First, let’s get this out of the way: Rumors of Gordon Lightfoot’s death, which have circulated on social media for 20 years now, continue to be premature. Apparently the Canadian…

The news just never takes a rest, does it? Or maybe it’s a variation on the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, aka frequency bias: Once you’ve tapped into a certain story, related stories…

I had an exchange the other night with my 4 ½-year-old daughter about what qualifies as a story. Who knew one of the joys of parenthood would be to see…

Writing, at its best, is a visual art. It makes readers see. It paints scenes and action and characters in their minds. Brain science studies indicate that people actually hear…

A few words on social media. I’m not going to get mired in the meta-mess that is Meta, the New&Never Improved Facebook. That’s well-trod territory. I admire and envy friends…

Pitching a story you want to pursue is not the time to hide your light under that proverbial bushel — or to sell what you can't deliver

For the past five years, John Woodrow Cox has worked to master the art of helping children talk about a fraught but rarely covered subject — the long-term physical and…

Some book purists may cringe at this, but one test of a great book, to me, is how many pages are dogeared by the time I finish. Those are the…

As a columnist and a memoir writer, a fundamental question I confront when I begin a piece is this: Do I view and portray this topic as black-and-white, or do…

EDITOR’S NOTE: Last week and this, we’re offering support to editors and educators for how to guide writers through an effective nut graf — however you spell it and whatever…