Topic : Writing
"Writers struggle to get the right words down in the right order, to put every comma, or nearly every comma, in its proper place; and readers follow the writers' final sequence of words and commas as printed on the page," Michael Lydon writes, "but what happens between writer and reader is far more amorphous, more emotional than the precision needed for the process would suggest."
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Word CountWriters Talk About WritingDo Writers Really Need to Learn Math? December 13, 2011 By Daphne Gray-GrantI passed Grade 11 Math only by promising to never, ever, take math again. At the time, I thought it was a trick question! After seeing two of my kids struggle with learning disabilities, I now think I have dyscalculia. Regardless, I do an awful lot of basic arithmetic for my writing, and I think you might benefit from doing some too. Continue reading...Article Topics:Calling all writers! Here's a word to the wise: Self-publish, self-publish, self-publish! Continue reading... Article Topics:Word RoutesExploring the pathways of our lexiconLittle Commas Make Big Waves November 11, 2011 By Ben Zimmer
Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of taking part in a lively panel discussion entitled "More than a Century of Style," celebrating The Chicago Manual of Style. The event, held at the University of Chicago and sponsored by the public radio station WBEZ, brought out more than two hundred committed stylistas, with hundreds more tuning in to a live stream on Facebook. Here's an indication of the type of crowd that braved that rainy Chicago night: when University of Chicago Press managing editor Anita Samen announced that she was "passionately pro-serial-comma," she was met with rapturous applause.
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In physics class my high school junior year, I learned little, and of that little I remember little. Our brilliant though irascible teacher, Mr. Whitney, did, however, impress me with one fact of nature I've never forgotten.
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Word CountWriters Talk About WritingFive Ways to Get Your Inner Critic to Shut Up November 9, 2011 By Daphne Gray-Grant
One of my 17-year-old daughters sometimes slaps the side of her own head and says, "Stupid, stupid." I don't think anyone -- particularly not one of my kids -- should ever call themselves stupid. But I see writers doing it all the time.
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Article Topics:Teachers at WorkA column about teachingThe Trouble with Creative Writing November 8, 2011 By Michele Dunaway
The day after Halloween, my Facebook feed exploded with posts about numbers. "I've written 5,200 words!" one friend exclaimed. Another claimed to have written 2,300. Someone else only had 1,500. And so on.
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