#WritersCoffeeClub Jan 9. What’s your top tip for writing authentic dialogue?
Eavesdrop on random conversations around you -- at a cafe, on the bus or subway, the supermarket.
Writer. Art crime buff. Cautiously pessimistic. Tea drinker. The Owl and the Olive (2027ish). Published non-fiction, trying my pen at fiction. Current home: Athens, Greece.
#WritersCoffeeClub Jan 9. What’s your top tip for writing authentic dialogue?
Eavesdrop on random conversations around you -- at a cafe, on the bus or subway, the supermarket.
#WritersCoffeeClub 19 Dec. If you were to teach a writing course, what would be the most important lesson?
Grammar, vocabulary, and basic research. Recommended reading: a big, fat dictionary.
#WordWeavers 29/12: Do you tend to write stories in a certain season or geographical location?
Yes: where I live.
Indeed, why bother learning anything.
https://theconversation.com/if-ai-can-translate-instantly-why-learn-another-language-280310
I also see similarities in AI-written text and (mostly academic) papers I edit that were written in English by non-native speakers.
How AI-generated prose diverges from human writing and why it matters
https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/how-ai-generated-prose-diverges-human-writing-and-why-it-matters
I'm undeniably and irrevocably in the where-are-my-glasses phase of my life.
Hope the English language rights are among those sold:
I'm sure the woman at the yarn store meant well but, no, mohair isn't for the crochet novice. Also, she certainly had someone else in mind when she saying 'it won't take more than a couple of hours' to crochet a scarf. Because it's been three hours and I'm still sorting the slip knot and how to chain.
I read therefore I am.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/31/opinion/books-reading-crisis-libraries.html