These book club scams are rampant right now. Another widespread new scam is interest in buying your business if you have one.

I have something weird going on with my eyes, and I need to do warm compresses. If you ever need to do something like that, a mask like this is VASTLY better than a wet drippy washcloth! So glad I got it. myhalos.com/products/hea...

California teenager wins Scripps National Spelling Bee with 'bromocriptine'

About 10% of viewers click "like" on my YouTube videos? Is that high? That feels high. I'm just going to go with it being high. <nods and walks off>

If you think your story isn't "big enough" to write about, think again. You could write seven memoirs by age 43. @gfaulknerwriter.bsky.social shares why you should just start writing — no rules or classes required. APPLE: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e... YOUTUBE: youtu.be/LxOMHTJ7aOk

This week, I'm talking about the history of recipe writing! Medieval recipes were shockingly vague: "Boil until it be enough." But modern recipes use a highly specialized style — publishers even have cookbook style guides. APPLE: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h... YOUTUBE: youtu.be/SKnAJUpbE50

Imagine arriving late for dinner in 1902 and your friend saying he's ordered you bee's knees and canary birds' tongues. That wasn't a real meal, but it was part of the strange early life of "the bee's knees." I have the whole story this week: APPLE: buff.ly/ohvtq3z YOUTUBE: buff.ly/f4u3Hv7

I'm starting a thread on ways I've saved money. Feel free to add your tips. 1. Pirate Ship. pirateship.com/ I sent a package today via UPS with them for ~$7.50 that would have cost ~$16 if I'd gone direct. I've used it three times. It's real. None of these are ads. They're just stuff I've used.

This week, I talked with @thejoeltruth.bsky.social about his book "Get to the Point." It's a classic Grammar Girl conversation — filled with quick and dirty tips you'll be able to use right away to make your writing (and speaking) better. APPLE PODCASTS: buff.ly/mEpaaNM YOUTUBE: buff.ly/yk2tuGF

I'm really hoping that #StetChat will encourage more editors to come to Bluesky, and for existing users to use the platform more frequently for publishing-related content.

The Scripps National Spelling Bee starts May 26! Ever wonder why we call it a "bee"? The name could go back to the buzzing insects (but maybe not). Get the whole story (plus info about some fun "bee" idioms): APPLE PODCASTS: buff.ly/Cb1NJws YOUTUBE: buff.ly/V5KJvhc

Have you ever heard "two troops" and wondered if that means two groups or two people? You're not alone! "Troops" has confused people for centuries. Historically, a "troop" was a group, but by the 1700s, writers used "troops" for individuals. Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

Some people think you shouldn't use "that" to refer to people, but writers as well-known as Chaucer and Shakespeare have been doing it for centuries. The objection only started in the early 1900s. Learn more: Apple: is.gd/Nf70h7 Spotify: is.gd/MZFFSa

English spelling is not as bad as advertised. I went on the @grammargirl.bsky.social podcast to make the case for the messy, chaotic, amazing English spelling system.

Wonder if this will ever make it to the US www.nature.com/articles/d41...

I just heard “my gob is smacked” and I am enjoying this extension of “flabbers are gasted.” More re-analyses please！

Ever wonder why English spelling is so chaotic? @colingorrie.bsky.social of the fabulous Dead Language Society newsletter and I chatted about the hidden logic behind silent letters, and he explained why "ghoti" ≠ "fish." Apple: is.gd/Id2olW Spotify: is.gd/eaWr6k

Remembering the good times while looking through my saved posts for something else.

"Lingua franca" literally means "Franks' language" from a Crusades-era pidgin. Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin all had their turn as lingua francas before English took over in the 1940s, but Mandarin and Arabic are contenders now too. Listen: is.gd/Nf70h7

Well, congratulations to the news. I'm now so angry that I no longer care about the annoying little work thing I was dealing with before dinner.

Have you ever wondered where "dog" came from? Or "nerd"? The origins of some of our most common words are mysteries. This week, Karen Lunde looked at words with shadowy origins — "girl," "quiz," "Yankee," "bird," "gun," "beach," "puzzle," and "hug." Apple: is.gd/8d3q9t Spotify: is.gd/wLCMnc

This is really terrible, & my editor has been among the employees impersonated. “This list is not exhaustive.” us.macmillan.com/publishing-f...

AP style lovers: Check out this week's podcast with Anna Jo Bratton, the @apstylebook.com editor! We talked about "healthcare" as one word, new words such as "AI slop," and her pet peeve: "petted" is the past tense of "pet" (not "pet"). Apple Podcasts: is.gd/rHM7KF Spotify: is.gd/E13IWT

Are you passionate about SF, fantasy, and pop culture? Our Managing Editor is looking for original essay pitches: author appreciations, scholarly analysis of all aspects of pop culture, critical and personal essays, think pieces, literary analysis and deep dives into film, television, and fiction

Colon rules vary by style guide: AP & Chicago: Capitalize after a colon if it's a complete sentence. MLA: Capitalize after a colon only if it's multiple related sentences or a question. More tips in the podcast! Listen: is.gd/8d3q9t

Have you intentionally included typos in your work? Last week, I talked with Reader's Digest about whether typos are — get this — the new status symbol. 😱 I'd heard of people doing it to "prove" they aren't AI (bad), but I hadn't heard of the new "status symbol" idea. It's wild! is.gd/sp6ho0

I made a calendar outline on a watercolor note card, and now I'm doing a tiny drawing each day. Friday's highlight was a delicious burrito. Saturday, I read part of a book about cake. Today was gray and drizzly. Make art.

