Help stamp out slop and drivel! The seventh annual celebration of Words Matter Week, sponsored by NAIWE, begins today. We’ve provided blogging prompts and suggestions for many other activities at WordsMatterWeek.com, and you are invited to share in the fun. If you participate, we’d love to know what you do, so please leave a comment on the Words Matter Week site and let us know.
Carol Topp, CPA
In honor of Words Matter Week, NAIWE’s resident Tax Information Expert, Carol Topp, CPA, will be chatting with us on The Freelance Life. We’ll talk a bit about why words matter in financial areas, and Carol will talk about what writers and editors need to know about the IRS, tax returns, and accounting. Remember, access to Carol for tax information question is one the NAIWE benefits, and this is a great time to get acquainted with her and even ask a few questions if you would like. I hope you’ll join us!
Date: Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Time: 3:30 pm EST
Listen online: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/38165 (You can listen live or listen later.)
Listen on the phone (and ask questions, if you like): Phone Number: (724) 444-7444 Call ID: 38165
Does the IRS consider my writing a hobby or a profession?
Net Income. Why don’t they just call it profit?
EIN, SSN, PIN: What’s with all the acronyms?
Deduction or Credit? What’s the difference?
Tax loopholes. Anything special for writers?
LLC, S Corp, C Corp: What’s the difference? What’s best for me?
How to interview a CPA
We’re always seeking to add value to your NAIWE membership, and I know that we’ve done so with the addition of the online journal, The Vocabula Review. If you’re not acquainted with TVR, take a moment to scan the table of contents of the February 2010 issue (at the end of this post). I’m sure you’ll find several items you can’t wait to read!
NAIWE members will be able to register at the TVR website, and they’ll receive a one-year subscription (12 issues) to the journal, plus access to the 120+ issues in the archives. This online resource contains an entertaining and informative mix of articles, essays, columns and tidbits from respected writers, all related to the art and mechanics of words. The regular one-year subscription price is $40, so you can see that this is a truly valuable benefit.
Extra: New members who join NAIWE during Words Matter Week will receive a special bonus: a copy of Silence, Language, & Society: A guide to style and meaning, grace and compassion by Robert Hartwell Fiske and a copy of NAIWE’s “How to Create Credibility as a Freelancer” booklet! It’s the perfect time to join the “professional association with career-building difference.”
Visit the Words Matter Week site to listen to an interview with Robert Hartwell Fiske, the editor and publisher of The Vocabula Review. Enjoy!
“It’s My Centennial!” said Tom Swiftly by Richard Lederer
Lost Qualifiers by David Galef
“May I Quote You?” On Compiling a Book of Quotations by Clark Elder Morrow
Singin’ the “We” Blues by Heidi Huse
Specialty Dictionary
Glossary of Detective-Story Slang by William Denton
The Blind Review: A Literary Breakthrough by Mark Halpern
Life Tales
Bumbling into Bliss: My Life as a Teacher by Jeff Minick
Vocabula Revisited
The Last Words by Christopher Orlet
Two Poems
On Winter Afternoons by Kathleen Goldbach
Shibboleths
Welcome to Country Music by John Kilgore
Bethumped with Words
Schiaparelli: A Renowned Coutourière’s Italian Surname Traced to Its Origins by Bill Casselman
Harrison’s Corner
Nation Out to Lunch by Carey Harrison
The Common Reader
Letters to Rudi by Kevin Mims
Letter of the Law
Boilerplate Special by Adam Freedman
Language Module 29: The Essence of S
Disagreeable English
On Dimwitticisms
Clues to Concise Writing
On the Bookshelf
Gotcha Grammar (TM)
Vocabula Poll
In honor of Words Matter Week, March 1-7, 2010, we’ll be hosting editor and NAIWE Expert Barbara McNichol for a free teleclass on The Freelance Life. Barbara is the author of Word Trippers: The Ultimate Source for Choosing the Perfect Word When It Really Matters. She’s edited 240+ books in the past 15 years, and we’re delighted that she’ll be sharing her expertise during this special week.
Class Date and Time: Wednesday, March 3 at 3:30 p.m. EST at The Freelance Life. You may listen online or on the phone.
Description: In Whack Wordiness, editor Barbara McNichol will share techniques that editors use to perfect your writing, brought to life with lots of examples. You’ll receive an optional assignment for practice – and we’ll make it lots of fun.
In this class you will:
Instructor: Barbara McNichol
“Words– so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become, in the hands of one who knows how to combine them!” (Nathaniel Hawthorne 1804-1864)
We believe that words matter. Do you?
We invite bloggers everywhere to write on the idea that “words matter.” Once you post, please sign up in the Mr. Linky below and use the “Share” button to add the post to your favorite networks, so that others will be able to easily find the various posts. You’re welcome to leave a comment as well. Words matter!
The Words Matter Week page is up, and we are adding speaker profiles regularly. The first two guests posted are John Kremer, author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books: For Authors and Publishers (2006), and Peter Bowerman, commercial freelance writer and author of The Well-Fed Writer and The Well-Fed Self-Publisher. 
Each has great information for writers and editors, so you won’t want to miss these interviews. You can read more about each of them at http://www.naiwe.com/words-matter/week.php.
Be sure to add Words Matter Week to your calendar. If you’re already on the e-zine mailing list, you’ll be eligible for drawings for free books, and you’ll receive reminders for the teleseminars as well as links to special downloads. If you’re not already on the list, please add your name and e-mail in the column on the right. It’s going to be an interesting week!