Monday, July 12, 2010
We Like to Spread it Around.
we apportion our wares democratically. in the next three months, the following books will be pub'd by, in order, Little, Brown; R-H/Wendy Lamb; Marshall Cavendish (illustrator) Greenwillow (author); Candlewick; Flux; Scholastic Canada; Harcourt; Abrams; and Marshall Cavendish (author).
Our Neighborhood
hey! we made the NYTimes. notice the city's infrastructure work in the background, e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e! eventually, it is to be supposed, we will have— what? fancier water?
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Pet (Writerly) Peeves
i understand our use of language is fluid. there seems no reason to harp that "all right" is two words. (why they remained separated when already was formed i do not know.) the use of well vs good is another lost cause. answering How are you? with I'm good stills sounds like editorializing to be, but sobeit. (i love writing that as one word, which i do in honor of my mentor Marilyn Marlow, who insisited on it.)
we bow to the vagaries of usage at different rates. i myself continue to appreciate the difference between "anxious" and "eager" and am surprised, unhappily, to see writers conflate the two. another of my bugaboos: fewer vs less. Fewer units sold, so the book made less money is correct. Less buyers are to blame is wrong.
i hated seeing sneaked give way to snuck, but i feel that train left the station and cannot be brought back.
yesterday i told a writer his protagonist, in context, would not feel "disgust"; she would feel "disdain". the writer said, Why, they are indistinct. no, no, a thousand times no. the difference between those words, in context, is the difference between his character and another.
we welcome your slings and arrows.
we bow to the vagaries of usage at different rates. i myself continue to appreciate the difference between "anxious" and "eager" and am surprised, unhappily, to see writers conflate the two. another of my bugaboos: fewer vs less. Fewer units sold, so the book made less money is correct. Less buyers are to blame is wrong.
i hated seeing sneaked give way to snuck, but i feel that train left the station and cannot be brought back.
yesterday i told a writer his protagonist, in context, would not feel "disgust"; she would feel "disdain". the writer said, Why, they are indistinct. no, no, a thousand times no. the difference between those words, in context, is the difference between his character and another.
we welcome your slings and arrows.
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