Are creative writing courses are any good?
Jean Hannah Edelstein [http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com], friend of Write for Your Life and ace writer, answers the question: > The people who I know who’ve taken creative writing courses in the UK – particularly masters’ programmes – cite the time, space, and focus that they provide as the key benefits.
Things I know now that once I did not
It’s strange how much we take our skills and experience for granted. We go to work, enjoy our hobbies and, for the most part, think nothing of it. But it’s important to stop and take stock once in a while, look at what we’ve achieved and be
It's not the space age any more
Fantastic piece by David Hepworth on how people are starting to sound silly when they say things are too technical for them, or that they don’t understand computers: > Our adoption of this technology has been so seamless that we’ve been taught how to use the technology by
Write good stuff and be nice to people
Last week Write for Your Life gained its 2000th subscriber. To those of you who are thinking about or who have recently started blogging, that might seem like a big number. To the seasoned pro, you know that 2000 is but a drop in the ocean. It seems fitting then
There are no shortcuts
Jody Hedlund gets it spot on [http://jodyhedlund.blogspot.com/2011/09/expect-to-work-hard.html]: > Hard work has indeed been the primary ingredient in helping me climb forward in my writing career. There are no shortcuts. No easy paths. And anyone who thinks so is terribly deluded. I think most
How to write good hyperlinks
Click here. Find out more. Check this out. Every day on my internet travels I see hyperlinks written like this, where the link itself, when taken out of context, is entirely meaningless. This is not the way to write hyperlinks, for plenty of reasons. Links should have meaning The first
Goodbye sweet monsters
As you might have noticed, Write for Your Life looks a little different. A little less colourful. Barely an illustrated monster in sight. After much thought, I’ve decided to make the site more about me and less about trying to find an image for posts or entering data into
Why the Amazon Kindle might be the new iPod
A couple of weeks ago, MG Siegler of TechCrunch fame confirmed that there will be a new Kindle coming soon [http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/02/amazon-kindle-tablet/], and that it will be an e-ink-free tablet: > It’s called simply the “Amazon Kindle”. But it’s not like any Kindle
Who wants to be right all the time?
I’m part of a merry band of men who go by the name of Read & Trust [http://readandtrust.com]. Every week, one of us writes an article which goes out by email to 100s of subscribers who very kindly pay $5 for the privilege. This week’s article
If you're writing, you're writing
I’m a huge fan of plain English. Many writers aren’t. Some people think that plain English is about dumbing down and removing the personality from a piece of writing. I think quite the opposite. For me, plain English is about finding a way to say what you have