If you Google the word "English," one of the top three results -- ahead of giants like the BBC Learning English homepage -- will be a humble but entertaining website called Common Errors in English. It's run by a professor at Washington State University named Paul Brians, a professor specializing in the history of ideas. "This is just a sideline for me," Paul says. But a sideline that has gained a loyal worldwide following since he launched the site in 1997. Paul has now come out with a handy book version of his website called Common Errors in English Usage. (And a daily calendar, too.) We talked to him about his work, and navigating language pitfalls.

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Have a question about editing and style? These books can help:

New Hart's Rules: The Handbook of Style for Writers and Editors

The Oxford Essential Guide to Critical Writing

Rules for Writers

So when are you getting married? Subconsciously the idea for my book My Invisible Husband developed from hearing the question one too many times. It tells the tale of one woman's desperate attempt to stop this age-old question posed to all women at some point in their lives.

Being over 30, single and having no kids, people automatically assume the book is about my life. Those things are the few similarities I have with the 34 year old fictional character Nicolette (Nikki) Montana. My Invisible Husband is fiction and strictly a figment of my vivid imagination. Women who have had well meaning family members and friends invade their personal life can probably relate to Nikki and her plight.

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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.

Join the team that's creating the Visual Thesaurus and the software behind it. We're a downtown New York-based company and we're looking for talented people. Interested? Click here for details.

This much every writer knows is true: You don't get better by working in vacuum. You need feedback, criticism, a good ripping apart of your page every now and again. So where to find this kind of writerly tough love? (Gentle, too!) Author Julie Smith offers an innovative answer -- over the phone. A New Orleans resident and veteran writer, Julie began her career as a newspaper reporter and has won the prestigious Edgar Allan Poe Award for her mystery novels. She now teaches "distance learning" writing courses called WritersTrack, where students across the globe get on a conference call and get writing! We spoke to Julie about how to get the most out of writing instruction.

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