Brangelina, Sporks, and the Secrets of Portmanteau
Confession time: I love when famous people who are dating become one word. Brangelina. Bennifer. The entire cast of Glee. In college, my friend Cassie started dating this guy Brent, and Brassie was born.
This phenomenon has a name, and as a student of the French language, I love using it: portmanteau.
How to Revise Your Writing: Quality Inspection
“I try to distinguish between a poem I like because it reminds me of a particular experience,” said Paul Willis, “and a poem that works as a poem that anyone would like.” How do you quality inspect your writing? I like to think of Paul in his...
The Oxford Comma Is Pretentious
If the Oxford comma is a prepster in chinos and a green LaCoste polo, I’m a hipster in a dirty flannel shirt and skinny jeans. If the Oxford comma is, in fact, Oxford, I’m the year you took off college to go chill with some Maasai in Kenya. If the Oxford comma is a MacBook Pro, I’m that manual typewriter you got at a yard sale that everyone sees and asks, “Is that a real typewriter? Can I try it?”
Who needs the Oxford comma? Shoot who needs commas in general?
Second-Person POV, Mystery, and Mark
We’re introducing a new series, long planned, on the Write Practice. We’re going to choose one of our favorite practices and talk about why it was so cool (or not!).
Three Edits To Make When You Don’t Have Time to Edit
How do you edit your 1,000-word article in five minutes, your 5,000-word short story in ten, and your 400-page novel in under an hour?
Hint: forget spell check.
