Something struck me the other day about writing. It’s different from most desk-job workflows. Massively so. Let me put it this way. A typical ‘office job’, certainly at the kind of planning-and-control (‘manager’) level that writers have when working, involves a complex daily schedule of appointments. Time is divided up typically into hourly brackets, each … More Time-management and writing
One of the hardest things about writing is figuring out exactly how whatever you say will be received. It’s true of fiction and non-fiction alike. The issue works on several levels. You, as author, know what you mean, and when you’re checking the material for sense that’s what you read into it. Sometimes, basic word … More One of the hardest things about writing
I periodically find myself in conversation with people who start with ‘You’re a historian, so you must know…’ – and then ask me something about some obscure piece of trivia in an area I’ve never looked at. However, my answer’s the same every time: as Einstein said, I don’t need to keep stuff to that … More History’s all about shapes and patterns – and it’s all relative
It’s National November Writing Month – the month when writers around the world join in a quick-fire effort to complete a story of 50,000 words in just 30 days. I’m marking it this month by re-posting some of the material I’ve published in past years to help writers get to that goal. ++++++++++++++++++++++ As far … More Writing and sweating through NaNoWriMo
It’s National November Writing Month – the month when writers around the world join in a quick-fire effort to complete a story of 50,000 words in just 30 days. I’m marking it this month by re-posting some of the material I’ve published in past years to help writers get to that goal. ++++++++++++++++++++++ Nailing down … More Finding your writing style and voice
It’s National November Writing Month – the month when writers around the world join in a quick-fire effort to complete a story of 50,000 words in just 30 days. I’m marking it this month by re-posting some of the material I’ve published in past years to help writers get to that goal. ++++++++++++++++++++++ I’ve posted … More Write it now: how to make readers feel what you do when writing
It’s National November Writing Month – the month when writers around the world join in a quick-fire effort to complete a story of 50,000 words in just 30 days. I’m marking it this month by re-posting some of the material I’ve published in past years to help writers get to that goal. ++++++++++++++++++++++ Writers’ block … More Top tips to beat writers’ block
It’s National November Writing Month – the month when writers around the world join in a quick-fire effort to complete a story of 50,000 words in just 30 days. I’m marking it this month by re-posting some of the material I’ve published in past years to help writers get to that goal. ++++++++++++++++++++++ The big … More Pantsing or planning – that is the NaNoWriMo question
One of the most ubiquitous grammar traps in English is the sentence fragment. A sentence fragment is a phrase or set of phrases that look like they should be a sentence, but actually aren’t. Usually that’s because they lack either a verb or a subject, making them a ‘dependent clause’, because they depend on another … More Explaining the pitfalls of sentence fragments
I am intrigued by ‘disclaimers’ at the bottom of some You Tube videos, insisting ‘no copyright infringement intended’ and that copyright ‘remains with the holder’. Such statements reveal a profound ignorance of what copyright is – and how it’s breached. I’ve done quite a bit of professional work in this field, though what I’m about … More All about copyright and why You Tube disclaimers are wrong
Matthew Wright 
You must be logged in to post a comment.