Last fall, Visual Thesaurus editor Ben Zimmer wrote here and in his New York Times column about writers who use a we voice when truly they are I's writing personal opinions. In a few cases, Zimmer wrote, he'd accept using the plural pronoun for the singular, officially called nosism, from nos, we in Latin, but in general he deplored the practice. Using we for I opens writers up to "charges of gutlessness and self-importance," Zimmer wrote; "the we disease...continues to infect many written genres."  Continue reading...

When Tillie Harris goes into premature labor, she has no one to turn to but her estranged father. Their relationship has been strained since Tillie was eight years old and her mother mysteriously vanished. Up From the Blue follows young Tillie's startling discoveries about what happened to her mother, as well as grown Tillie's struggle with a relationship that’s stuck in the past.  Continue reading...

Is the bloom off your New Year's resolution rose? If so, you’re in good company. Four out of five people who make New Year's resolutions eventually break them. And 33 percent don’t even last till the end of January!  Continue reading...

To open a writing class at a recent conference of New York City high school newspaper kids, I wrote this sentence on the board:

The woman stood on the hillside and looked down at the valley below.

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We are pleased to present another excerpt from the new anthology entitled, One Word: Contemporary Writers on the Words They Love or Loathe, published by Sarabande Books. The editor, Molly McQuade, asked 66 writers the question, "What one word means the most to you, and why?" Among the essays McQuade has collected is "Interesting," by Jayson Iwen.  Continue reading...

If I'm feeling "down" or overwhelmed, nothing improves my mood faster than cleaning a desk, a drawer or a closet. Call me deranged, but I adore organizing. Perhaps that's why I was so happy a few years ago to stumble across the marvelous website Unclutterer hosted by Erin Doland. I skim through it every day.

Now, after interviewing her for this article I am, frankly, gobsmacked.  Continue reading...