Well, I had the intention of getting ahead enough on writing to accommodate all the travel and visits and general busy-ness of the summer...but clearly even my best-laid plans aren't up to snuff. My writing, in all arenas, has definitely taken the time-management hit. As we move into the end of the third quarter, I … Continue reading I’m Back, Back Again
Author: spitkin
Let’s Know better: Articulate
This week, a man called me "the articulate one"; I was the only woman currently in the room and had spent the last hour pushing back on the wild assumptions of older white men. I don't embody the social strata markers most affected by this term, so I don't suspect it came laden with the … Continue reading Let’s Know better: Articulate
CTrl-F, Then What?
Ok, you've identified some comfort words and developed a habit of searching for them as part of your revision and cleanup process. So you can find them. Now what? Like most strong writing habits, shifting the reliance on the same old thought placeholders depends on your understanding your own contexts a bit more fully. But … Continue reading CTrl-F, Then What?
When to Break the Rules
Most of the time, I actively work against my impulse to correct every language mistake I see in public because I don't work for free Most English grammar rules are contextual at best And rooted in oppressive power structures at worst It's just really annoying and usually not welcome enough to be helpful I am … Continue reading When to Break the Rules
How Did I Fool the News?
While some outlets did immediately clock satire, several others ran the story without even a careful close read. Satire is an especially tricky kind of writing, sure, but it also highlights an essential truth: sometimes the hardest part of writing is nailing the genre expectations, and sometimes nailing the genre expectations is how we produce … Continue reading How Did I Fool the News?
Ding Ding
Most of us know we'll lose readers with a single big block of undifferentiated text: one of the many reasons legalese is so hard to sift through. Fewer of us know that we're just as likely to lose readers with rapid-fire single sentences featuring repeated double line breaks and strategic emoji: think those obnoxious marketing … Continue reading Ding Ding
Let’s Know better: Gypped
Language evolves, and our usage of it does the same thing on both macro and micro scales. Words that our teachers drill us on might shift usage by our adulthood, and even get added to the dictionary as the opposite of what we were taught they meant (looking at you, literally). At the same time, … Continue reading Let’s Know better: Gypped
Ersatz Excitement
Last week, I fooled the news. Like a lot of other campuses in the US, my alma mater has been making a lot of highly public missteps, earning them the moniker of Homeless Student University--among other things. National news attention and public outcry has not stopped the university from continuing to focus on enrollment numbers … Continue reading Ersatz Excitement
Bios are Risky Business
Jenny knows what she's doing: she trains large business teams to write, and has recently put out a book full of her favorite business writing tips (read it! your writing will improve). She's comfortable doing it: seems like she writes books in the time it takes me to do my taxes. But. Sometimes the words … Continue reading Bios are Risky Business
Finding the Right Language
At last month's workshop on writing anxiety and the small steps we can take to get started on breaking through our blocks, an attendee right up front expressed long-held frustrations about the seemingly arbitrary rules that had been sometimes stringently enforced in school. The specific example sparking our tangent conversation was the compulsion to turn … Continue reading Finding the Right Language
Something Polished 