My 20-year-old son, who's studying to become an opera singer, last year gave me a complaint he'd written about one of his professors. He wanted to know if it was "too harsh." More importantly, because the complaint was to be anonymous, he wanted reassurance it couldn't be traced back to him.  Continue reading...

Many writers today strive to avoid the passive voice. Do you know what I mean by passive? Don't be too quick to say yes!  Continue reading...

You may wonder why, shortly after waking up every morning, I head upstairs to my office and lie down on the floor and cover myself with a blanket. You'd think, after seven hours of sleep, I wouldn't need to lie down again. But I'm not just lying down; I'm meditating.  Continue reading...

Is your writing as productive as it needs to be? Here's a checklist that will help you do better... from "Do the most important job first" to "When overwhelmed, just write a little."  Continue reading...

People often have the totally wrong idea that they need to have been born creative in order to write. While being born certain ways can help your writing a lot — being born wealthy means you may not have to worry about money; being born a good proofreader means you'll catch most of your own typos — creativity doesn't even count on the list of concerns you should fret about.  Continue reading...

Are you a writer so addicted to self-sabotage that you regularly trash-talk to yourself? You know what I mean. You say things like: "I really don't know how to write..." "My boss is going to hate this..." "Readers are going to be so bored..."  Continue reading...