Get the Lead Out

Certain words are easy to get wrong.

Some people spell words incorrectly or type the wrong word because they don’t know any better. That’s understandable. English spelling is hard.

I wish I had that excuse. The words I most often get wrong are ones I know how to spell — and know the difference between them, like pore and pour or stationery and stationary. Somehow, in the … Continue reading

Perilous Pairs

Will you — or your editor — know to pick the right word?

The sentence in a recently written Sherlock Holmes story stopped me cold.

“There were besides some more mundane elements: drafting tables laden with dusty blueprints, labels and vices and tools, chains for heavy lifting suspended from the ceiling.”

Did one word jump out at you?

At first I was … Continue reading

Catching Flack

And other reasons you may need an editor.IMG_8031 adj

by Andy Scheer

“I hope I don’t catch flack from my wife,” the author wrote me, “for having to write on Mother’s Day.”

I understood what he meant, even if he didn’t type flak.

What’s the difference? The first means a publicity agent. The second, … Continue reading