JoAnn T.
Subscriber since: March 2009
About Me
I am hardly a philologist, but a poser perhaps. Of course I love looking up definitions/synonyms in order to put a fine point on a subject. I dislike using the same adverb or adjective more than once in any given letter. I edit my writing to the point of rediculousness and would often prefer to talk on the phone to someone than give a description in an email. I am an avid believer in the one page letter, as being the most convincing tool for communicating ideas in a format that is most likely to be read to the finish and pack a wallop.
I can also be found on:
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Least Favorite Word:

crap
My children insist that this isn't a bad word. I hate it. Frankly my least favorite word begins with an f and doesn't even bear typing.
Other subscribers who dislike this word:

Favorite Topics:

Creativity:

Calling All Writers: Introducing Figment
May 16, 2011
SciPlay, So Far
November 30, 2010 - 2 Comments

Dictionaries:

A Taxing Day for Dictionaries
April 15, 2013
A Worldly Tour of the Oxford English Dictionary
January 23, 2013 - 3 Comments

Fiction writing:

The Power of General Statements
January 23, 2012 - 15 Comments
The Writer-Reader-Character Bond
August 8, 2011 - 12 Comments

Fun:

How "Baloney" Got Phony
May 3, 2013 - 2 Comments
Gentleman Turkeys and Other High-Class Gobbledygook
premium content - available only to Visual Thesaurus subcribers May 2, 2013 - 2 Comments

Grammar:

Such Examples as These
premium content - available only to Visual Thesaurus subcribers May 20, 2013
Orwell and Singular "They"
premium content - available only to Visual Thesaurus subcribers May 6, 2013 - 5 Comments

How to write:

How to Overcome Your Writing Shame
premium content - available only to Visual Thesaurus subcribers May 13, 2013 - 4 Comments
10 Non-Writing Activities That Will Improve Your Writing
premium content - available only to Visual Thesaurus subcribers April 15, 2013 - 9 Comments

Linguistics:

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Meronymy?
May 1, 2013 - 11 Comments
What's Happening?
premium content - available only to Visual Thesaurus subcribers March 1, 2013 - 6 Comments

Reading:

Staring, Glancing and Glaring Through Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight"
March 7, 2013 - 2 Comments
Writing Packed with Life
February 4, 2013 - 5 Comments

Spelling:

Scripps National Spelling Bee Adds Vocabulary Questions
April 11, 2013 - 3 Comments
Rosanne Cash Knows Her "Ischium" at a Literary Spelling Bee
November 20, 2012 - 1 Comment

Storytelling:

Type Casting
January 24, 2012 - 2 Comments
Shakespeare and the Hurricane
October 12, 2011 - 5 Comments

Visual Thesaurus:

Word Cloud: A Film Inspired by the Visual Thesaurus
August 24, 2012 - 5 Comments
Reconsidering the Thesaurus
April 2, 2012

Word Origins:

Season Openers: Baseball Terms and Myths
premium content - available only to Visual Thesaurus subcribers April 23, 2013
March Madness: Are You Betting on "Chalk"?
March 22, 2013

WordMasters:

WordMasters: Grade 3 Blue Division Jan-Feb '11
January 31, 2011
WordMasters: Grade 3 Gold Division Jan-Feb '11
January 31, 2011

Writing:

Balzac's "Lost Illusions": a Novel in Contrasts
premium content - available only to Visual Thesaurus subcribers May 14, 2013 - 2 Comments
How to Overcome Your Writing Shame
premium content - available only to Visual Thesaurus subcribers May 13, 2013 - 4 Comments

Young readers:

STEM, Literacy, and the Common Core Standards
August 21, 2012 - 3 Comments
A Teacher's Summer Reflections
June 13, 2012 - 2 Comments