A mere two days after my post on factual errors appeared, in my day job I made an error of a different kind. I used a simple catchall phrase to describe a Washington-based interest group. In fact, the organization had a slightly more elevated function, which made my error akin to describing the Supreme Court as a body of federal judges. Read more
Interviewing high-level government officials is a skill that can be cultivated like shooting a basketball or grilling a hamburger. It doesn’t require being a suck-up, an insider, or a seducer. If a former paperboy like me can learn, most people can. Read more
The work ritual I developed in college and graduate school was more than an efficient time-management strategy. It was a battle plan. I was at war against the two-headed Hydra monster of distraction and social isolation, the twin foes that confront many students and knowledge workers. My ritual enabled me to fight the beast on even terms. Read more
Over the weekend, while at a campground in Virginia Beach, a funny thing happened to me. Composing a text to one of my daughters, I recognized that describing my trip as “fun” or “cool” was generic and lazy. As I was in the South, I entertained the idea of employing one of the region’s well-known similes and metaphors. Read more
I have argued professional writers should avoid self-expression and tread carefully with the use of the first person. That was my case against literary subjectivity. Nobody cares about your childhood, breakfast this morning, or opinions of world affairs, so why write about them on Facebook and T Read more
Ernest Hemingway’s writing style is always being described as “distinctive” and “muscular.” It’s easy to see why. He avoided adverbs and used strong verbs and short, declarative sentences. How he polished and perfected his style is, as you may imagine, a more difficult question. Read more
