This week's podcast is from the Writing Secrets book, specifically, part of the Preface.
A funny thing happened on the way to this recording. I felt as if the words were not quite right. They didn't sound like me. So I cycled until they did sound like me.
Then I realized what had happened. I use Grammarly—judiciously—to edit when I am done. I was not sufficiently judicious this time. Instead, I allowed Grammarly to “polish” my words—just as I discussed in this part of the Preface.
Face-palm.
I unpolished those words and now, they sound just like me. What a relief.
Enjoy!
The Podcast:
The Transcript:
This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for April 10, 2026, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress.
This is part of the Preface from the upcoming Writing Secrets book.
Then, there was the editing. Some of these writers “polished” their words to death. Instead of fixing their ideas, they “fixed” their words.
As a result, their writing bored me, never mind the site’s readers.
Then, a funny thing happened.
The more feedback I offered them, the more I could see how to use that feedback in my own writing.
As a result, the more coaching I did, the better my writing became.
The Video:
The video link is here.