I’m a writer. So I like to write about writing. I have also compiled a list of Writing Resources, which I may update from time to time.
Hi. My name is Melanie and I am laodicean – pococurante, even – when it comes to being cymotrichous. That. Sounded. Weird. But one day it may not. I just used two winning words from previous National Spelling Bees, the 2012 edition is currently taking place in Washington, DC, and on your ESPN screens. Laodicean,…
For as long as I can remember, I have known that the first day of August was the day that MTV launched. It’s one of those anniversaries that has generational significance, like the moon landing (a nod to MTV’s original promo). It’s kinda sad that MTV doesn’t really show videos anymore. Or, is it? I…
Newsletters have been around forever. But every couple of years they become the hot new thing. Thanks to services like Mailchimp then TinyLetter and now Substack, writers who have wanted to reach audiences via email can do so in an easy way. Just sign up and start writing. The services take care of the rest…
I’m doing it. Here I am on the first day of NaNoWriMo — National Novel Writing Month — tapping away in a WordPress window. I am writing. Or, should I say, I #amwriting? I don’t have to write a novel. But that’s what a lot of other writers are doing this month. The goal for…
I’ve been freelancing on and off for more than 15 years. While I’ve been lucky to land some decent-paying projects with a few well-known publishers and online outlets, I’ve always wondered whether there is a secret formula to getting more work. In fact, there is a secret formula to getting more freelance assignments, just as…
I’ve long enjoyed the website/Twitter feed Letters of Note, which resurrects correspondence between famous people or personal notes recalling significant historical events. In cleaning up my office today, I stumbled upon my own letter of note from a since-departed university professor who taught a class on “The End of History.” Professor Albert Mott was an…
With friends like this, who needs to worry about FOMO?
I used to think that George Bernard Shaw’s habit of stopping after completing his daily quota of exactly five pages, even if he were in the middle of a sentence, was simply a sign of his eccentricity. But I now realize that he was being canny. A big obstacle to starting to write is not…
If you’re reading this, it’s probably because you just stopped whatever writing you are pretending to do and googled “distraction-free writing apps.” So, let’s be clear: you’re the distraction.