Benjamin McEvoy

Essays on writing, reading, and life

Grammarly Premium Review – Is It Worth It?

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Grammarly’s sleek video marketing campaign finally worked on me. As someone who has written every single day for the last ten years, I decided to see if Grammarly Premium lived up to the hype. I admit I was a little hesitant to try Grammarly. I anticipated a steep learning curve for a basic spell checker (old MS Word style with that […]

This Kurt Vonnegut Reading Homework Will Boost Your Appreciation Of Literature

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Our most beloved writers were often teachers of literature before or alongside their writing profession. David Foster Wallace, Stephen King, Zadie Smith, Brandon Sanderson (still teaching), Frank McCourt, John McPhee (still teaching), J. K. Rowling, Philip Pullman, and Kurt Vonnegut, to name just a few. I find it fascinating to dig up some remnants of […]

5 Top Habits for Writers in 2020

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People love talking about habits. They love reading about habits. And writers can be some of the worst offenders (hey, we’re dreamers, give us a break). We get so bogged down in the details – this habit, that habit, how to stack habits, how link habits, blah, blah, blah – that we often don’t even […]

Judy Blume Teaches Writing MasterClass Review

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I took the Judy Blume Teaches Writing MasterClass as part of the new MasterClass All Access Pass. You used to have to pay $90 for each individual MasterClass. Want to learn writing from James Patterson? Ninety bucks. Want to learn screenwriting from Aaron Sorkin? That’s another ninety. With so many great courses and world class […]

Test Drive A New Writing Routine (How I Write Fiction)

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Writing routines are like cars. You can test drive one for a few weeks and, if it gets you were you need to go, keep it. If your current one is starting to wear out – constantly popping flats, rocks flying through the AC, being overtaken by grannies who can’t see over the wheel – […]