The 2010 Word of the Year
Earlier today, Merriam-Webster announced their Top Ten Words of the Year, based on user lookups. The #1 word this year is austerity, meaning “enforced or extreme economy.” You’ve no doubt heard of austerity measures in Europe, and perhaps you’ve enacted some austerity measures in your own household. The Word of the Year is not a [...]
The Most Obscene City in America: The Real Story
Recently, Business Insider named Ashburn, VA, the most obscene city in America for 2010. The relative obscenity levels of various American cities were determined by plugging the “seven dirty words you can never say on television” into Google Trends. The results showed how often people search for dirty words on the Internet. I happened to [...]
The Things You Don’t Think About
All editors have certain little tricks that they’ve learned from experience (sometimes from bad experience). For example, we all know that running a final spell-check is a good idea, but it’s never enough. Certain pesky little words can still lurk within your document, perhaps with embarrassing results. That’s why I always like to do one [...]
8 Tips for Formatting Your Manuscript for Your Editor, Agent, or Publisher
Formatting is one of the first things a reader will notice about your manuscript. In fact, except perhaps for the title, formatting—the way the writing appears on the page—is the first thing a reader will notice. If that reader happens to be an agent or acquisitions editor and your manuscript has a sloppy, unprofessional appearance, [...]
Everyone Needs an Editor Sometime
Everyone needs an editor sometime… Were I a salesy person, that would be my slogan. I would plaster it all over my car and put it on t-shirts and baseball caps. I would write my slogan on a banner and hire an airplane to tow it around above a crowded beach. And of course I [...]
i.e., e.g.—Oh My!
We all have certain silly little things that we have to look up all the time. My weakness here (one of them, anyway) is the difference between i.e. and e.g. I’m always almost sure I know which one to use when, but being almost sure isn’t good enough. So I look these little abbreviations up. [...]
My Officemates Are Animals
Freelancing from home certainly has its charms. My commute takes fifteen seconds (okay, it actually takes five seconds, but I don’t like to brag). I can work in sweats and a ratty t-shirt and nobody cares. I can take a Wii break whenever I need to get up and move. The best part of working [...]
The Origins of “Turncoat”
I have a strange passion for mystery novels set in early England. Brother Cadfael, Matthew Shardlake, and Adelia Aguilar* are some of my favorite characters. I do try to remove my editing hat when I read for pleasure, but once in a while I run across a word or phrase in one of these tales [...]
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