretending that you’re going to… We went on the worst holidays ever when I was a kid. We had no money so
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Reading time: About 1 minute Do you ever ask yourself, ‘how flexible should I be with my writing?’ If you do, here’s my answer… I’ve just finished writing a story that had to be signed off by a host of people from the provincial government. Of course such stories can never
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Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Do you ever feel overwhelmed when you need to write? Here are some suggestions for how to improve your focus… As I write this column, I’m feeling overwhelmed. Why? I just said goodbye to a contractor who carved a hole in our dining-room ceiling.
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