Daphne Gray-Grant : Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus

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Daphne Gray-Grant

A former daily newspaper editor, Daphne Gray-Grant is a writing and editing coach and the author of 8½ Steps to Writing Faster, Better. She offers a free weekly newsletter on her website Publication Coach.

I'm a big believer in the magic of three. You know — the three little pigs, the three Musketeers, the three Stooges. There's something ineffable but magical about a list of three. So, when I had three unrelated people forward me a Wall Street Journal article on the Pomodoro technique in less than a week, well, I took it as a sign. This was something I needed to investigate! Continue reading...

How to write, Writing

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One of my three children is dyslexic, but I taught the other two to read myself. It wasn't hard, but here's the deal — what I taught them wasn't so much reading as it was decoding. That is, I explained to them the various sounds that all the letters in the alphabet represent. For example, the letter e can sometimes sound like "eh" as in pen. But it can also sound like "ee" as in we. Continue reading...

How to write, Reading, Writing

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It was a cold and rainy winter evening. My husband and I drove downtown, found parking and then ran through the raindrops to find the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). Once inside, we were guided to a surprisingly large and airy studio and settled down in chairs with about 100 others. Moments later, host Sheryl Mackay and guest Rob Kapilow walked in. Continue reading...

How to write, Writing

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My 15-year-old daughter and I share many traits. We'd both rather eat a really good piece of cheese than a sweet. We share the belief that The Gilmore Girls was one of the funniest, most charming programs ever produced by network TV. And we both have scoliosis. Continue reading...

How to write, Writing

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Back when I went to high school (that would be in the dark ages when our cave classrooms were lit with Survivor-style torches and we chiseled hieroglyphs onto the walls) I did really well in English, social studies, and law. But I barely survived math. Continue reading...

Language arts, Teaching, Writing

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I was invoicing a client recently and realized I didn't have his address. I'd worked for him only briefly, by email — we'd never even spoken by phone — but I knew his group had a website. Quickly, I Googled him to find the "contact us" page and, fortunately, it contained his street address. Better yet, the site was beautiful — it featured gorgeous photography and was easy to navigate.

But there was one big problem. Continue reading...

Copywriting, How to write, Writing

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I bought a new chair recently. This decision was a key part of my ongoing campaign to improve my wretched back. I'm also seeing a personal trainer and going to a restorative yoga class. As you can probably tell, I'm both motivated and a little bit desperate. Continue reading...

How to write, Writing

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