by Jamie Chavez | May 23, 2017 | Words & Language
There are words and then there are … favorite words. Like, you know, cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels, these are a few of my favorite— You have favorite words, don’t you? I do. Again, I don’t mean favorite phrases, like Awesome, dude. (Although I do love...
by Jamie Chavez | May 1, 2017 | Words & Language
It’s not very often I’m stumped by which word to use—and frankly I kinda enjoy it when I am—but I came across a sentence in a manuscript the other day and had a little lexicological tizzy. Here’s what I read. It was a story about an old man telling the events of his...
by Jamie Chavez | Sep 5, 2016 | Words & Language
Here’s a word that gets misused a lot, at least in the manuscripts I’ve seen in recent years. (And not just misused—overused.) Smirk. It can be a noun or a verb. But no matter how it gets used, I think some writers are missing the fine nuances in smirk, the subtleties...
by Jamie Chavez | May 29, 2014 | Creativity, The Writing Craft
Yep, I’m still working on summer update posts. It’s a great way to feature some really smart articles, draw attention to some of my older posts, and take just a little blog break—even though I truly enjoy researching and writing original content. It’s a creative...
by Jamie Chavez | May 2, 2013 | Words & Language
If you’ve been coming ’round here for awhile, you know I have a thing for the dictionary. There’s, like, so much information in such a small space! It’s so efficient! And it contains all the building blocks for my work in one place! Aaaah. But the dictionary’s a...
