4 Min read Mount Fuji Japan Hokusai on art 1 Book rec Upcoming Events * Nothing I produced before the age of seventy is worthy of note. Hokusai * Sunrise at station seven on Mount Fuji more than anything else helped me understand Japan's namesake. The land of the...
Toolbox
On the Set at 30 Rock — Where’s Camera 1?
4 min read NBC News Daily Audiobook available Four Book Recs Toolbox on creativity * * I joined anchor Vicky Nguyen on national TV this week. This Tuesday, July 7, was the fifty year anniversary when women showed up for the first time as cadets for Reception Day at...
A Flag Day Speech: A Question Becoming an Answer
4 Min read What the flag means to me Those who serve Final verse of the anthem Video and audio links of speech * FULL SPEECH IN AUDIO ON SPOTIFY VIDEO OF OPENING of SPEECH ON YOUTUBE VIDEO OF MAIN SPEECH ON YOUTUBE * * The national anthem does not open with a...
A Veteran’s Four-Word Rule
2 Min read On leadership On rhetoric 1 Book rec - what a combat veteran reads 1 restaurant rec Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * The four-word rule flummoxed me. First, let me frame the story. TJ met with my husband and me during our trip to see my son,...
Tsundoku and a Goodreads giveaway
2 Min read Wordnerd - Japanese word for unread books Studio pickups IndieReader review & rating Goodreads giveaway for Raising Athena * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * Tsundoku My friend Jon sent this word to me in a post, along with a photo of a stack of books. The word's...
Stick Season, 10000 Hours, and a Book on the Way
3 Min read On military service On publishing -- April 21st Launch On writing craft 10,000 hours Apprentice, journeyman, master Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * And I love Vermont, but it's the season of the sticks. -- Noah Kahan * I look out the window...
Punch, Roll, and Breathe – the Art of Audiobook Narration
4 Min read How a book becomes voice Creative process Voice actor's guidebook Toolbox ages 9 to 99 * AVAILABLE ON SPOTIFY AVAILABLE ON APPLE * "You did about ten full length solo shows with an audience of one," the director said. "Broadway performers only do an...
On Fathers and Storytelling: The Merchant of Saigon
3 Min read Lunch hour Lit 1 Ancient tale Writer's Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * * Murder your darlings. Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch A popular writing exercise is to kill--or murder--your darlings, those lines and that passage you cherish. You know the...
Sirsasana, King of Asanas
2 Min read Yoga headstand Book rec on editing Toolbox AVAILABLE ON PODCAST On SPOTIFY * You can only do so many things great, and you should cast aside everything else. Tim Cook * This quote is taped by my desk to curb my tendency to procrastinate, to run down rabbit...
Nice or Not-so-nice? A $14,000 Dress
3 min read 1 book rec with 3 quotes Toolbox - writing humor Bergdorf eveningwear price in 2009! * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * I like authors who make me laugh. Ann Leary's essay collection, I've Tried Being Nice, reminds me of the person who imagines herself as...
Living on Hotdogs
6 Min read True story vs story; fact vs fiction 2 Book recs On poverty On music Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * * Well, I never been to heaven. But I been to Oklahoma, where The LOKAL makes Indian Tacos and has live music on Thursday. We joined...
Dinner with Obama
7 Min read Sylvanus Thayer Award On a Strong Military and Secure Nation Toolbox: Speech and Rhetoric * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * The evening with the 44th POTUS (President Of The United States) went about as planned. He was all business, in and out, no meal just...
Queen Amahn, the Third Circle of Hell
5 Min read Five Points Neighborhood, West Buffalo Dante's Inferno and the Nine Circles of Hell* Foodie special Toolbox: texture in writing 1 book rec AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * SPOTIFY * I am not young enough to know everything. Oscar Wilde * Morning Scene Locals gathered...
St. Louis and the Sublime
7 Min read Gateway Arch, St. Louis Pilot's Glory Math geek alert* Toolbox, ages 9 to 99* AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * I want to share two moments with you, rendering them as best as I am able. They are startling in the manner that makes an imprint, a fully sensual...
