Short Version: In this fascinating book, Deborah Tannen explores how mismatched conversational styles affect women and men in the workplace. I highly recommend it for writers, as well as anyone who works with other people. Long Version: We each develop certain conversational habits and styles during our lives. The words we use when speaking reflect […]
What I Learned about Writing from Narrating Audiobooks
Creating an audiobook is not a trivial task. As a nonfiction author, I’ve decided to narrate my own books rather than hiring it out to the professionals. I hope that audiobook readers cut nonfiction authors some slack. There is something authentic about hearing the author’s own voice in the words. Or so I tell myself. […]
The Misinformation Age: A Book Review
Short Version The Misinformation Age by Cailin O’Connor and James Owen Weatherall offers important insight for scientists, journalists, nonfiction writers, and anyone who wants to combat the spread of false beliefs. Long Version: How Misinformation Spreads and What We Can Do About It “Individually rational agents can form groups that are not rational at all.” […]
Be Impatient. Be Patient. Write.
F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote: “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” First-rate writers need to do something similar: sustaining patience and impatience. Being patiently impatient, if that’s possible. Impatience motivates Many writers are driven […]
Are You Preaching or Persuading?
Tell me if this is familiar: You read an opinion piece in the local paper in which someone lays out an impassioned case on an issue. If you already agree with the writer, you think, “Amen!” And if you don’t, you think, “Geeze, that person is really ranting about that topic.” That is, if you read […]
The Pause Before Publishing
Savoring the Moment of Possibility A diver stands poised at the edge of the board in a competition, and everyone hushes and watches. The orchestra stops its cacophonous tuning in a full house and awaits the conductor’s arrival. The audience quiets, anticipating the performance to come in silence. Some moments are ripe with anticipation and possibility. Writing […]
