TAG: writing
Steven Johnson breaks down which authors use the longest sentences.Combatants include: Malcolm Gladwell, Steven Pinker, Seth Godin, Christopher Hitchens, Michel Foucault and Frederic Jameson.
Tags: writing books language statistics visualization
The vintage allure of Fake Steve Jobs
"What the Fake Steve Jobs phenomenon has to say about our culture is that perhaps "new media" isn't as new as we'd like to think it is."
Tags: apple blogs writing culture
Belief & Technique For Modern Prose: List of Essentials
30 suggestions from Jack Kerouac
Tags: writing inspiration thinking ideas tips
"I think that misunderstanding over degree of difficulty issues is one of the major reasons for conflict between insiders and outsiders."
Tags: writing expertise difficulty
"Have you ever struggled with a turgid political biography when secretly you'd rather get stuck into 'The Da Vinci Code'? Put the book down, says Nick Hornby: Reading should be a joy"
Blog Traffic Week #1: Getting on Top of Digg, Reddit or Del.icio.us is EVIL
Four ways to be a better blogger from okdork.com
Tags: blogs networking writing del.icio.us
10 Sure-Fire Headline Formulas That Work
"So, you’re seeing too many of those “how to� and list headlines, and want to try a few different angles? Let’s move beyond those common headline formulas you see over and over, and add some new blood to your attention-grabbing arsenal."
Tags: copywriting blogs writing
Get That Out of Your Mouth #27
"We have to strip away the geekery, the gadgetry, and the consumerism, and instead of explaining why this brave new freakshow interests us, we have to understand what it's doing to us."
Tags: culture technology media writing journalism
On blogging: "I don't consider this writing, I consider this thinking."
Notes on "Sweet Child O' Mine," as Delivered to Axl Rose by His Editor.
"Hi Axl, Just got your manuscript and demo for the song "Sweet Child O' (sic) Mine." I think we need to talk."
Tags: funny bestof2006 criticism music writing
Renegade's hiring: "We're looking for someone who's passionate about words. It doesn't matter if people call you a 'writer' or you studied English in college, you just need to enjoy using language to express yourself. "
Tags: jobs writing rmg marketing
Momus answers the question: "What should I blog about?"
Tags: writing blogs creativity bestarticlesof2006
Interaction Design Summer Reading List
Nine reading recommendations from the Adaptive Path blog.
"As the barriers to Web publishing continue to diminish, more design-focused publications are springing up online. Here’s a list of what I’ve come across."
"True learning happens when learners stop seeing themselves as mere students who do homework and complete assignments. True learning happens when they don’t see it as learning."
Tags: education blogs learning community writing
"Design is not solely visual. Those who believe it is, make an unconscious decision to confine themselves solely to craft. This limits these individuals from growing and taking on more complex and broad challenges."
Tags: design writing communication
It doesn't come pre-packaged anymore . . .
"As I've stated before...learning is like opening a door, not filling a container. Content is something that is created in the process of learning, not only in advance of learning."
Tags: education learning teaching writing
On athletes: We believe "that players need supportive environments in order to flourish. It would be nice if we were as generous and as patient with the rest of society's underachievers."
Tags: interviews sports culture writing
25 words that hurt your resume
Words don't tell potential employers as much as deeds
"Most teams (or start-ups) have some kind of written charter, even if it’s just a beat up e-mail, for what the over-arching goals are supposed to be. Why are they often so bad?"
Tags: entrepreneur writing
Blogging as Attempts at Understanding
Blogging "has the potential to help us create . . . communities of learners who approach learning as engagement with epistemic texts, learners who see writing and reading as cognitive tools, who understand the value of thinking through texts."
Tags: blogs learning teaching writing
Bill Simmons has discovered his voice as a reader's buddy
Danah Boyd: "Below are directly relevant papers and their abstracts (or a brief excerpt); full citations can be found on my papers page."
Tags: friendster writing research
Geek to Live: Write effectively for the Web
"From Lifehacker’s very own internal editorial style guide, today we’ll go over some simple guidelines for writing on the Web that will help you get your message across and elicit the best responses."
Tags: writing tips internet business posted
Texting teenagers are proving 'more literate than ever before'
"The most comprehensive comparison made of exam papers of the past 25 years has discovered that the writing ability of 16-year-olds has never been higher."
Tags: mobile youth research writing education posted
"This week, an Esquire editor invited Wikipedia users to edit an article that will appear in the magazine. Wikipedia users reacted strongly, with over 500 edits to WP:ITAAW before the article was frozen."
Tags: magazines wiki writing posted
Lifehacker's guide to weblog comments
"Good blog commenters add to the discussion and are known as knowledgeable, informative, friendly and engaged."
Tags: blogs tips writing posted
"Hand coding your pages gives you unprecedented control over where each element appears on the page. You control where each element goes. You control how your code is formatted. You have the power."
Tags: design webdesign writing posted
"His color is a lot like yours, but smooth and shaded like Unified. And thinner. No borders. It’s a very chic look. Reminds me of you, back in the day."
Tags: funny apple design itunes writing posted
"OneLook's reverse dictionary lets you describe a concept and get back a list of words and phrases related to that concept."