The Weavers of Woodstock* and the Essential Detail
5 Min read 1 book rec on writing Murder your darlings Write with intention Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 * * McCann Arena in Poughkeepsie can seat 3200 people and I sat among scattered fans to check out Army's first scrimmage of the season. Army beat Marist in volleyball, but...
Back to School: the Tame Sentence vs the Lively Sentence
7 Min read 1 English textbook 1 Style Guide 4 Writers: Stephen Ambrose, Jhumpa Lahiri (Pulitzer), Jon Fosse (Nobel), Patti Smith Improve writing immediately, ages 9 to 99 Toolbox * * How to Improve Writing Part 3: Use the active voice. * I sat down with an English...
Not for Money, Fame, Love, or Anything Else*
5 Min read 2 Book recs: Joseph Nguyen and Ray Bradbury On work and creating Beyond suffering Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 Bonus - children's book and Tolstoy essay * If I had infinite money, already traveled the world, had no fear, and didn't receive any recognition for what...
“We Lived, Felt Dawn, Saw Sunset Glow”
3 Min read Memorial Day Vietnam War Toolbox: Speech writing and public speaking Creative nonfiction / True story Poetry for Emergencies * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * Last fall I received a request to be the speaker for Memorial Day. I was surprised and then I let it sink...
How to Improve Your Writing – Part 2: from Confucius to Lincoln
8 min read 1 English textbook 1 Style Guide, Illustrated 4 Writers: Confucius to Lincoln le mot juste Improve writing immediately, ages 9 to 99 Toolbox AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify I sat down with an English textbook* and read through the lessons on improving...
How to Improve Your Writing – Part 1: from Tolstoy to Grohl
9 min read 1 English textbook 1 Book rec 1 Style Guide 4 Writers: Tolstoy to Grohl (of Nirvana and Foo Fighters) Improve writing immediately, ages 9 to 99 Toolbox AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify * I doubt whether we are sufficiently attentive to the importance of...
On Flesh-Eating Beetles and Sins of the Mother
7 Min read Sense writing: traditional five plus two more 2 Reading recs: historical novel and story 1 Writing guide Improve writing immediately Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify * Writing Through the Seven Senses When I'm working on an aspect of my...
Spooky Hour with Spirits of the Dead
6 min read Word Work 2 Lexicons: Webster's NID 2nd Ed and Shorter OED 1 Book rec Halloween, All Saints' Day, All Souls' Day Fall mocktail, easy and delicious AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY Lakeview Cemetery next to my father's grave * No pressure but what are you doing...
What’s in Your Trunk?
5 Min read New England's largest flea market* Poetry for Emergencies--on the folly of fame, legacy, empire Sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelley Book rec on writing song lyrics Toolbox, use 7 senses to improve writing** Texan king in a cow pasture AVAILABLE ON PODCAST...
Confusables, Contronyms, and Jane’s Potato Salad
2 Min read Word Nerd special Humor and the paraprosdokian Usage manual rec - The authority on grammar, usage, and style Essay rec - DFW on assignment to research the above lexicon and the Usage Wars AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * The limits of my language means the...
Beyond Grade-School Sentences: Adding Depth and Texture to Writing
4 Min read Depth and texture in writing Cumulative and suspensive sentences The Music in Prose: Ernest Hemingway, Vivian Gornick, Ralph Waldo Emerson Crayon packs and colors Toolbox, improve writing immediately * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * Grade-school...
The Master Sentence and the Centenarian
5 Min Read One book rec Punctuation guide Sentence construction Language Lover and Word Nerd Special Toolbox, ages 9 to 109 * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * A master sentence tends to be long though length is not its sole characteristic, nor is it a sign of a...
