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Pretzels for Passover

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In this post you’ll learn a little bit about Jews and a little bit about Passover and a little bit about public relations. Start with this pitch that arrived in my email. (All the Jewish people reading this are giggling right now, or ought to be. We’ll get to you in a minute.) I was … Continued

Don’t be fooled. The call to pause AI research is purely symbolic.

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More than 1,000 people including Elon Musk, Andrew Yang, and Steve Wozniak signed a statement calling for a six-month pause in development of large-language-model-based artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT. “Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable,” the statement says. … Continued

The zen of editing

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A lot goes on at once when I edit a document. I am attempting to accomplish two goals simultaneously. First, make the document better. And second, make the writer a better writer. How this works Here’s how I edit a document. First I give it a cursory once over, just to see the general shape, … Continued

In writing, flow is everything. Here are 8 ways to get it.

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Today’s thesis is this: Flow is more important to writing than anything else. So you should do everything legally possible to achieve it. What is flow? Flow is the state in which creation seems effortless. It’s like going downhill: there is challenge but no struggle and you make steady progress. As the psychologist who defined … Continued

Translation guide for comments from copywriters

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Copywriters can be hard to read. What you’re explaining your idea and they make a remark, what do they actually mean? Here’s a handy translation guide. “Tell me more.” That made absolutely no sense. “Whoa, that confused me a little bit.” Using that many jargon words in a sentence should be illegal. [Blank stare.] I’m … Continued

Questions to ask as you start a freelance business

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My friend Merlina McGovern — the smartest copy editor I’ve ever worked with — got laid off from my old company last month. After 16 years working for Forrester, she’s starting a business as a freelancer. She had questions, so we talked. Since any freelancer starting a business might have similar questions, let’s walk through … Continued

Analyzing your punctuation tendencies

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How do you punctuate what you write? I like rhetorical questions, think we use way too many em-dashes, and disdain exclamation points. But how well do I follow my own rules? One way to analyze punctuation habits is with “just the punctuation,” a fascinating tool that allows you enter any collection of text and X-ray … Continued