http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/?utm_source=rss Writers Talk About Writing Copyright 2009, Thinkmap Inc. All Rights Reserved. en Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/images/common/logo_on_white.gif http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/?utm_source=rss Search for a word in the Visual Thesaurus word http://www.visualthesaurus.com Word Count http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2072?utm_source=rss We were pleased to discover that the Visual Thesaurus has fans in the Blue Man Group, the highly creative outfit that has been producing theatrical shows and concerts for the past two decades. We talked to one of the original Blue Men, Matt Goldman, about how the group has drawn on the Visual Thesaurus for inspiration in both their stage productions and in their latest venture, an innovative pre-K and elementary school known as the Blue School. Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2072 Word Count http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2070?utm_source=rss Wendalyn Nichols, editor of the Copyediting newsletter, offers useful tips to copy editors and anyone else who prizes clear and orderly writing. Here she looks at some pitfalls in using the word proscribe. Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2070 Word Count http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2067?utm_source=rss University of Illinois linguist Dennis Baron explains how a simple grammar lesson can lead to a clash of civilizations. Everybody knows that a noun is the name of a person, place, or thing. It's one of those undeniable facts of daily life, a fact we seldom question until we meet up with a case that doesn't quite fit the way we're used to viewing things. Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2067 Word Count http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2065?utm_source=rss We welcome Ben H. Winters, who follows up the runaway success of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies with his own Jane Austen mashup, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. As the publisher, Quirk Books, explains, "Winters expands the original text of Austen's beloved novel with all-new scenes of giant lobsters, rampaging octopi, two-headed sea serpents, swashbuckling pirates, and other seaworthy creatures." Hmm... octopi? Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2065 Word Count http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2060?utm_source=rss Back when I went to high school (that would be in the dark ages when our cave classrooms were lit with Survivor-style torches and we chiseled hieroglyphs onto the walls) I did really well in English, social studies, and law. But I barely survived math. Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2060 Word Count http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2058?utm_source=rss Do you know what it means to dogfood a product? Have you ever taken part in a bug bash? Mike Pope, a technical editor at Microsoft, takes us on a tour of some of the quirky jargon that has sprung up at the software giant. Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2058 Word Count http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2017?utm_source=rss Wendalyn Nichols, editor of the Copyediting newsletter, offers useful tips to copy editors and anyone else who prizes clear and orderly writing. Here she illuminates the proper usage of the surprisingly tricky word "regard." Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2017 Word Count http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2013?utm_source=rss Michael Lydon, a well-known writer on popular music since the 1960s, has for many years also been writing about writing. Lydon's essays, written with a colloquial clarity, shed fresh light on familiar and not so familiar aspects of the writing art. Here Lydon expounds on phrasing, "one of writing's most ingenious tools." Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2013 Word Count http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2008?utm_source=rss I was invoicing a client recently and realized I didn't have his address. I'd worked for him only briefly, by email — we'd never even spoken by phone — but I knew his group had a website. Quickly, I Googled him to find the "contact us" page and, fortunately, it contained his street address. Better yet, the site was beautiful — it featured gorgeous photography and was easy to navigate. But there was one big problem. Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2008 Word Count http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2006?utm_source=rss Wendalyn Nichols, editor of the Copyediting newsletter, offers useful tips to copy editors and anyone else who prizes clear and orderly writing. Here she tackles the question, "Why do we say a baseball player 'flied out,' not 'flew out'?" Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2006