Three Days in Sun Valley and the Best Writing Teacher
5 Min read Book rec Photo journal Ernest Hemingway Pioneer Cabin Trail hike Foodie highlights Toolbox, to improve writing for ages 9 to 99 AVAILABLE IN PODCAST SPOTIFY iTunes * All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know. A...
Classic Prose: Thought and Presentation
4 min read 2 Book recs Toolbox, improve writing immediately Music in Prose, Ocean Vuong * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * In the classic stand on the elements of style, writing is neither a way of thinking something out nor an art that exists for its own sake....
Goggins, Pushup Yoga, and the Art of the Paragraph
5 Min read 2 Book recs, memoir and writing craft Forty percent rule Pushup Yoga Toolbox, improve writing immediately AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * [Wordnerd alert: pay attention to the numbers at the end of each for the types of paragraphs. Spoiler alert: pay...
Degree of Separation
5 Min read Social connection on Earth in 2023 Network theory U.S. Army and Armed Forces Math geek special, logarithm AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * Thought exercise for the day. How many friends between you and anyone on the planet? In popular culture this...
What Makes a Speech Great?
2 Min read Admiral McRaven Operation Neptune Spear Toolbox, Speaking skills AVAIlABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes Admiral 'Bill' McRaven spoke at the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment event to commemorate Operation Neptune Spear. He started by saying he was...
Weasel Words
3 Min read 2 Book recs on grammar, usage, and style Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 Improve writing immediately AVAILABLE IN PODCAST Spotify iTunes * One of our defects as a nation is a tendency to use what have been called weasel words. When a weasel sucks eggs it sucks the...
What Makes a Single Person’s Death Feel Large?*
4 Min read 2 Book recs, on writing and on jigsaws Toolbox, the Eulogy 1 Elegy, What is Dying? for the bereaved * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY iTunes * Four friends died recently and three were my age: one from acute liver failure, one from Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS),...
Today is a Numeric Palindrome
1 Min read Word Nerd Alert Toolbox * * Today has a date format which is a numeric palindrome. Or, a palindromic number. Or, a palindromic number sequence. Fun, if you're in to such things as I am, sequences and syntax and such. Or alliteration. Or sentence fragments....
ChatGPT on the Meaning of Life, Love, War
3 Min Read Prompts on life's mysteries Artificial Intelligence generates short answer, sonnet, couplet, haiku, blog post Writer's Toolbox OpenAI and ChatGPT * Three times a charm. I finally got onto the site in the witching hours; maybe a 3:30 AM login helps. If you...
“Good Luck and Smooth Sailing” in the Year of the Cat
3 min read Lunar New Year Vietnamese Zodiac, Cat vs Rabbit Year 2023 Writing tip, lyrics, backstory on Al Stewart's hit song * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST on SPOTIFY iTunes * Chúc mừng năm mới 2023!! Happy Lunar New Year! * It's the Year of the Water Cat according to...
How to Capture a Life in 400 Words
3 Min read The Obituary AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * Writing an obiturary is a sobering task. I'm not sure if it is harder to write one for someone you know, because I haven't had to do that. My husband wrote his parents' obituaries and my father had written...
“Pithy and Practical” – Time in Memoir
4 Min Read Time as a Literary Element The Divided Self Christmas and the Solstice Readers Call to Action AVAILABLE IN PODCAST Spotify iTunes * Not to toot my own horn, but I'll let my cousin do so. She wrote in her Christmas card that she loved the TreeHouseLetter...
Which Part of Speech Makes Up Most of the English Language?
4 Min read Toolbox, Parts of Speech 1 Book rec, grammar guide Word nerd alert Ages 9 to 99 * Let's talk about the parts of speech. As for the seven words in that sentence, the first two-- let's talk--are a sort of conundrum. They're not spoken at all, though I am...
What Music Teaches Us About Writing
7 Min read The Music in Prose Creative Writing Forum, West Point Sentence rhythm, Beryl Markham and David Foster Wallace Writer's Toolbox, Improve writing immediately * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes I met with the Creative Writing Forum at West Point to discuss...
