craft of writing

What does it mean to achieve mastery? What are its qualities, and what responsibilities does it bring? When do you get to call yourself an artist? Does the affirmation—and indeed declaration—of this come from without…

One of my lovely clients contacted me recently regarding his current manuscript. He ended his email with the words: “I am trying to encourage myself to keep going.” If you are a writer, then you…

As far as I’m aware, Vincent van Gogh never shared any explicit advice about writing. (If he did and you know of it, I’d be delighted to hear it.) What van Gogh did was draw…

Excuse me if I get a bit Zen for a moment. I’d like to share with you some thoughts on voice. Perhaps it is the association we make between words and their sounds that gives…

It is unlikely to come as any surprise to you that I think about words a lot. Not only do I engage with them deeply and daily in my editing work, but I also enjoy…

As anyone with a even passing awareness of who Maria Popova is and what she does will know, there is much to admire about her. She is the one-woman wonder behind Brainpickings, the the extraordinary…

I’ll admit I may be a bit biased about this. For almost six years now, since July 2010, I have written every day in my journal. I didn’t necessarily intend for this to happen, and…

It is a reminder I gave to the research students who I advised at university. It’s an assurance I give to the writers I work with today. And it’s something I heard author and memoirist…

I know I’m not the only one. I know it has happened to you too. It happened to one of my clients just the other day. We have been working together for over a year…