What they’re saying:
“Deft, generous, wise and insightful, Roy Jacobsen’s experience-based blog is one of the best bangs for the click that any writer will find on the Internet.”—Arthur Plotnik“Writing – Clear and Simple proves that it doesn’t take a professional to write clearly and with impact.” —Top 100 Blogs to Improve Your Writing in 2010
One of “The Top 30 Blogs on Writing” according to the Delaware Employment Law Blog.
"Your website rocks!"—William Van Benschoten
-
Category Archives: Writer’s toolbox
Simple structures for short messages
If you’re ever stuck for a way to organize some short content—an email message or a letter, for example—you can always steal borrow some ideas from public speakers: PREP, PEP, and Divide and Conquer.
Posted in Rhetorical devices, Writer's toolbox
Tagged Marshall, Lisa B., organization, speakers
Leave a comment
Agatha Christie and the Case of the Messy Notebooks
How did Agatha Christie—author of more than 70 novels, more than 140 short stories, and 22 plays—manage to generate and keep track of all of the ideas that went into her works? How did she develop the characters with their … Continue reading
The Art of the Quotation
It seems a bit odd, doesn’t it? We can give our own words sparkle, heft, and melody by using someone else’s. The long history of the art of quotation—shortly after Adam said the first words, somebody quoted him—amply proves its … Continue reading
Posted in Growing as a writer, Quotations, Writer's toolbox
1 Comment
Tool Time: Format your words with styles
I frequently collaborate on projects with several different people, exchanging documents to review and revise. And all too often, I see documents where all of the formatting—bold, italic, font, type size, and so on— has been set manually. That’s the … Continue reading
Posted in Writer's toolbox
2 Comments
Software review: myWriterTools
Yes, I know, I know. But I have an excuse: I’ve been a bit preoccupied with things like rising rivers lately. The Red River—not the one in Texas, but the one that runs north along the North Dakota-Minnesota border and … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews, Writer's toolbox
2 Comments
Document collaboration: Bringing it together with TextFlow
If you’ve ever had to work with other writers on a document, you know that the workflow can become a hassle. Who works on it when? You can trade the file back and forth by email, or by passing a … Continue reading
Posted in Writer's toolbox
2 Comments
Paper and pen
Author and blogger Tobias Buckell explains why pen and paper are much more than a last resort for a writer who doesn’t have access to a computer. On the contrary, sometimes they’re exactly the right tool for the job (as … Continue reading
Posted in Elsewhere on the Web, Writer's toolbox
6 Comments
The writer’s friends: Sticky notes and note cards
You might be surprised how much a stack of sticky notes or note cards can do for your writing. Last week, I said that I should give some practical advice to writers who are having trouble organizing their topics. Sometimes … Continue reading
Posted in Growing as a writer, Writer's toolbox
4 Comments
