Following ACES

I learned a lot this past weekend at my first National Conference of the American Copy Editors Society (ACES). I learned that people look up the words affect and effect in the online Merriam Webster’s Dictionary more than any other words—although qi is often tops at...

Coming Up: ACES

I’m packing (OK, thinking about packing) today for my trip to the 17th National Conference of the American Copy Editors Society in St. Louis. This is my first trip to an ACES meeting and my first trip to St. Louis, so I’m experiencing a double dose of anticipation,...

Happy Punctuation Day to You!

I haven’t managed to produce a blog post in the past couple of months because I’ve been thinking too much about other writers’ works to think for myself. But as an editor, I just couldn’t pass up a chance to wish everyone a “Happy National Punctuation Day!” What? You...

RIP, Rodney King

 I was shocked and saddened today when I learned that Rodney King had been found dead. My sons and I saw King just a little over a month ago at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books where he was appearing as the coauthor of a new memoir, The Riot Within: My Journey...

Ojai Writers Conference and Workshops

Living on the far reaches of Los Angeles, I often feel that all culturally or professionally worthwhile events require me to navigate the maze of traffic-clogged freeways of the nation’s second-largest metropolis. So it’s always delightful to find events like this...