Reading time: About 3 minutes Join me this week as I take an important detour into the concept of protecting your health while you write. Contractors and nurses may need to take certain steps to prevent injury, but so do writers. And one of the biggest secrets is remembering to breathe! A few days before […]
Do you suffer from writing apnea? Read More »
Reading time: Just over 3 minutes Some writers try to figure out what they want to say by writing. Here’s why you should think first, write later…. Here are the mistakes I see some (not all!) academic writers make: They use the passive voice too much, hiding the ‘actor’ of the sentence (e.g. “Mistakes were
Think first. Write later. Read More »
Reading time: Just over 3 minutes Do you have enough writing confidence to be able to get on paper whatever it is that you need to write? Confidence is surprisingly important to the act of writing… Are you equal to the task of hosting a dinner party for 12 people? What about playing a piano
Are you up to the task of writing? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes You’ve probably heard the term “emotional intelligence” lots of times. Did you know it was something that could help writers do their work better? I read the bestselling book Emotional Intelligence — also known as EI — by Daniel Goleman, in 1996 when my kids were two years old.
Why do the best writers have the most emotional intelligence? Read More »
Reading time: Just over 3 minutes Do you ever give yourself treats for writing? You should. Take five minutes right now and develop a reward strategy you can employ to bolster your spirits… As any six-year-old will tell you, Halloween is not just a holiday for ghosts and goblins. It celebrates the inner candy monster
Tricks and treats for writing Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Do you have enough mental toughness for writing? If not, here are four suggestions about how to increase it…. Have you ever noticed the similarities between writing and making music or exercising? Each of these activities requires practice, commitment and repetition and we get worse at them when we
Four ways to build mental toughness for writing Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Does the mere thought of writing make you feel exhausted? There are some good scientific reasons explaining why writing is so tiring… Do you spend most of your day sitting? And does it astonish you that you’re exhausted by the time the day ends? Our class-conscious society usually divides work
Why is writing so tiring? Read More »
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 written by Carl Richards, a financial planner and a New York Times columnist… I’ve been following Carl Richards for about
Writing advice from Carl Richards Read More »
Reading time: Just over 5 minutes How can you improve your writing? Here are 33 lessons I’ve learned over the past 33 years…. I accepted a job as a senior editor at a metropolitan daily newspaper some 33 years ago. Little did the company understand I knew almost nothing about writing when I took the
33 writing lessons from 33 years of writing… Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Ignoring advice may seem like a misguided idea, but sometimes it makes sense to do that. Here’s a description of when to go against what you’ve been told… After my blog post about an easy productivity hack last week, I received an email from a reader. “I’ve been doing five
When ignoring advice makes sense Read More »
