101 TV shows for writers...because we can't be writing all the time
A few years ago, the Writers Guild of America published its list of the 101 best written TV shows of all time. So even vegging out on the...
Cooking is easy
My first cookbook was a big, yellow-paged tome. It was from the days before glossy photo spreads. Before personal introductions from the...
Hidden Stories: the story behind the story
A lesson in journalism Nora Ephron’s high school journalism teacher once set the class an assignment to write an article for the student...
Atwood's ten rules for writing fiction
Take something to write on. Paper is good. In a pinch, pieces of wood or your arm will do...and nine more other gems here. #Writingadvice...
Why writing is a better hobby than dentistry
In her book The Sum of Our Days Isabel Allende tells how she’s often asked at cocktail parties what she does. When she responds that...
Why all art is a collaboration
A journalist friend of mine once said that she never asks for feedback because writing is a matter of personal taste, and so if she likes...
Advice from a Nobel prizewinner
In 1981, Peter H. Stone of The Paris Review sat down with Gabriel García Márquez in his studio in Mexico City to discuss the art of...
Under-bums & half-asses: life as a bilingual writer
I discovered a new word in English the other day. It’s something I’ve known for ages in Spanish. Now, I finally know it in my mother...