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Dog Eared

Poetry Books

Mon Jan 08 00:00:00 EST 2007

Want to conjure more powerful poetry, vivid verse or delectable doggerel? These books on writing poetry can help:

A Poetry Handbook

The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry

In the Palm of Your Hand: The Poet's Portable Workshop

Writing Poetry

Blog Excerpts

Neologism Alarm

Sat Jan 06 00:00:00 EST 2007

Visual Thesaurus subscriber Antonio P. from Bogota, Colombia, writes: "As a professional English-Spanish translator I'm always fascinated (and frustrated) by the speedy arrival of neologisms into the English language. When I'm translating Internet-speak into Spanish, my "neologism" alarm is working overtime. Check out this link, you'll be amused." Many thanks for your contribution, Antonio!

Backstory

Elizabeth Ridley, author of "Dear Mr. Carson"

Sat Jan 06 00:00:00 EST 2007

I always knew that someday I would write a novel starring Johnny Carson. I first fell in love with the king of late-night TV in the autumn of 1972. I was six years old and had just started first grade. Because I was now officially a "student," my parents moved me into my own bedroom, complete with a wooden desk and a 13" black-and-white TV set with rabbit-ears antenna and a plastic knob for changing the channels.

Behind the Dictionary

The Fight for English

Wed Jan 03 00:00:00 EST 2007

Professor David Crystal is one of the world's foremost experts on the English language. The author of over 100 books, he also runs an acclaimed website with his son called Shakespeare's Words and has just launched a new blog. We got curious when we came across David's new book, called The Fight for English: How Language Pundits Ate, Shot, and Left, his answer to the best-selling "Eats, Shoots & Leaves." Fight for English? We called David at his home in Great Britain to discuss his book, and the state of the English language.

Blog Du Jour

New Year's Resolution: Write Stronger!

Wed Jan 03 00:00:00 EST 2007

Ready to ring in '07 with stronger, sharper writing? These blogs can help. They talk about a wide range of writing, from advertising copy to business writiting to fiction and non-fiction:

Language Lounge

What Do You Do When You're Branded?

Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2007

If you prefer to eat your Day-Glo Jell-O straight out of the Frigidaire in a Styrofoam cup and don't know how else to say it, this month's column is for you.

Dog Eared

Literary Travel

Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2007

The website World Hum, an online magazine "dedicated to exploring travel in all its facets," lists their picks for the "top 30 travel books of all time." Click here to read the entire list. The following are a few of our favorite literary travel books that they mention:

The Soccer War by Ryszard Kapuscinski

The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen

Road Fever by Tim Cahill

All the Wrong Places by James Fenton

Blog Excerpts

Top 10 Blogs for Writers

Sat Dec 30 00:00:00 EST 2006

Business writer and author Michael Stelzner has compiled his list of the top ten writer blogs. He says they "all provide extremely useful information for writers." See if you agree. Check out the list here.

Backstory

Martha Southgate, author of "Third Girl From the Left"

Sat Dec 30 00:00:00 EST 2006

Third Girl from the Left started as the story of a woman who failed -- and it stayed that way. The short story that later grew into my most recent novel was quite a surprise to me -- but as I've continued to write novels, I've come to believe that that's how you know it's working. I wrote the story "Show Business" (anthologized in Mending The World) in graduate school. It in turn, had grown out of a short exercise that I did at a place called the Writers Studio in New York City, where I've lived for the past 21 years. Here's the first line of the story: "Every night, I dream of actors." And here's the first line of the novel: "My mother was an actress." In both cases, I went on to tell the story of an actress in the films of the 1970s's that are commonly referred to now as blaxploitation. Actually, the person telling the story was her daughter, who was (I like to think) rueful, wise and a bit more clear sighted than her mother.