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  1. Dog Eared

     Dictionary Editor's Books
    Mon Oct 09 00:00:00 EDT 2006

    Erin McKean, dictionary editor and author of Weird and Wonderful Words, recommends these books:

    Word Origins... and How We Know Them: Etymology for Everyone by Anatoly Liberman

    The Warden of English: The Life of H.W. Fowler by Jenny McMorris

    Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends by David Wilton

    Lapsing Into a Comma: A Curmudgeon's Guide to the Many Things That Can Go Wrong in Print--and How to Avoid Them by Bill Walsh

    Slayer Slang: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Lexicon by Michael Adams ("Just in case any of you thought I was joking, the essay on ephemeral language is worth reading even if you've never seen an episode of Buffy," says Erin)

  2. Blog Excerpts

     The Problem with Autobiographical Fiction
    Sat Oct 07 00:00:00 EDT 2006
    In his blog Writing Fiction, author Crawford Killian tackles what he sees as the problem of autobiographical fiction: "If you're true to the events and people of your life, you're probably going to write poor fiction, because real life is messier and less organized than fiction. If you follow the requirements for good fiction, you're going to have to distort those real-life events and people... who were supposedly the inspiration for writing the novel in the first place." Click here to read the full entry.

  3. Contest

     And the winner is...
    Sat Oct 07 00:00:00 EDT 2006

    Thank you for all your submissions to our recent "Six Degrees of the Visual Thesaurus" contest! If you recall, we challenged you to use the Visual Thesaurus to link the following pairs of words: fire and sale, news and print and smart and card. We picked a winner from the submissions randomly, and our award goes to... subscriber Dallas Browning of Salt Lake City, UT! Thank you, Dallas! Your limited edition Visual Thesaurus t-shirt is on its way. (Runner-ups, you've got t-shirts coming, too!)

    We also thought you'd like to see the answers. Here they are:

    fire and sale
    fire
    dispel
    disperse
    break up
    break
    give away
    shop
    buy
    sell
    sale

  4. Blog Du Jour

     Linguistics and "other geekery"
    Wed Oct 04 00:00:00 EDT 2006

    Check out these blogs on linguistics, language and, as one writer put it, "other geekery."

    Tenser, said the Tensor

    Language Geek

    Lexical Matters

    Café Mo

  5. Word Count

     The Dead Beat
    Wed Oct 04 00:00:00 EDT 2006

    Writing coaches always tell you to read other writers to unlock the secrets of their particular mojo. Author Marilyn Johnson found inspiration in an unlikely place: The obituary column. "Good obit writers can bring someone -- well, to life," she explains. "It's a demonstration of great writing and I was very interested in how they did it." She was so interested, in fact, she started writing obituaries herself -- and then wrote a book on the subject called The Dead Beat. We spoke to Marilyn about the obit genre:

  6. Language Lounge

     The Rule of Three
    Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2006
    English has some peculiar ways of spelling words, but happily there is often a method to its madness. This month in the Lounge we explore, with the help of the Visual Thesaurus, some of the least among us, at least in so far as number of letters is concerned.

  7. Backstory

     Becky Motew, author of "Coupon Girl"
    Sat Sep 30 00:00:00 EDT 2006

    Long before I ever wrote a word of Coupon Girl, I knew the title. I sold direct mail advertising to small business owners in Worcester. Buy one, get one, baby. Pizza guys, dry cleaners, wallpaper hangers, chiropractors--all of them were my customers. An old boss of mine said getting a mailing together was like ushering a herd of cows through a doorway. At ten in the morning, I might have been helping a pet store guy clip a parrot's toenails. By eleven I might have been shivering in the bowels of a car wash, taking a look at a defective pump, and by two, giving a formal sales presentation in a stockbrokers' boardroom. Don't wear your bathrobe under your coat is my best advice.

  8. Blog Excerpts

     Pain in the English
    Sat Sep 30 00:00:00 EDT 2006
    Billing itself as a "forum for the gray areas of the English language," Pain in the English tackles such conundrums as, "Why is the word 'quarters,' to mean a place of residency, plural? When we say, 'I'll show you to your quarters,' we mean a room. So, why don't we simply say, 'I'll show you to your quarter,' without the 's'?" To find out the answer, click here.

  9. Word Count

     Writing Tools
    Wed Sep 27 00:00:00 EDT 2006

    My favorite bon mot on writing comes from a former editor of the LA Times: "There are only two kinds of writers, bad ones, and the ones trying to get better." If you aspire to the latter group, you must pick up Roy Peter Clark's newly-released Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer. How essential? Well, let me offer my own humble testimonial: Nothing I've ever read has helped me sharpen my writing as much as this collection of tools. I think about strategies like "gold coins," "word space" and "the name of the dog" (not to mention the "power of three") every time I sit down to write a piece. I first came across these tools, by the way, on the website of the Poynter Institute, a school for journalists where Roy's the vice president and senior scholar. Now that Roy's mojo is in book form, you got it made! I called Roy to talk to him about his tools. -- Editor

  10. Blog Du Jour

     Writing Blog
    Wed Sep 27 00:00:00 EDT 2006
    Roy Peter Clark, author of Writing Tools and senior scholar at the Poynter Institute, a school for journalists, says "my colleague Chip Scanlan publishes wonderful pieces on writing for the Poynter website." To read Chip's blog please click here.
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