In her 1989 book The Writing Life, Annie Dillard describes a fellow writer who was asked by a student if she thought he might become a writer. “Well, do you like sentences?” the fellow writer said.

Parallel Power This points to one of the simplest and easiest tricks to help you say things with more impact: Recast the flow of your words into repeating patterns. Create a prime and a follow-up (or ...

You may remember those kids in grade school who struggled to "get it." The concept of paragraphing seemed to elude them, so their words spilled out on paper in a haphazard frenzy. Their work became ...

“Plop plop, fizz fizz, oh what a relief it is.” You might have thought that only the pill that goes with that jingle creates relief. But science suggests the jingle’s wording itself elicits relief.