Word count: 726 words Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Have you ever had your well-made plans go completely and thoroughly wrong? Here’s what happened to me, recently… My husband and I spent a week in the Okanagan, last month, in the Canadian equivalent of California’s Napa Valley. It has rolling hills. Lots of vineyards. […]
Welcome to my holiday nightmare Read More »
Word count: 297 words 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 writers. Today I look at a piece from Mashable on the Boston Marathon bombing. I was speaking with a colleague about media coverage
Have you verified that? Read More »
Word count: 649 words Reading time: About 2.5 minutes I’m frequently impressed by the parallels between writing and music. Today I find writing inspiration from the musical work of Jonathan Mann. I can’t remember who told me about Jonathan Mann (pictured above) but I’m grateful for the tip. I don’t spend enough time on the
5 reasons why being relentless is a good career strategy Read More »
Word count: 721 words Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Do you allow yourself to get tied up in your own writing problems? Here are five strategies to try the next time you get stuck. My husband and I were in Oregon last week and spent several days on the Coast, home to some of the
5 writing lessons from the Oregon Trail Read More »
Word count: 661 words Reading time: About 2.5 minutes Do you ever take a holiday from your writing? Here’s why you should consider it…. I just participated in a 10-day, two-person workshop designed to improve my writing. It required me to take a plane to a different country and it meant I had to work
Time to take a break? Read More »
Word count: 295 words 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 writers. Today I find an interesting piece on the problem of too much attention. I usually work with writers who are distracted beyond
The opposite of distracted… Read More »
Word count: 756 words Reading time: About 3 minutes Being called a copycat is generally an insult. Instead, I think it’s a valuable tool for writers to try… If you’d been able to sneak into my home office last Wednesday at 6:15 am, you would have found me hunched over my computer, coping text from
Why you should be a copycat Read More »
Word count: 263 words 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 writers. Today, I look at the topic of time management in a new book by Elizabeth Grace Saunders. I’ve told you before that I’m
The 3 secrets to effective time investment Read More »
Word count: 697 words Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Do you ever get stopped in your tracks by writing criticism? Here’s how you should deal with that particular type of “black ice”…. I’d heard the dire warnings on the morning news. “The roads are covered with black ice. It’s a skating rink out there.”
Beware of black ice Read More »
Word count: 332 words 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 writers. Today, I discuss the idea of quiet writing. I spend much of my life reading about writing. Few essays capture the
Pursuing the mantra of quiet writing Read More »
