When should you write in a language you learned later in life? Some people never do. They are monolingual and they only write in the one language they learned to speak and listen and read and write in as a child. That is true of fewer people than you might think. Some people always do.Continue reading “When should you write in a language you learned later in life?”
Tag Archives: writing about writing
Writing with Pleasure
Writing with Pleasure is a pleasure to read. I whizzed through it on the train down to facilitate a writing retreat. I was travelling to a pleasurable writing experience, with people I had written with before as individuals, though not in the same group. But I also knew the experience would be a pain. IContinue reading “Writing with Pleasure”
Social writing – a guide in Finnish
I am delighted to see this book come into being. Johanna Isosävi’s and Camilla Lindholm’s Yhteisöllisen kirjoittamisen opas (Art House 2023) came out last month. It’s the first guide to social writing in Finnish. The book is both practical and inspirational; it packs a lot into a handy paperback. Lindholm and Isosävi run social writingContinue reading “Social writing – a guide in Finnish”
Bodies, writing
We’ve been online and on screen too long. We need to get off, and get out. We know this, but we don’t do this. We need other people to help us do it, together. It’s three years since Covid-19 hit. I wrote about how it affected our writing then. Now, many things are back toContinue reading “Bodies, writing”
The carrier bag theory of fiction
If you read one thing about writing this year, try this. It’s tiny – but transformative. Ursula Le Guin’s own writing is beautiful and she writes about writing wisely, from Words are my Matter to Steering the Craft. But here she goes back to the first stories at the dawn of time and forward toContinue reading “The carrier bag theory of fiction”
Pitch your book
You have a great idea for a book, you’ve begun writing it, you’re sure your readers will appreciate it. You only have to convince a publisher. Where on earth do you start? I’m going to talk about non-fiction here, particularly about creative non-fiction. That means bringing ideas out of academia to a wider readership. I’llContinue reading “Pitch your book”
101 ways to write
Sometimes imposing restrictions on your writing can be freeing. Translators know about this. We turn other people’s words into new ones in a different language that doesn’t work the same way. To quote Ginger Rogers, we do everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards, in heels. If you want to ginger up your writing, get yourContinue reading “101 ways to write”
When to stop writing
Inspirational unlock-your-inner-novelist books, beware! Here’s a Nobelist to tell you like it is. To be fair to Szymborska, she’s not a grand old man of literature who looks down her nose. And when she was writing the letters published in this book, she did mention the Nobel, but not because she’d won it yet. BecauseContinue reading “When to stop writing”
Memory Speaks
Writing in your own language is not as easy as you might think. What if you have more than one language? What if your first language is so deeply buried within you, you have real trouble digging it out? What does that do to your brain, your heart, and the society you live in? InContinue reading “Memory Speaks”
King On Writing
I resisted reading King’s On Writing for a while. A friend doing a clearout passed it on. A colleague who’s committed to writing well reviewed it. And then my brother gave it to me as a late birthday present. “It’s good,” he said. So I read it, in a day. Here are ten things fromContinue reading “King On Writing”
Ridge Writing Retreats 