Tag Archives: blog writing

Revise Those New Year’s Resolutions

Okay. It has been one month since many of us made New Year’s Resolutions, and it’s time for a reality check. How are they going? If you’re like most people, your answer is somewhere between “they’re going okay” and “ugh.” … Continue reading

Posted in The Power of Writing | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Revise Those New Year’s Resolutions

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly (Grammar)

America is an incredibly diverse culture. As diverse as we are, though, we seem to have one thing in common: none of us is immune to getting tripped up when it comes to whether we should say “good” or “well.” … Continue reading

Posted in Tips and Tricks | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly (Grammar)

Convene Your Mental Advisory Committee (MAC)

If drafting is about exploring options, revising is about making decisions. Decisions about what you want to say and how you want to communicate it. Decisions about where the heart of your writing is, what’s good, and what’s not. Decisions … Continue reading

Posted in Revision | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Convene Your Mental Advisory Committee (MAC)

Revision as Re-envisioning

 In a recent post, Write To Done’s Leo Babuta (of Zen Habits fame) discussed revision as primarily a process of simplifying.  The tips he provides in that post focus on removing the inessential and the verbose (the “cluttered” parts of … Continue reading

Posted in Revision, The Power of Writing | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

3 New Ways To Get Started Drafting

One reason I love personal productivity/life development/organization blogs is that they provide some great tips for overcoming procrastination.  The blogosphere is full of them, and they’re great fun to read.  (Check out Leo Babuta’s Top 20 Motivation Hacks – An … Continue reading

Posted in Productivity, The Writing Process | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Drafting Process: The Potter vs. The Sculptor

What is the difference between a novice writer and an experienced writer? It’s not the ideas, talent or creativity: an inexperienced writer can have a great idea just as a pro can. As I have said before, writing is a … Continue reading

Posted in The Writing Process | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

High Stakes Pronouns

As I’m sure you know, pronouns serve a key function in written communication. Because they have the power to stand in for nouns, they add remarkable ease and convenience to our everyday discourse. Just to review – in case it … Continue reading

Posted in Tips and Tricks | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

On Removing “Weakifiers”

In The 4-Hour Workweek, Tim Ferriss notes that in excess, almost anything takes on the characteristics of its opposite. When do possessions become clutter? When there are too many of them. I propose that we start applying this principle to … Continue reading

Posted in Tips and Tricks | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

9 Ways To Improve Your Life By Improving Your Writing, Part 3

This is part three of a three-part series. 7. Writing Increases Your Attention Span In An – oh, look! A pigeon! Ahem. Seriously, that kind of thing hardly ever happens when writing, even though it seems to happen constantly when … Continue reading

Posted in Productivity | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

9 Ways To Improve Your Life By Improving Your Writing, Part 2

This post is part two of a three-part series. While yesterday’s entries focused on what writing well can do for you, you don’t need to be good at writing to benefit from it.  Today’s three reasons explore ways even a … Continue reading

Posted in Productivity | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on 9 Ways To Improve Your Life By Improving Your Writing, Part 2