This is a portrait of my dad, who died May 6, 2025. All the wonderful things that made him…him.
Category: Writing
On Being Seen and Breaking Silences
I’ve been feeling…a little lost. That’s the understatement of the century. I’ve been feeling a lot lost. I’ve been feeling broken and empty and exploding and crushed and incompetent and only very occasionally capable and powerful and worthy. I’ve been feeling all those things like I’m riding a rollercoaster in the dark—I can’t tell when […]
Write the Way You Talk (Apostrophes: Use Them, Love Them)
When people write for their business, they do one thing differently. This tiny change seems insignificant, but it makes their writing feel stilted, formal, awkward … you know … all the things you don’t want. They stop using apostrophes. I see it everywhere. The drafts I work on are littered with “I am,” “you are,” […]
Don’t be an asshole: an editor’s guide to internet etiquette
When I took my first editing course, our instructor gave us a valuable piece of advice: Don’t correct someone else’s grammar/spelling on social media. Ever. Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, LinkedIn, and internet forums (are they still A Thing? I am old) are the textual equivalent of a casual conversation, often with people you don’t know well […]