I logged a lot of years as a journalist before I made the leap into marketing. At first, writing marketing copy instead of filing stories seemed like a big change. But gradually I came to see my journalism training as an invaluable asset in my new career. In fact, I now believe that a journalism education is excellent preparation for writing of any kind.

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I was born in a small town, and I've lived mostly in small towns. When I write, that's where my stories are set, in places like those I know. The fiction I've always enjoyed reading features working-class characters that play roles, often unwittingly, in each other's lives, Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, for example, or William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County stories. Living in a small town, you witness human drama -- comedy, tragedy, often a weird blend of the two -- acted out every day on street corners, in kitchens and churches and coffee shops.

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Tom Asacker, marketing guru and author of A Clear Eye for Branding, writes the blog "a clear eye." In it he shares his thoughts on clarity, what he calls marketing's new task. Tom says: "Clarity should be the guiding principle behind every marketing effort. Clearness of thought. Clearness of appearance. Clearness of message. Clarity should inform every campaign, drive every question, and rationalize every dollar spent and every piece of data captured and analyzed." Read the piece here.

In her 30 year career as a copy editor, its no surprise Pam Nelson has seen her share of grammar foibles. Hey, kidding about "its!" Now a features copy editor at North Carolina's News & Observer, she also writes the newspaper's popular blog on usage called the Triangle Grammar Guide. Readers from Raleigh, Durham -- and around the world -- shoot Pam their questions, rankles, bloopers, even a photo or two. We spoke to Pam about her grammar blog:

VT: What kinds of usage conundrums ruffle your readers?

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Pam Nelson, veteran newspaper copy editor and author of the Triangle Grammar Guide blog suggests these books the next time you're tearing your hair out over "who" verses "whom."

Garner's Modern American Usage by Bryan A. Garner

Common Errors in English Usage by Paul Brians, and its related website

Working with Words by Brian S. Brooks

Rules for Writers by Diana Hacker

Veteran copy editor Pam Nelson, who we feature in this week's "Word Count" column, suggests these blogs on copy editing and language:

John McIntyre's You Don't Say

Bill Walsh's The Slot

Andy Bechtel's The Editor's Desk

Pam Robinson's Words at Work

There are different, competing claims about the origin of the term rule of thumb. I prefer the idea that it stems from the fact that the length from the tip of the thumb to the knuckle is about one inch (or if you're a pilot and you use 1:500,000 charts, about 10 nautical miles).

In any case, they are useful guidelines that make it easier to do something without thinking it through from first principles each time. Here are ten of mine as applied to writing:

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