Writer Isabel Allende offers this writing advice: “Show up, show up, show up, and after a while, the Muse shows up, too.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Isabel Allende’s Advice” One of my favorite quotations about writing comes...
The verb to kibitz has more than one meaning. It can mean “to chitchat” or “to look on giving unsolicited advice.” The word comes to English through Yiddish, and may derive from German Kiebitz, a reference to a folk belief that the bird is a...
An Upper Michigan listener with a form of dyslexia told us he wrote to Kurt Vonnegut years ago about his frustration with trying to become a published writer. Vonnegut wrote back, assuring that when you care enough about your subject, the right...
Steven Pinker’s new book, The Sense of Style, which Martha cites among her all-time favorite books about writing, has just the right message: don’t worry so much about the errors, because you’ll make them, and if writing isn’t fun, you’re doing it...
Another cocksure query letter received by the book agent at SlushPile Hell includes the line: “The writing is final, and I do not want it changed.” Okay, then. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “The Writing is Final” Grant, here’s...
Need a word for the cheerful but futile advice one offers despite knowing that the recipient’s efforts might not pan out? Try floptimism. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Floptimism” Grant, here’s another coined word involving...