I'm not sure it counts as being lesser-known, but "inconceivable" may have gotten a boost from being in "The Princess Bride," which came out in 1987.

I've read "Verb Your Enthusiasm" by Sarah Kaufman twice — rare for me! And it's so great, I can imagine rereading it every year just for inspiration. We talked about why verbs are English's secret superpower and how your verb choices can change the way people think and act. 🎧 APPLE: is.gd/simNMf

English is a "stress-timed language," giving us homographs — words that are spelled the same but have different meanings when you stress different syllables. Like OB-ject (a thing) vs. ob-JECT (to disagree). Learn more about the rules (i.e., guidelines) in this week's podcast: is.gd/7DyhXC

A wholesome story for nerds: On Saturday, I was signing books at a local bookstore for Independent Bookstore Day. The store had a signing-palooza with new authors every hour; toward the end of my hour, a woman came up and asked what my book was about. "Dictionaries," I said, and she lit up. 1/n

Ever wonder why your accent sounds the way it does or why people judge you based on how you talk? Valerie Fridland's new book "Why We Talk Funny" looks at the power of accents, why some accents are dying out, and how we actually *hallucinate* accents based on faces. 🎧 Listen now: is.gd/9mouBv

Make art.

We're doing dibs?! OK — I call the em dash!

I thought the "hopefully" debate was over. I was wrong. Sentences like "Hopefully, he'll pass the test" became trendy in the 1960s, and trendy uses annoy people. The AP allows it, but Bryan Garner calls it a "skunked term." Check out the podcast for more! Listen: is.gd/hIdwA3

Wow. Shell is always the most expensive, but diesel is more than $8 a gallon. (I’m in California.)

Woohoo! A great book is now even better.

What if the Artemis II astronauts met real aliens? Xenolinguistics explores alien language possibilities, starting with how Earth animals communicate — like ants' chemical trails and eels' electrical signals. Fascinating stuff! Check out this week's podcast for more: Listen: is.gd/hIdwA3

This beast joined us on our walk tonight. The turkeys don't usually get agitated by our presence, but this guy definitely wanted us to know he is B.I.G.

Did you know that many people differentiate between being eager and being anxious? "Anxious" comes from Latin meaning worried or uneasy. "Eager" goes back through French and once carried negative meanings — "fierce," "savage," and "sour." Over time, English softened "eager" into enthusiasm. 1/2

If you are considering a career as librarian in a Special Library, here’s a podcast that provides an excellent overview. As a side note, I like to note that all Special Librarians treasure their special collections.

Did you know George Washington's copy of James Monroe's memoir still exists—with Washington's passive-aggressive margin notes? This week I talked with Harvard's John Overholt about books that travel first class, why white gloves damage rare manuscripts, and more. 🎧 Listen: is.gd/chqn7V

Have you ever heard of a "semordnilap"? It's a word that makes a different word when reversed — like "stressed" becoming "desserts." Better yet, "semordnilap" backwards is "palindromes." This week, we look at autological words, heterological words, and a sneaky paradox. 🎧 pod.link/173429229

Still on sale! (They never tell authors how long things like this will last.)

"Please contact Sue, Alf, or myself." Sound right? Nope! The trick is to omit the other people. You'd say, "contact me," so it's still "contact me" with other people in the sentence. Check out the podcast for more and a bit on fun dialect pronouns like "meself." 🎧 is.gd/6gOT5I

I wrote a book with 101 tips about misused words, and here’s just one great reason to buy it: it's on sale right now! Find the ebook at Bookshop and Barnes & Noble for only $2.99. These deals don’t last long, so grab your copy while you can! 📕 BN: is.gd/DRvYHn Bookshop: is.gd/969ISA

I just noticed the Kindle version of my book THE ULTIMATE WRITING GUIDE FOR STUDENTS is on sale for only $2.99! I updated the book in 2023 too, so it's still quite fresh. Get it while it's cheap. :) www.amazon.com/Grammar-Pres...

Your brain retrieves words in just 200 milliseconds — as fast as a blink! When you hear the word "dog," you instantly process doggy smells, sounds, sensations, memories, and emotions.

New #WriterBeware blog post: An update on the Anthropic copyright settlement, now that the deadline for filing claims has passed, including how many claims there've been and an objection to the settlement that could change everything if approved writerbeware.blog/2026/04/10/a...

Omg. Spandex is an anagram for expands.