I am constantly exhorting writers to avoid adverbs, but to use instead “strong verbs”. And they respond by saying, “Okay, but what is a strong verb, and how do we […]
Let’s make the world a better place AC (After Corona) Nothing is certain. So, if Covid 19 has taught us anything, it is that we should seize the day and […]
Some critics have called Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina the greatest novel ever to have been written. Be that as it may, I want to devote today’s rumination to a single conversation […]
I love it when good writers give advice on “small issues”. When would-be writers sit at the feet of writers they admire, they’re often looking for pointers on the grand […]
We want to be part of the solution. We can’t do anything about the virus, but hopefully we can make your lockdown easier to bear. And we know you’re anxious: […]
To be a writer, of fiction or nonfiction, one needs an immense amount of creativity. Coming up with new worlds, evoking places in the reader’s imagination, conjuring up characters, crafting [...]
There are on the lake on which our houseboat is moored cormorants and swans, black-headed gulls and common terns, mallard ducks and moorhens, a resident heron, a pair of crested […]
I was listening to someone quoting Elmore Leonard the other day – and then she laughed. And she’s right: he is funny. I mean, “Leave out the bits that readers […]
There are at least two reasons that writers should always have a book on their bedside table, or be immersed in several books simultaneously. (The New York Times regularly runs […]
We’ve decided, through the lock-down, and perhaps beyond, to run a series of free webinars to keep you going through these interesting times. We’re holding the next one on Wednesday […]