Books I Love
5 Min read 17 Books, 19.5 including mentions in footnotes Genres: Memoir, Essays, Fiction, Writing, Love, Poetry, War Toolbox, Texture in writing Contemporary and classic books from the top of my stacks, my more current reading. * The most common question I get is,...
What Book Would You Take to a Desert Island?
7 Min read 2 Book recs Film rec Article abstract, on Virtue and Vice* Toolbox, Improve writing, ages 9 to 99 AVAILABLE IN PODCAST Spotify iTunes * What book would you take to a desert island? I didn't know and hadn't given it much thought until Saturday when I told my...
Charlie Munger and the Art of Swearing
5 Min read EXPLICIT language, Ages 13 to 103 True Story, investing Toolbox Essay and book rec, Ursula Le Guin Patton's Speech AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * Charlie Munger was making the rounds with investors. A living icon in the investing world, he was some...
The Sentence Fragment
3 min read Toolbox, Ages 9-99 Improve writing immediately 2 Book recs: on writing and on essays AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * (1) When you haven't seen someone you love for a while, you notice them anew. The tongue that touches the side of the mouth. The wisps...
No Ordinary Hike: Marchback for USMA Class of 2026
7 min read Figure of speech, synecdoche Long Gray Line Marchback AVAILABLE ON PODCAST On Spotify On iTunes * The long gray line of us stretches / through the years of a century told / and the last one feels to the marrow / the grip of your far off hold.* To the...
On the Double Negative, Circular Definitions, and Children
4 min read Double negative 2 Book recs, 1 short story Roe v. Wade A Double Negative by Lydia Davis At a certain point in her life, she realizes it is not so much that she wants to have a child as that she does not want not to have a child, or not to have had a child.*...
Notes on a Year of Love
3 Min read The Music in Prose Simile and metaphor 2 books AVAILABLE ON PODCAST On Spotify On iTunes My book group chose to read love stories. We read seven or eight books, a mix of modern and classic. The night was perfect, the trees lush and full; my skin felt alive...
Why I Write
5 Min read Creative process AVAILABLE ON PODCAST ON SPOTIFY The main window with view of pine, poplar and birch in the TreeHouse where I do most of my writing. MacBook with this letter on a portable table. I sit in a Herman Miller office chair, an essential for the...
“The Q-tips Are for Your M4” and the Art of the Paragraph
3 Min read Writer's toolbox Improve writing immediately Book rec AVAILABLE ON PODCAST On SPOTIFY The Q-tips are for your M4, Norah's uncle said as she held them up when unpacking her 7.62 ammunition canister. Norah reached in the green ammo can and took out 100 feet...
The Last Recital
2 Min read Piano music, composers Writer's Toolbox: the series and the infinitive phrase AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Silvermine School of Music, former Carriage House (built 1903) I shall not forget the old carriage house, the hayloft used for bedrooms, the balcony...
Most Underused Punctuation Mark in American Writing*
Short take Writer's Toolbox Em-dash Book recs So says the lexicographer and usage genius Bryan Garner. My desk copy of the 4th edition of Garner's Modern English Usage states on page 750, "The em-dash is perhaps the most underused punctuation mark in American...
What Makes a Speech Great? An Admiral Tells 3 Stories
6 min read Writer’s Toolbox Public speaking AVAILABLE ON PODCAST HERE Admiral McRaven commemorates the 11th Anniversary of Operation Neptune's Spear What makes a speech great? There are a lot of good speeches and good speakers. But a great speech is one you remember....
Exercises in Style: a Writing Tribute
3 min read Book rec Writing Toolbox Wordplay Ages 9 to 99 AVAILABLE IN PODCAST HERE Titles begin with letters as human forms Narrative One day at about midday in the food line, behind the checkout of a more or less busy Costco, I observed a person with a very big...
Bedside Counselor on Parenting in Anger, in Two Translations
6 min read Book rec Prose for emergencies Writing feature AVAILABLE IN PODCAST, CLICK HERE For solace and for counsel, I have several books I find myself returning to again and again, and to this one, most recently, as my third child prepares to leave home.* For...
