I Have Returned, Probably

It was no surprise to me that I hadn't blogged on here in quite a while. It was a small surprise at how long it has actually been. I haven't posted anything on here since January! That's just wrong.

What follows are a few updates and a bit of what you can expect in the future (more posts, I hope!). The tl;dr version is this:

• My ebook is now free. 
• I've been posting about language elsewhere on the internet (and will continue to do so), though I won't be posting much longer at Copyediting.com. 
• I'll be posting a series of connected short stories here soon, for your reading pleasure.
• I hope to be posting here more in the future, as long as I both find the time to write and have something interesting to share.

Here's the fuller version:

Get My Ebook for Free

My gratitude to the great masses of people (there were eighteen) who shelled out a bit of change to actually purchase and download my May 2013 collection of short stories, Seasonal Work. As I look back at it now, I see how undeveloped I was as a writer. Some of the stories are quite predictable and uninteresting, but a few of them still hold up pretty well, I think.

I'd like to keep it out there. It's a good record of my development as a writer of fiction. But it doesn't make any sense to try to charge people for it anymore. So I've made it free. You can download Seasonal Work at Smashwords without spending a dime.

And if you do read it, or even some of it, let me know what your favorite story was.

I Haven't Been Not Writing

I had written a few blog posts for Copyediting.com in 2014 and 2015, and then in the fall of 2015, I was asked by the site's then-new owners, Pilcrow Group, if I would like to write a weekly vocabulary and usage column on the site. Of course I said yes, and probably quite loudly. And I've been doing it ever since.

But that is coming to an end. Probably. Most likely. The ladies who created Pilcrow Group — Erin Brenner and Laura Poole — have decided to move on. ACES: The Society for Editing has bought Copyediting.com and all its content, which they will be making available online, though we don't have any specifics yet about what that's going to look like.

Here's a picture to break up the monotony of a solid chunk of text,
and because the experts say you should never post anything
online without an image. It's a nice latte and muffin I got
at a coffees hop in Irvington, Indiana, that doesn't really advertise
its name very well.

I haven't gotten much information yet about their plans for the future of Copyediting.com except for this: I will continue to publish my weekly column until the end of the year.

I had a good run, as they say. I haven't been posting here, but I've been writing plenty over there since January 22. Here are a few of my favorite posts from that time:

• "What Does 'Forensic' Really Mean?" from April 4
• "Associated Press: You May Now Collide with a Tree" from May 2 (which perhaps I love solely for the headline)
• "Chiasmus: X Marks the Spot" from May 9
• "Understanding Whether Patterns" from September 19
• "Some Nouns Have Too Many Plurals" from October 17

I took a position as copy editor at The Saturday Evening Post at the beginning of 2016. A year later, I had also become the managing editor. My job duties and opportunities at the Post have only grown, and one of them now is to write a weekly etymology column for the storied magazine's website.

It's called "In a Word," and I should have written about it sooner, but I wanted to make sure it was going to stick before I did. And then I just forgot about writing about it here.

So here is some of what you've missed, and what kinds of things you can expect there in the future:

• "In a Word: Gymnast"
• "In a Word: Dandelion" [I had originally pictured the titles just like this — the recurring phrase, a colon, and then a single word. I was overruled by the higher-ups who pointed out that this wasn't good for SEO or social marketing. They're right, I guess, but I still like the simplicity. Anyway, my third post was the first to bear a longer title.]
• "Why You Die a Little Each Time You Pay Your Mortgage"
• "The Difference between a Swashbuckler and a Buccaneer" [for Talk Like a Pirate Day]
• "How Divine Motherhood Gave Us a Galaxy"
• "Guy Fawkes Reunites Treason and Tradition" [Did you know treason and tradition are etymologically related?]
• "A Tale of Two Turkeys" [Read this now; it'll give you something to talk about at Thanksgiving dinner that isn't politics or religion.]

Mark Flyleaf Is Coming

My favorite stories from Seasonal Work are the four Mark Flyleaf stories, which until recently I thought I had already published here. But I hadn't. I did publish a fifth Mark Flyleaf story, "Literary Child Stars," though, which means that, unless you're one of the eighteen people who bought the ebook, you missed out on the whole setup.I also have a sixth one that was never placed anywhere.

Hey look! Another picture!

I have decided to remedy that. I'm going to be posting them here in order soon. Consider it my Christmas present to you, faceless blog readers. I hope you like them, and I hope that you'll jump into the comments with a "You should do one about..." because I really like writing these stories and would love your suggestions.

So, watch this space. I'll be back soon with a bit of weird fiction for you to read. And after that . . . ?

[UPDATED to add mention of the sixth story, which I had forgotten all about. I'll be publishing a new Mark flyleaf story every Monday at 11:00 until the end of the year. And who knows? By then, I might have written some more.]

I Don't Know

I want to do something with this blog, but I don't know just what yet. I get something out of it — probably more than you do. Yes, it's selfish, but no, it doesn't matter to me.

At any rate, expect some changes around here at the start of the new year.

Thanks for reading.
Andy