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Christine Rowlands is a writer and editor in the Vancouver, BC area.-
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Author Archives: maikopunk
Literacy campaign could use an editor
‘These Are Your Kids on Books’ Poster Goes Viral – GalleyCat. Though it’s great to promote reading to kids, is it too much to expect that the poster spells the titles of books correctly? If you really love books and … Continue reading
Decluttering
The consequence of living is accumulating stuff. Papers and brochures and business cards from travels or taking a class or going to a conference. Books and magazines. Little gewgaws and Kinder Surprise toys. Memoribilia, framed photos, ticket stubs, newspapers with … Continue reading
Posted in Off Topic
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Say Wha?! in New Westminster
Reblogged from SaraBynoe.com: I’m super excited to be doing a show in New West’s wonderful River Market. I’ve brought along three of Say Wha?!’s all-star readers who will be sharing two books each for this very fun and packed show. … Continue reading
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E-books are perfect for bibliophile germophobes. You may miss the old-book smell, random marginalia, and chance of finding somebody’s old photos and grocery list embedded in the pages of a library or used book, but you’ll never have to wonder … Continue reading
Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation is asking its Twitter followers to tweet their New Year’s resolutions, pledging what they will do this year to “create a #bravenewworldin2012.” I wonder if they happened to notice that Brave New World is … Continue reading
Madly crushing on McSweeney’s Internet Tendency
First they took us all to task for our font snobbery. Now they’re telling punctuation bar jokes. Whenever I visit McSweeney’s, I remember why I both hate (why didn’t I think of this? Because I suck!) and love (you’re so … Continue reading
Associated Press gives the gift of correctness for the holidays
Just in time for the non-denominational gift giving season, the Associated Press has published a style guide for common holiday terms. For example, Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, and Kriss Kringle (yes, two s’s) are all ways to refer to the … Continue reading
Posted in Language, Resources
Tagged AP style, Associated Press, Christmas, holidays, spelling
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Movember grumble
When you shave off the first syllable of moustache, it becomes stache, not stash, okay? If you ask me to look at your “stash” I’m going to expect to see coke and gold doubloons, not your hairy lip. PS Here’s … Continue reading
Shopping locally this Christmas is a gift to the Royal City
Check out my new article on Occupying Christmas by shopping and celebrating locally on New West blog Tenth to the Fraser! As the Christmas shopping season arrives with Black Friday in the US, I can’t think of anything more ridiculous … Continue reading
Posted in Webwriting, Writing
Tagged Black Friday, Christmas, New Westminster, Occupy Christmas, shopping, Tenth to the Fraser
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Usage cartoon No. 3: Do you peddle or pedal a bike?
When even bike magazines can’t get the difference between peddle and pedal right, you know it’s time for another super-useful and majestically executed MS Paint usage cartoon. The two words are commonly mixed up. To peddle (verb) means to sell … Continue reading
A finder of lost things
Today I couldn’t find the bus pass. I had it last night when I got on the bus home, but this morning it was in none of the usual places: in the pocket of the coat I was wearing, in … Continue reading
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Confessions of an e-reader convert and lapsed blogger
It’s certainly been awhile since I last blogged here. I could tell you it’s because I was writing copy all day for FortisBC all summer, and coming home to proofread reports and articles for my freelance clients. Or because I … Continue reading
Misquoted Facebook status becomes misattributed quote in mere keystrokes
Anatomy of a Fake Quotation – Megan McArdle – National – The Atlantic. All it took was one misunderstanding and the deletion of a couple of quotation marks for one Facebook status update to become a quote widely misattributed to … Continue reading
Posted in Editing, Language, Webwriting
Tagged Facebook, Martin Luther King, meme, misattributed, Osama bin Laden, quote, The Atlantic, Twitter
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Usage cartoon No. 2: Royally bad
The second edition of the usage cartoons has been inspired by the fascinatingly endless coverage of the upcoming Royal Wedding. (Which admittedly, I plan to watch.) In several news articles, both tabloid and mainstream, this huge event is described as … Continue reading
Social media: hype or hassle
Lately I’ve become disillusioned with the whole social media thing. Though I’ve never understood Twitter, I’ve always liked Facebook as an easy way to “keep up” with what’s going on with the people around me. Until, that is, I noticed … Continue reading
Happy Easter
Bunny plots revenge on petting zoo, a photo by maikopunk on Flickr. May all your words be golden and your bunnies be chocolate.
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3 good reasons to edit your work with human eyes
Computers are dumb. You’re smart. And in the frenzy of writing, it’s easy to make dumb human errors. So before hitting send, publish, or print, use your eyes, those of a friend, or your trusty neighbourhood editor to catch some … Continue reading
