Some more original poetry.
Just the teasing tips of the leaves shimmering so well, visible
Outside my window makes my mind’s eye
Want to trace its resting branches all the way
To the trunk further down to the root; ’tis futile
I know those will be replaced leaves tomorrow like
The lesson I tried to teach you–
To love [...]

From the New Yorker, this little gem.

Ever since I stumbled upon it in the pages of my high-school Latin textbook, I have loved the phrase sub rosa. Literally, it means “under the rose.” In Greek mythology, Eros gave Harpocrates, the god of silence, a rose to prevent knowledge of his mother’s impropriety from spreading. Similarly, [...]

Some original poetry. Comments welcome, and criticism solicited.
Seawaves never recede, they deceive
By their seductive lull, they shift
And swim a far retreat to recoup their liquid dock and
On unpredicted idyllic noontide or yawning night,
Spurt forth from the center of unfrozen oblivion
And lash the shores repeatedly with liquid whippings like
Buried memories of unavenged affronts,
[...]

Or Minimalism Revisited. Here, in the words of the cult-setting, trend-changing, style-altering, and language-redefining master of prose:
If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly [...]

Discovered a great blog that documents “How writers, artists, and other interesting people organize their days.” It’s got some of my favourites: Hemingway, Saul Bellow, and Kafka.
And don’t miss Benjamin Franklin’s diary.
I’m going to bookmark this blog and add it to my blog roll.
Tags: Artists, Blog roll, Diary, Journal, Routine of Creative People, Writers

As a technical writer, I have progressively been led to, hand-held, encouraged, and brainwashed to believe in the Style Guide as the Holy Grail. I was told that periodic sippings from the Grail was both the cure for all my writing ills and the perfect diet to improve my writing health.

The Oxford University has done the English language a commendable service by compiling a list of top ten irritating phrases in routine usage. Commendable because it was time somebody publicized this daily rape of the language. It is a great vent for the mass of men who genuinely respect correct usage, and show deep concern [...]

Aside from my original love for epics, poetry, and classical literature, I also devour “paperback” novels thanks to my introduction to this wonderful world of fiction through If Tomorrow Comes. Paperback thrillers are journeys on a Formula 1 race track as opposed to a deliberate drive in the woods or the coastline or the [...]

I usually don’t play games, which involve some degree of probability but this was interesting. Let me know how much you scored.
 
Tags: 100 Most Common English Words, English, Game, Quiz

Of writing, what else?
It was once believed that nobody could teach writing. It was a gift you were born with. Great writers were born, not made. And such other generalizations. While there’s a grain of truth in each of these, experience has taught me that writing can be taught.
I wrote the way I [...]