If you live in the U.S. or are familiar with American culture, you know that we became a super materialistic society in the mid-20th century. For this we can thank the post-WWII trends of rising income (for some), industrial expansion, and increasingly sophisticated marketing. We’re obsessed with things we want, with upgrading things we have, and – inevitably – with offloading stuff we don’t care about anymore. Way too many of our castoffs end up in landfill. But those of us

Surely you've seen this phenomenon in a suburban neighborhood:   • A glass-fronted box on a post • An odd assortment of books inside • Somewhere on the structure, a small plaque proclaiming "Little Free Library"   There are lots of these in my neighborhood, each one a favorite place to visit when I’m out walking. How much do you know about them? I was curious, so I did some digging.     Our Story Begins… The first Little Free Library was created in 2009 by Todd Bol, a residen

Ghostwriting is a difficult skill to feature in a professional portfolio. Like the “silent corrections” that we editors make when we’re...

I’ve been a science fiction reader for much of my life, and I’m fascinated by the possibilities of artificial intelligence. However, as a...

For the same reasons that it would be difficult training an AI tool to edit something as human and nuanced as written language, I can’t...

When you hire an editor, you’re getting a very specific stack of skills. Each of those skills can certainly be taught to the AI tool of...

A few years ago, browsing in a used bookstore in a town where I don't live (which, by the way, is a great strategy for finding titles...

One thing that makes the human species so unique is the complexity of our communication. We like to think of language as a fixed,...

[A note of apology: Ideally this should have been a Halloween-themed post, but the spirit didn't move me until this week.] As the waning...

"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion. People must learn to hate, and...

It's not always easy to market your editing skills. As someone who's been doing this for a few years now, I see two main reasons: 1)...

Welcome to The Village Wordsmith blog. I never really thought of myself as a wordsmith until my team members at the George Lucas...

INTRO: OUR MAN IN KIEV In December 2009, I heard from Dmitry Duda, an entrepreneur in Ukraine who'd seen one of my ads on craigslist. He...

INTRO: MARY-MARGARET NETWORK BLOG POST #7 To the best of my knowledge, this seventh post in my series was never published. And the ride...

INTRO: MARY-MARGARET NETWORK BLOG POST #6 This sixth post in my series was published 3/18/10. See the intro to post #1 for the what and...

INTRO: MARY-MARGARET NETWORK BLOG POST #5 This fifth post in my series was published 12/17/09. See the intro to post #1 for the what and...

INTRO: MARY-MARGARET NETWORK BLOG POST #4 This fourth post in my series was published 10/7/09. See the intro to post #1 for the what and...

INTRO: MARY-MARGARET NETWORK BLOG POST #3 This third post in my series was published 9/4/09. See the intro to post #1 for the what and...

INTRO: MARY-MARGARET NETWORK BLOG POST #2 This second post in my series was published 6/30/09. See the intro to post #1 for the what and...

INTRO: BLOGGING FOR MARY-MARGARET NETWORK In March 2009, when I was a struggling writer intent on breaking into the gaming industry,...