I’ve noticed my speech patterns getting lazy–full of stuff, sort of, like, um, this. I don’t want my writing to get that way, so I’m working on it, and I’ve discovered a couple of blogs I think will help.

First I found Barry Eisler’s remarkable blog, The Heart of the Matter, which covers not writing, but “politics and language, particularly language as it influences politics” (thanks to “robin” who pointed me toward Eisler’s blog via a comment here at Buzz, Balls & Hype). His “Extras” page in particular hit home with me. I’d already commented to family that my speech –along with that of most of the people around me–was getting lazy. Eisler puts it in words and suggests some specific verbal tics to eliminate.

Eisler links to another site that I found appealing, The Vocabula Review, a blog on all things gramatical. Sharp and to the point. I suspect I’ll learn a lot from it.

Ironically, I found Eisler because of an old BB&H post (linked above) where MJ Rose claimed most author blogs are useless when it comes to actually selling books. Maybe. But I’m enjoying the process. And I’m going to go buy Eisler’s current book today — because of his blog.

Lisa