Most press releases are boring. Even worse, some are annoying. And the people who send them can be even more annoying.
Read MoreBook review: Your Press Release Is Breaking My Heart
in Bookshelf
Proofreading, by Terry Freedman
The need for more intensive proofreading
Those people who implore us to always have someone else proofread a piece of writing are, annoyingly, completely correct.
Read MoreUsing codes when note-taking
You might think that recording an interview, and then transcribing it using an app like Otter, would be much faster than writing everything down at the time.
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Conversing, by Terry Freedman
An unexpected benefit of lockdown
Who would have thought that during lockdown, a time that you can venture out of your front door only if your life depends on it (or you’ve run out of milk), it’s been possible to have conversations with all sorts of people?
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No thanks!, by Terry Freedman
Writers: tear up the rule book!
Adverbs serve a purpose, or they wouldn’t exist, they would have fallen into disuse.
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Blogger, by Terry Freedman
7 things that every serious blogger should do
If you're going to blog, please don't disrespect your reader by publishing non-proofed copy, verbose (aka pompous) writing, gratuitous swearing, incorrect words and other horrors that could easily be avoided.
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Part of a blogging SWOT analysis using digital post-it notes, by Terry Freedman
The trials and tribulations of blogging as a SWOT analysis (Updated)
in News & views
Blogging is not necessarily easy. Even if writing itself is not a problem, there are several other factors that need to be taken into account.
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A tree, by Terry Freedman. I selected this photo to accompany the article because it’s expansive, reaching upwards and outwards, and flourishing. That’s what we writers should be like!
Writers: Use what you got!
in News & views
When Sugar Pi De Santo sang “Use what you got”, I’m fairly certain that she wasn’t referring to writing and getting articles published. However, the sentiment expressed, especially in the first verse, can be applied more generally.
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hazardous area by Terry Freedman
The basics of good technical writing
Technical writing may not sound like the most exciting thing in the world, but (a) there’s a great need for it and (b) a huge degree of satisfaction is gained from writing user manuals that ordinary mortals can understand.
Read MoreBudding writers should welcome antiplagiarism software
in Reflections
I like to think that had there been anti-plagiarism software around when I was at school, and had my English teacher used it, I’d have been saved years of wasting time looking for ways to make money. I’d have enjoyed more sleep too.
Read MoreA bang on the head as a cloze exercise
in Creative Writing, EiS, Oulipo
I failed to do much __________ , but I was pleased to have __________ a further 17% of my __________
Read MoreReview: Writing Tools, by Roy Peter Clark
Roy Peter Clark describes and analyses fifty five strategies for writers.
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Steps, by Terry Freedman
The professional writer: the stages of writing an article
Different people approach articles in different ways. I think it would be rather presumptuous of me to lay down the correct order of doing things. Therefore, this is a checklist of things to do.
Read MoreWhat I've learnt from experiments in style
in Creative Writing, EiS, Oulipo
On the face of it, experimenting with reworking a piece of writing is pointless. I mean, why bother?
Read MoreHamlet reimagined as the Dice Man
As you may know, the Dice Man makes all his decisions on the basis of a throw of the dice. Imagine if Hamlet was the Dice Man…
Read MoreReview: Storycraft, by Jack Hart
Like Chekhov's gun (if a gun appears in Act 1, it has to be fired at some point), actions like someone clearing their throat are pointless if they add nothing to how we see them as a character.
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Dystopian Visions, by Terry Freedman
Dystopian visions (Updated)
UPDATED! If you’ve never bothered with science fiction — it tends to be the poor cousin of literature — the stories I‘m looking at are, as I say, classics. All of them have really interesting, and prescient, scenarios. Some of them are even well-written!
Read MorePhotoPrompt #56: A park scene
I like photographing scenery in black and white, even though it may seem counterintuitive to do so.
Read MoreWriting the Oulipo: A Taster
This course will look at examples of constraints created by some of the Oulipo’s main proponents, including the Hundred Thousand Billion Sonnets, the Metro Poem, and others.
Read MoreYak the Oulipo: a taxi (Updated)
<Updated> You will need a novel and penguin and, if possible, a printed difficulty.
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