Repetition is a powerfully persuasive tool. Here’s how to make any speech (or article or blog post) more persuasive.

My fellow Doctor Who fans will instantly recognize “The Power of Three” as an episode in which Earth was invaded by an infinite number of seemingly identical cubes.

That’s repetition for you.

In speechwriting, or in any persuasive writing, the Power of Three takes on a more practical meaning. You can drive home your point more effectively by saying three short sentences, each one similar, but each one different. [Read more…]

What does it take to be a writer? Here are some traits that can help.

This is the seventh installment in a series that began as just a few random thoughts that I had to publish somewhere. When you gotta write, you gotta write.

If you have what it takes to be a writer, you’ll probably want to read the previous editions, so here they are: [Read more…]

Is there a writer in you, just itching to burst forth? Here are 54 tell-tale signs!

This is the sixth installment in a series of self-help tests to help secret writers and not-so-secret writers proclaim their affliction.

If you can’t get enough or are still uncertain, never fear! Here are the previous five installments to help coax that hidden writer out into the open: [Read more…]

If you plan to procrastinate, you might as well do so with something to challenge your inner wordmaster.

Neurolinguistics professor Alice Howland (Julianne Moore) played it as a way to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s in the movie “Still Alice”.

Many of your writer friends probably play it.

You might, too.

Words With Friends. Better than Solitaire or WoW (World of Warcraft) as a procrastination tool, you rationalize. I mean, at least this game has something to do with writing. Welcome to the moral high ground. [Read more…]

Motivational quotes capture people’s imagination. What’s so special about these portable tidbits of wisdom?

I am currently ghostwriting a book about stock market investment strategies. Yes, it’s a topic that is all about numbers. But don’t worry – the way I write it, readers will stay awake. One little trick in this book is that each chapter begins with a motivational quote, something to put the reader in the frame of mind to think about what’s coming up next. [Read more…]