Tags: communication creativity language reference writing tools posted
Writing Inspiration at the Press of a Button
Tags: creativity ideas productivity tools writing posted
Publish books yourself with no minimums
Tags: books business ondemand writing posted
" Wordcounter ranks the most frequently used words in any given body of text. Use this to see what words you overuse (is everything a "solution" for you?) or maybe just to find some keywords from a document."
Tags: language tools writing posted
ChangeThis: "Everyone is always wondering what kids are thinking. DK gives you view into the complicated and sometimes contradictory world of today's teens."
Tags: youth marketing writing posted
"Klosterman sat down with SPIN.com to talk about New York, the state of rock criticism, and -- what else -- Foghat."
Tags: interviews music writing books death posted
The "Americanisms" section of The Economist's style guide.
Tags: journalism writing reference
The VERY LONG May, 1996 article about tobacco whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand that was the inspiration for the movie The Insider
Tags: politics law cigarettes writing moves posted
The Education of Elisabeth Eckleman: Haunted Halloween
In this installment, Elisabeth takes her T.A., Raj, to a costume party, where he refuses to dance. You decide what happens next.
Why children love Roald Dahl’s storiesâ€â€and many adults don’t.
Tags: books history writing youth posted
Kerouac's Belief and Technique for Modern Prose
Everything you need to do to write like Kerouac
Tags: writing lists posted books
Dear Blog: Today I Worked on My Book
"For years, book authors have used the Internet to publicize their work and to keep in touch with readers. Several, like Mr. Battelle, are now experimenting with maintaining blogs while still in the act of writing their books."
Tags: nytimes blogs books posted writing
On Moleskines: "Even if you're carrying it to another boring staff meeting to take notes about sales projections, the notebook makes for a fantastic emblem of creative possibility."
Tags: nytimes notebooks creativity culture writing posted
Ten years later, the story of Suck.com, the first great website (A very very very long history of Suck.com)
Tags: history blogs business internet journalism writing posted bestarticlesof2005
The Education of Elisabeth Eckleman: Lies, All Lies, by Sarah Hepola
"In this installment, Elisabeth keeps a secret while trying to survive a weekend of everyone else’s parents. You decide what happens next."
NeoOffice/J is a fully-featured set of office applications (including word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and drawing programs) for Mac OS X.
Tags: apple software opensource free writing
"He's away from his desk" is something that's now true of New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell.
Tags: creativity interviews productivity mobile writing posted
Writing Tool #50: The Writing Process
"Sniff. Explore. Collect. Focus. Select. Order. Draft. Revise."
Tags: creativity process journalism writing productivity tips posted
An Icon interview with architect Rem Koolhaas
Tags: architecture design writing interviews posted
The Education of Elisabeth Eckleman: Back to School
The Morning News: "In this installment, Elisabeth heads back to school with fresh eyes and provides a shoulder for Katâ€â€a friend in need, indeed."
Tags: sex college health writing posted
How to give and receive criticism
"Good criticism serves one purpose: to give the creator of the work more perspective and help them make their next set of choices."
Tags: business collaboration creativity criticism management productivity posted design writing
Sasha Frere-Jones: "I will not write about any piece of music unless I have unlimited access to a portable version of it, renderered in either the CD, MP3 or vinyl format."
Tags: music piracy reviews writing posted
Celebrating good writing on the web.
Some quick tips that might help one become more productive
Tags: blogs productivity creativity tips lifehacks writing posted ideas
The Education of Elisabeth Eckleman: Home, Alone
Elisabeth goes home to see her momâ€â€without Bradâ€â€and then meets an old friend with an attractive offer.
Tags: writing college health posted
Getting Real: Copywriting is interface design
Go copywriters!
Tags: copywriting design interface writing posted
The Significance of "Social Software"
Danah Boyd: "Social software represents a new generation of social technology development - a generation that is dependent on moving beyond the laboratory and into mass culture."
Tags: writing socialsoftware history posted
The Education of Elisabeth Eckleman: Date Unknown
In this installment, Elisabeth questions how she feels about Chad, but then the unthinkable happens.
Tags: writing college alcohol health posted
Can any self-respecting thirtysomething music fan turn their back on a record collection dominated by hip bands such as Muse and Interpol and revert to their first love - the Moody Blues, ELO, Queen, Toto and, yes, even Phil Collins?
Tags: music writing bestarticlesof2005 trend
Wired: "There will always be a market for young reporters who know how to gather facts and write them up in a clear, convincing manner."
Tags: journalism newspapers writing posted blogs education
Group Encounter on the High Line
A story: "My concern was practical. We might be noticed here, six artsy types with daypacks. Any cop with any sense would guess what we were doing so close to the beginning of the High Line."
Tags: writing nyc highline posted
The Education of Elisabeth Eckleman: Mother, Jugs, and Lone Star Beer
Sarah Hepola follows Elisabeth’s life and lets you make the tough choices for both of them. In this installment, Elisabeth tries to figure out why her mom calls six times a day. You decide what happens next.
