101 Reasons Freelancers Do it Better – HR World
January 12, 2013 § Leave a comment
101 Reasons Freelancers Do it Better – HR World.
Or, “Why Working From Home is Really Just the Best.”
You build it, I’ll write about it
January 9, 2013 § Leave a comment
If you’d asked me a year ago what I thought I’d be writing about today, HVAC installation and facilities maintenance wouldn’t have been at the top of my list. But construction copywriting isn’t half bad. Ever wanted to give it a try? Check out my tips for getting started writing about construction.
Malcolm Gladwell, on writing
December 31, 2012 § 1 Comment
So, Malcolm Gladwell might be a secret spokesman for Big Tobacco. He knows how to tell a story. He was and remains a huge reason I’m doing what I do today. I don’t care how much he makes per speaking engagement—when his next book comes out in 2013, you bet I’ll be buying it—and taking notes.
Gladwell spoke on writing at Yale earlier this year. Here he is:
Gladwell called his entry into journalism “accidental,” having failed to find a job in advertising, but his journalistic interests stem from a passion for “telling stories.” Though his work has garnered widespread acclaim, he said he does not consider himself an original thinker. He does not “generate ideas” for his work, he said, but instead draws ideas from academic papers and finds ways to “make those ideas come alive.”
“I’m not doing the original work,” Gladwell said. “There’s that bird on the back of the elephant that picks off the ticks — I am the bird.”
“I had this realization that every individual language does at least one thing better than every other language.”
December 22, 2012 § Leave a comment
Image via Wikimedia Commons. By the way, it’s Ithkuil for “As our vehicle leaves the ground and plunges over the edge of the cliff toward the valley floor, I ponder whether it is possible that one might allege I am guilty of an act of moral failure, having failed to maintain a proper course along the roadway.”
If I weren’t a writer, I would definitely be a linguist. And as someone who used to make up my own languages as a kid (and then journal in them—no joke), I love reading about stuff like this. Great (but long) read by Joshua Foer, who tells the story of Ithkuil, one of the world’s most “efficient” languages—and its enigmatic creator.
What It’s Really Like To Be A Copy Editor | The Awl
December 15, 2012 § Leave a comment
This is wonderful. Copy editors (copyeditors?), you’ll be able to relate.
I never necessarily aspired to be a copy editor. I enjoyed the experience-seriously, your job is to sit and read articles-but when my day-camp counselor asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I did not tell her that I hoped one day to correct who-whom mix-ups or determine whether “faucetry” was a real, dictionary-approved word. I told her I wanted to be a princess.
MARY GABLE 