Listening to language-related tips, talk, stories, controversies, usage questions and even a joke or two, that is. Where? On these language podcasts and internet broadcasts:

Grammar Girl

Australia's Lingua Franca

BBC's Word of Mouth

The Word Nerds

I used to be a freelance journalist. I gave up and went over to the dark (corporate) side where I am now a copywriter for big tech companies. This is a summary of a longer post on my blog that tries to sum up whatever lessons I can remember about being a freelance hack. Your mileage may vary.  Continue reading...

Yes, yes, we know Labor Day is just a week away. But when we heard these late-August book picks on NPR from the fantastic literary blog The Millions we thought, hmm, they'll help you stretch your summer reading, at least, all the way to winter!

Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow

Pastoralia by George Saunders

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll by Alvaro Mutis

A what alert? Their site explains: "A ficlet is a short story that enables you to collaborate with the world.Once you've written and shared your ficlet, any other user can pick up the narrative thread by adding a prequel or sequel. In this manner, you may know where the story begins, but you'll never guess where (or even if!) it ends." Click here to give it a try.

Visual Thesaurus subscriber Julie Trelstad runs a company called Plain White Press that is re-imagining -- and re-inventing -- what it means to publish a book. Does a book's content need to nestle between two covers? Can you sidestep traditional publishers, do it yourself, and still make a splash at Barnes & Noble? We had a fascinating, enlightening conversation with Julie about this brave new book world:  Continue reading...