Write Like a Pro: Ersun Warncke

Where writing and billion-dollar tech collideThis week’s Write Like A Pro interview features Ersun Warncke, a senior software engineer with over 15 years multinational experience. He’s also my younger brother, so I’ve had a front-row seat to his dazzling verbal and...

Narrative Boundaries

Writing the authentic selfWhere does your narrative begin and end? Never mind inciting incidents and resolutions; tell me where the borders are in your story about who you are, what people are like, how the world works and where you fit in it. If we assess our...

Write Like a Pro: Alazne Portela Huerta

How a Biotechnology student uses wordsThis week’s Write Like A Pro interview features Alazne Portela Huerta, a third-year biotechnology student at the Universitat Politècnica de València (Valencia Polytechnic University), Spain’s top-ranked biotech program.A lively...

Success in the Present Tense

Your finest moment is now Not long ago, I spoke to my best friend from university. She is a hilarious, wise, accomplished woman who happens to be the CEO of a publicly traded company and mother of two brilliant children. Of a mutual college friend, she remarked: “He...

Story Hour: '502' by Lucia Berlin

It is a grim day and I have a cold. One of my comfort books is Lucia Berlin’s A Manual for Cleaning Women. The short story I’m reading, ‘502’, is characteristically sharp, tragicomic, clear-eyed and subtle. Like the rest of the collection, it begs to be read again and...

What is a Thesis Statement?

Tackling the student writer’s biggest challenge I am developing a modular essay-writing course for student writers, working title: Essay Accelerator.Over years of teaching, I’ve found students from all backgrounds struggle with understanding what an academic...

Write Like a Pro: Amy Butterworth

How a Disability Consultant writes towards changeThis week I’m delighted to share a Write Like A Pro interview with Amy Butterworth (LinkedIn), a Long Covid & Accessibility Consultant.Her wisdom is an ideal follow up to last week’s newsletter on empathy. If you...

Writing Empathy

Honing a double-edged sword The content below was originally paywalled.Understanding empathyA commonplace definition of empathy is ‘understanding other people’s feelings’ — but the quality of, or capacity for, empathy remains complex and hard to pin down. Empathy has...

Writing Acuity

Preventing age-related cognitive declineThe content below was originally paywalled.Age — if we’re lucky — comes to us allGiven the options, most are happy with that arrangement. Yet, ageing comes with a freight of worries. Fragilities may emerge and (unlike childhood)...

Writing To Learn

The Swiss-Army knife of intellectual instrumentsFor the past couple of weeks, I’ve focused on how writing can help navigate and ameliorate internal states such as difficult emotions or persistent distractions.To continue too long in this (albeit useful) vein might...