Sabina Varga
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Content as a system, not just parts
Treat content as a system, or it won’t work. The idea of looking at content holistically, not just as parts, isn’t new, though in my experience, few really apply it. And, lately, I’ve seen it framed as something new, driven by AI (of course, everything is nowadays) and changing SEO and social media algorithms. While…
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Writing Takes Time, Direction, and a Bit of Pain
Lessons from my conversation with José Luís Peixoto I met José Luís Peixoto at FILIT in 2021 where I interviewed him for Zest Podcast. Today I’m revisiting some of the ideas that stuck with me, because there were plenty. Decide before you start José told me he’s strict about knowing where a book is going…
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The Yoda Approach to Writing
A few years ago, on Zest Podcast, I had the chance to speak with journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Jacqui Banaszynski about writing, motivation, and the ever-present topic of writer’s block. Jacqui has spent decades reporting, editing, and teaching journalism. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 and today edits Nieman Storyboard and mentors writers…
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Write Like No One Is Going to Read It
When Markus Zusak joined the Zest Podcast at FILIT Iași, he voiced an idea that many aspiring writers secretly carry: no one is going to read this. While writing The Book Thief, he believed it would be his least successful book. As he put it during our conversation, how could anyone enthusiastically recommend a novel…
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AI Can Help You Write. But It Won’t Make You Credible
So much of today’s business writing simply lacks credibility. AI is part of the problem, but only because it proliferates it. Bad writing existed way before ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. The truth is that if you know how to write well without AI, you can also direct AI to write well for you. If you…
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What “Good Writing” Means in a Business Context
Many people are afraid that they’re going to write badly, when, in fact, there is no common definition of “good”. Or maybe that’s the problem. How can you orient yourself when “good writing” is so subjective? In math, 2+2=4 is a correct equation, and that’s the end of the story. In writing, you can respect…
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Ce să faci în Tenerife (în 46 de zile sau mai puțin)
Un loc cu primăvară perpetuă. O insulă cu plaje line și abrupte. Multe cărări de explorat și peisaje de admirat, de la culmile selenare ale vulcanilor, la canioane în care mișună șopârle printre cactuși și palmieri. Am ales Tenerife mai întâi pentru o vacanță de o săptămână, la finalul lui august 2024. Apoi am plănuit…
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Când se lasă seara peste București
Mă întorc spre mine și zic, unde ești? Am mintea goală. Sau plină de ceață. Oricum, nu se vede mare lucru. Arunc resturi de mâncare cu tot cu cuvinte, idei și păreri. Pun vasele în mașină și-mi spăl vinovăția. M-am enervat, poate am țipat. Am zis: fii și tu cooperant! Mă uit în zare și…