Rosanne Cash has been writing songs for over three decades, most recently releasing the critically acclaimed album Black Cadillac in 2006. But she doesn't limit herself just to music. "My liveliest cottage industry now is writing for magazines," she says. And besides contributing essays to The New York Times, New York Magazine, Martha Stewart Living and other publications, Rosanne has also written a book of short stories and a children's book. We here at the Visual Thesaurus were thrilled to have a fascinating conversation with Rosanne about her work: Continue reading...

Ready to step up to the podium and wow 'em? Okay, we thought you might need a little boost. Great public speakers aren't born that way. These blogs help you develop the skills you need to sizzle in front of an audience:

Great Public Speaking

Speak Schmeak

Public Speaking Sucker

HELLO, My Name is BLOG

Executive Speech Coach

Sparrow, a pundit poet from Phoenicia, New York, graciously contributed the following column.

Nouns are becoming verbs faster than ever before. I've been "journaling" on this phenomenon, and here's my report:

In the Old Days, every new invention did not immediately become a verb. No one said: "I must electric canopener this tuna," or "Well, it's time to dishwasher." But ever since the Fall of Communism, new consumer items have been verbified. We do say: "I'll fax you that receipt," "Can you e-mail me the final figures?" "Let's microwave the taco," and "Shh! I'm text-messaging!" (In fact, "text-messaging" is giving way to the more direct "texting.")

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Jason Fried, director of software innovator 37 Signals, asks on the website Vitamin: "When you're in 'the zone' you get your best work done. But how do you get in that 'zone' when colleagues, e-mails and IM are vying for your attention?" Read Jason's answer here.

Nancy Wells is a VT subscriber and senior copywriter from Chicago, IL. She graciously sent us this list of sites where she goes for creative inspiration -- when she's not using the Visual Thesaurus! As Nancy told us, "the Visual Thesaurus is on my bookmark bar nestled between Google and the Chicago Tribune. I go to company brainstorm sessions with my computer and get on the VT for ideas." Thanks for your support, Nancy!

Google Image Labeler "Gets my brain warmed up for thinking of headline and copy ideas."

Creative Ideas

Malcolm Gladwell's column.

Word Spy

Buzzwhack

Finally, Nancy asks you, our fine subscribers: "Where do you get ideas and inspiration?"

Please let us know...

When I am up against a deadline and I absolutely, definitely have to get on with my work, I use a few tactics to force myself to concentrate:

1. Switch off email. I don't start Outlook (or if I do, I disable all the notifications that tell me I have new mail).



2. Isolate myself. I use Bose noise-canceling headphones but don't plug them into anything. The silence really is golden.



3. Greed and guilt. I remind myself how much money I'm getting paid for a particular assignment and how ashamed I will be if I miss the deadline. This actually works sometimes.



4. Stop with the blog already. When I'm pressed for time, distractions like blogging and tidying up become very compelling. Knowing this makes it easier to resist.


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As the executive editor of the award-winning magazine Saveur and author of the soon-to-be-released W. W. Norton book Cradle of Flavor, on the cooking of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, James Oseland is celebrated for his writing about food -- just don't call him a "food writer." We caught up with James to ask him to parse this distinction, and tell us what makes for compelling writing on the subject of food:

VT: Is there such a thing as "food writing?"

James: We have a tendency to categorize in our culture, so we think of "food writing" as a thing, "science writing" as a thing, the work of a novelist as a thing. But good writing is good writing. It's essentially all the same thing, you know what I'm saying?

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