“I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.” — Bilbo Baggins, […]

The en dash Longer than a hyphen, about half the width of an em dash, the en dash (–) was historically related to the width of the lowercase “n” in […]

 “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter—it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” Mark Twain, 1888 letter to George Bainton Twain’s […]

“Works made for hire.”  You dream of being a freelance artist. While at your actual job–a secretary at a paper sales company in Scranton, Pennsylvania—a co-worker notices your artistic talent. […]

The Purloined Idea. You’re sitting down with a close friend for coffee. You often share with him ideas for your novels, and in this case you have a particularly ingenious […]