Tags: writing college sex posted
The article that changed the world
Overinflated claims in book titles reveal a lack of self-confidence among publishers
Tags: books language funny history writing posted
Paul Graham: "You can't see the fingerprints of PR firms all over the articles, as you can in so many print publications-- which is one of the reasons, though they may not consciously realize it, that readers trust bloggers more than Business Week."
Tags: writing business pr blogs posted journalism media
Idle Words: "But after a while, you begin to notice that all the essays are an elaborate set of mirrors set up to reflect different facets of the author, in a big distributed act of participatory narcissism."
Tags: art programming funny writing posted
The Education of Elisabeth Eckleman: Screw the R.A. (Wait, You Already Did)
Elisabeth Eckleman just left home, and has a lot of difficult decisions ahead of her. Sarah Hepola follows Elisabeth’s life and lets you make the tough choices for both of them. In this installment, Elisabeth tells Kat about what’s been going on wit
Tags: writing college education posted
How the Moleskine Rocked My World
One man's relationship with his moleskine
Tags: lifehacks writing organization notebooks
Yahoo's MAILER-DAEMON Automated Reply for Failed E-mail Delivery Is Getting a Little Too Intimate.
McSweeney's: "I still remember your first message, because you haven't deleted it. It was so beautiful in its simplicityâ€â€the subject line "test" that you sent to yourself. You had me at "@.""
Tags: email funny writing posted
Moleskine Notebooks, Journals and Date Books
Tags: writing notebooks shoppingbag
Ten Very Hip Poems That Didn't Go Over So Well at the Poetry Slam Last Weekend.
"That one that didn't involve the word vagina, the phrase "corporate America," or a series of forced, dramatic pauses and gesticulations."
Tags: funny writing poetry posted
Paul Graham writes a short essay on how to write
Tags: creativity howto lifehacks writing posted
"Outdoor writing products for outdoor writing people."
Tags: writing notebooks posted shoppingbag
The Education of Elisabeth Eckleman: Bright Eyes, Big City
In this installment, Elisabeth goes to the Bright Eyes concert with her R.A. and continues to avoid her T.A.
Of Recent Note: For Spring 2005
The Morning News: "The Writers spring on you the stuff they’re into right nowâ€â€including what they’re reading, hearing, watching, finding, eating, using, installing, applying, and, yes, even scratching this season."
Tags: writing books lists posted
How to grow your (blogging) audience
Susan Mernit gives some tips on how to get more people to read your site
Tags: blogs howto writing posted
Read the label, love the product
Words brand as strongly as visuals
Tags: writing marketing branding posted
"I've never seen a man who seems more comfortable with who he is than Jose Canseco. Not with who we think he is, like our current president, or with his best idea of himself, like our president's predecessor, but with himself: charmer and snake . . ."
Tags: sports writing nytimes posted
Adventures in Opinion Writing: No Easy Answers
Why are there fewer female opinion writers? Another possible factor.
Tags: gender writing journalism posted blogs
Salon.com: "When I started blogging, I discovered a compulsive need to open the tattered edges of my emotional raincoat and expose the nasty parts beneath. But at what cost to my kids?"
Tags: blogs writing emotions posted
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
The famous essay by Walter Benjamin
Tags: writing culture technology posted
After Thompson's suicide, attorney saw clues
Interesting article about the clues that Hunter S. Thompson gave his confidants before killing himself
The Education of Elisabeth Eckleman: An Escape With Geoff
In this installment, Elisabeth makes time for friends, but not for studying, and gets the grades to prove it.
How new software may help us think more effectively
Tags: software technology writing posted innovation nytimes brain
How television killed the newspaper sports column.
Tags: sports newspapers writing posted
Part of Safire's farewell, he lists his 12 rules of reading a column
The Education of Elisabeth Eckleman: Pimps & Ho’s
When he vaguely asked her on a date, Elisabeth had to decide whether to bring hipster Wesley to her Pimps & Ho’s fraternity event or keep her two tentative worlds separate. You voted for her to invite Wesley to the party. Let’s see what happens…
Tags: writing
The Education of Elisabeth Eckleman: Class Begins
In our last installment, Elisabeth went to a party with her roommate Kat, where she met Wesley, a film student. But when Kat turned up sick right as Wesley started to make the moves, Elisabeth had to decide whether to stay at the party or to take Kat home
Hack your way out of writer’s block
Some creative solutions
Tags: creativity writing
CiteULike is a free online service to organize all the academic papers you find on PubMed, JSTOR, ACM, arxiv, and IngentaConnect.
Gladwell's new book is a fascinating look at the importance of first impressions
A former writer's assistant for 'Friends' is suing saying that what she heard in the writing room was sexual harassment
Tags: nytimes television writing
The Education of Elisabeth Eckleman: Party With Kat
Part two of The Morning News choose your own adventure
Tags: writing
Great story from a guy who looks like Dave Matthews in Vegas
Another good Paul Graham essay
Tags: writing
The Education of Elisabeth Eckleman: Freshman Year
It's a well written choose your own adventure, I'm intrigued
Tags: writing
Ten Mistakes Writers Don't See (But Can Easily Fix When They Do)
Tags: writing
A response to Paul Graham's essay on essays