Each Sentence Reflects 3 Choices
2 Min read 1 Essay Toolbox How to improve your sentences immediately AVAILABLE IN PODCAST Spotify iTunes Google Podcast Each sentence reflects three choices. What to write about and what we want to accomplish by writing about itWhich words to useWhat order to put them...
Writing on the Road and the Creative Process
5 min read 4 book recs on writing 1 novel Toolbox, Ages 9-99 AVAILABLE IN PODCAST Spotify iTunes Google Podcasts How do you write on the move? A computer and phone work for me. When I'm not in the TreeHouse I miss my books, dictionaries, and style guides. Worse, there...
Adult Child and a Zen Koan
2 Min Read 1 Book Rec 2.5 Zen Koan** Em Dash* AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Anchor.fm/emelle Spotify iTunes My adult child--an oxymoron when you consider that there is no single word for grown offspring in a language with 171,476 words of which 47,156 are obsolete, but please...
If You Want to Write, Your Writing Has to Have Rhythm
7 Min Read Ages 19 to 99 Precocious 9+ AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Anchor.fm/Emelle Spotify iTunes Toolbox: On Sentences and How to Improve Your Writing Immediately If you want to write, your writing has to have rhythm. No one ever taught me this. But,...
The Coaching Habit by Stanier: Short Take on How to Avoid Crappy Advice for the Wrong Problem
2 min read AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes Anchor.fm/emelle If you're like me and have to work with people, at home or in the work place, then you're looking for ways to improve interactions and relationships. I read Michael Bungay Stanier's bestseller, The...
Books as Trophies? the Bibliophile vs the Bibliophagist
6 Min read 2 Book recs Music in Prose Funniest passage in modern literature Toolbox, Ages 9 to 99 Word Nerd Special AVAILABLE ON PODCAST iTunes Spotify anchor.fm/emelle * * I have a book problem. It's a good kind of problem because books teach me a lot and I get to...
The Sexy Semicolon, Really?
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST iTunes Spotify Anchor.fm Loved and loathed, sexy and sinister may not be modifiers that come to mind when you think of the semicolon. Cecelia Watson argues otherwise in her deep dive on this misunderstood mark, concluding a decade of research,...
You’ve tidied up the closet. You’ve tidied up the house. Why not tidy up your writing?
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST iTunes Spotify Anchor.fm A friend lamented the lack of grammar taught in schools and I said that English was out of fashion. What passed for writing in grade school amounted to stream-of-consciousness and emotion-riddled drivel, and to what end:...
National Punctuation Day – the Vulgar Pronoun – Read THIS
I was looking up the definition of the demonstrative pronoun this last week, and got a lesson in modern American slang. Gestures help with understanding just what this means in certain circles, but if you give it some thought, you will realize that the mean and the...
Grammar Matters – So, Three Pronouns Walk Into a Bar
Grammar matters. OK, really truly, it does. So here are some grammar matters worth sharing with fellow word nerds. AND there's even a little something for math geeks too. BAR JOKES Three pronouns walked into a bar. She let him have it. An interjection...
History Teacher Provides a Lesson – But Not One She Intended
Some unlucky souls have already returned to school and we will keep them in our thoughts. Meanwhile, stretch out on the lounger, kick off your shoes, and crack open a cold one while we consider our luckier path, no school till AFTER Labor Day. Let's contemplate the...
Close Reading & the Power of Words – Edward Gorey – Artist and Writer
If you want to write, study English. If you want to write well, study literature. Francine Prose shares this about writing. One essential and telling difference between learning from a style manual and learning from literature is that any how-to book will, almost by...
Cut the Flab, a Writing Primer
Simple steps to improve bloated writing In a digital world, many people only know you through your writing. At work and in your personal life, social media extends our connections across the globe. So it’s more important than ever to write well. But who has time...