Martha Barnette, the host of public radio's A Way With Words, recommends these sites on language:

World Wide Words (See our interview here)

Word Origins

In this lesson, students are introduced to the basic functions of the Visual Thesaurus by comparing and contrasting the use of a traditional dictionary and the use of the Visual Thesaurus to explore a word's meaning.  Continue reading...

I was inspired to write my first novel, Maisie Dobbs, by the character herself, who appeared in my mind's eye as I allowed my imagination to wander while stuck in traffic. I have referred to that spark of creativity as a moment of "artistic grace." It best describes the experience that led me to rush home from work later that day to begin writing, because by the time I started my car to drive home, I had the entire story in my head.

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It's official: The American Dialect Society has voted "plutoed" as their 2006 Word of the Year. The word derives from Pluto, which lost its "planet" status last year, of course. Wondering what plutoed means? Please click here.

Writers write, designers design, right? Not so fast, says Derek Powazek. The designer of award-winning websites and an accomplished writer and photographer, his company publishes JPG, a photography magazine that's both a community-driven website and a printed publication. Derek says it's critical for designers to think about writing, too. He spoke to us about the connection:

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These sites offer poets, poems, even tips on how to "win" at poetry workshops:

Poetry.org

Poetry X

The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church

Poetry Slam Incorporated

Electronic Poetry Center

When I talk to people about how to improve their writing, I often begin by suggesting we go for a metaphorical helicopter ride. We start by walking toward the whirling beast...Whappa, whappa, whappa. Our hair is whipped 'round our faces and we duck to protect our precious necks as we walk under the madly spinning blades. We scramble inside the door, stow our briefcases under the seats and pop on a pair of noise-cancelling headphones. Phew!

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