Category archives: Uncategorized
How Good Content Can Avert Tragedy
“(Theodore) Dreiser in some ways, some of the time, is one of the worst writers who ever lived. An American Tragedy, for instance, is an endless book with terrible sentences like ‘He found her extremely intellectually interesting.’” -John Gardner, quoted… continue reading »
Typing Skills Of The Future
I’m passing on the iPhone 5 release today, since the Droid Bionic has worked well enough for me since last November. Having just completed a cross-country road trip where the phone became my entire communications hub for eleven days… continue reading »
Wax On
“Polishing is as much the rendering of complex words into simpler terms as it is de-cluttering the space between your periods, while leaving just a little stylistic juice to spice things up.” -Larry Brooks of storyfix.com, guest posting on… continue reading »
Bookstores
Barnes & Noble arrived a block from my house on a late summer day near the end of last century, and three local bookstores were toast by Christmas. The laggards were punished. The future was now. Today, the monolith isn’t… continue reading »
The perils of connecting “Rock” to “Roll”
“Rock n’ Roll” “Rock ‘n Roll” “Rock ‘n’ Roll” Oxford New American gives its blessing to #3, but Oh Sherrie, err, oh man, do I see #1 and #2 used with reckless abandon everywhere and anywhere. We can probably agree… continue reading »
Here’s a Link
I came across a great post today on another writing blog. It’s better than the one I would have written here. Far be it from me to add to the white noise of the internet.
What’s a Yoot?
“infant. Applicable to children through 12 months old.” -AP Stylebook, 39th edition Thanks, AP. Could you please weigh in on all the other vague age-grouping nouns now? Thanks for “Middle Ages”, but how about “middle age”? I don’t see… continue reading »
Oh Really?
“real Is it really necessary? When used to mean after taking inflation into account, it is legitimate. In other contexts (Investors are showing real interest in the country, but Bolivians wonder if real prosperity will ever arrive) it is often… continue reading »
Schwarzman Agonistes
Sitting in the New York Public Library does not make you smarter or more focused. (Declining the free WiFi does both, but you knew that already.) What it really offers is the opportunity to practice your bad habits with seven… continue reading »
Speech Writing
I saw some good speeches today that would not have been good pieces of writing, transcribed. Is this a new thing? Back in the day, good speeches were destined to end up as literature. This may have something to do… continue reading »