Credit Where Credit Is Due

One of the big fears people have with ChatGPT and its ilk is that people will take credit for writing things that were actually written by an AI. Often the talk centers around plagiarism (although I don’t think that’s the right word for it), but I’m more interested in assigning credit where it’s due in…

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Artificial Intelligence and the Art of Writing

I’ve written about artificial intelligence and writing before in this space. Once was about Grammarly, which I hate. The other was about ChatGPT, which I’m pretty ambivalent about. It’s weird to write a piece about something I’m ambivalent about, but I did. I actually sort of wrote three, here and here if you’re interested in…

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Sloppy Writing

I started as a writing tutor at a local community college about 17 years ago. I’ll never forget one of my first sessions with a student. I don’t remember what the whole essay was about, but the student was talking about the taste of blood and said it was like, “a rusty penny.” I suggested…

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Copyediting

I just read an article by Helen Betya Rubinstein called “Against Copyediting: Is It Time to Abolish the Department of Corrections?“. It’s on the long side, but it’s a good read. The basic idea is that copyediting does more harm than good. It is so focused on making things “correct” that it acts to prop…

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Trying to Sound Smart

I work part time as an English tutor at a local community college. I give all kinds of writing advice to all kinds of students. One of the most common bits of advice I give students is, “Don’t try to sound smart.” What I mean by that is the students should sound like themselves in…

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Writing Assistants

Pretty much every time I go online, I get ads for Grammarly. It’s actually one of the few targeted ads that I get that makes sense. I write a lot and I’ve been teaching others how to write for over a decade. But I find that the ads have the wrong effect on me. Every…

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Smoking

I know, I know, smoking is bad for you. It yellows teeth, it makes your breath and hair stink, it causes cancer and other diseases, and all other manner of problems. It also looks cool as hell. That’s not an endorsement of smoking, but just an acknowledgement that some of the coolest people (see above)…

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Phlexible Philosophy

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a huge philosophy geek. I love grappling with the questions and seeing what other people think about the questions. Some of it is really literary. It can be a thrilling read. But I also think of philosophy as a practical endeavor. I think it’s important to know why…

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Our Niche

From the beginning of our blogging journey, one question that has plagued us is, “What’s your niche?” For those not terribly familiar with the world of blogging, it is divided up into niches. There’s tons of lifestyle blogs, dating blogs, sports blog, parenting blogs, and a shocking number of blogging blogs. It goes on and…

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A Baseball Gig

I just published my first piece with MLB & NFL News and Videos – Grunt Talks G.T Sports (grunttalksmlb.com). You can read it here: Who Referees the Umpires? I’d appreciate any feedback. And, while you’re there, check out some of the other content, like this great baserunning video or the comparison videos. This should be…

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