National Book Award winner Barry Lopez had wise advice for young writers. First, read widely and follow your curiosity. Second, travel or learn a foreign language. And third, find out what you truly believe, because if you’re not writing from...
In The Timbuktu Review, travel writer Wayne Curtis offers excellent advice about how to resist cliches when writing about visiting a new place. This is part of a complete episode.
Judy from Huntsville, Alabama, recalls her stepmother’s words of encouragement: He that hath a horn to toot and tooteth it not, the same shall not be tooted. This faux-formal bit of advice goes back at least to the 1850s. A variation goes:...
Images of birds flutter inside lots of English words and phrases, from “nest egg” and “pecking order,” to proverbs from around the world—including a lovely Spanish saying about how birds sense light just before dawn. Plus...
momtourage n.— «There’s a new word out there—momtourage—to describe that group of people who provide a mother with the support she needs to get the job done, especially as the new school year starts.» —“’Momtourages’ lend a...
trep n.— «While the Small Business Administration may be the granddaddy of all business sites, it’s SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), one of the SBA’s resource partners, that offers ‘treps help from those who’ve actually...