The Modern Wordist Blog

Do you ever sit down to write and your brain feels tight? Like it needs a little stretching or yoga practice? There are endless ways to warm up your creative muscles without officially sitting down to work on your current project. Plenty of people swear by Julia Cameron's Morning Pages practice. But what if you don't have that kind of time? Or maybe you’ve found that the Morning Pages approach actually drains some of your energy and focus. That's where a shorter exercise can help. Over the next few weeks, I will periodically share blog posts exploring what I call one word meditations. Today, I'll focus on an acrostic practice you may remember from elementary school that can help you get your juices flowing, and allow for reflection that can strengthen your writing by helping you see from different angles. I'm only going to give you one example I came up with while writing this post. You're welcome to come up with your own take on the word I chose. Or feel free t...

You’re doing what you do at your day job. Taking care of your kids. Supporting your parents. Keeping up with geopolitical events when you should be sleeping. Dealing with the aftermath of severe weather. Encouraging friends and friends of friends to resist fascism. Stifling frustrated noises when ads pop up over parts of the articles you’re trying to read when you should be sleeping. Managing background feelings of worry, frustration, and oh-hell-no fired-upness. Making cringy faces at your budget.   In other words — having trouble writing right now?   Or even reading?   Same.   If you can’t sit down to write right now, or you feel the stress of everything pushing on your brain, don’t be hard on yourself. Writing is much more than composing sentences, and there are ways to maintain a creative spark and low-level momentum when the thought of writing more than three paragraphs feels like oof . This week, I offer eight simple but effective strategies to help you maintai...

 I'm taking a break from posting for the next three weeks.  Editing work is calling. My soul needs feeding. With art. All kinds of art. If you're caught up in world events — and speaking up and pushing back — don't forget to take breaks.  Taking time to enjoy art is a form of rest, too. If you're looking for some fun English language-based content to enjoy, here's a share about some of the latest slang from Merriam Webster .  Language morphs fast. Keeping up requires agility! I'll have a new post for you by the third week of June.  If you have any questions, please post. I'm always happy to help writers navigate the writing process. Take care, Kammy

 I had a post planned. And then I saw this article about the Mansfield Texas school board: https://www.newsweek.com/texas-school-board-mansfield-election-day-2067789 I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Education is fundamental. Reading is fundamental. And as of today, people in the U.S. still have the right to read what they wish. I also respect the right to choose to opt out of reading a book, no matter the reason. But telling other people they shouldn't read a book because [_______] isn't democratic. Closing Thoughts Reading is freedom. Period. Resist. Rest. Repeat. Take care. Support your local library and check out a banned book 😀

Over the past year, the majority of editing and ghostwriting projects I’ve accepted from clients were at least partially produced by an LLM (including ChatGPT and the like). And I get it. It’s so fast . You’re imagining all the hours you’re saving. Watching an LLM output text feels dizzying. Depending on your mood, you might even feel dazzled. But, as the saying goes, all that glitters is not gold. From an editorial perspective, LLMs actually create more problems in writing.   But if you’ve been drawn in, I don’t blame you. There’s no denying tech marketing is powerful. Through the pace of change, market forces, and more, we’ve been conditioned to believe that we need apps and digital tech to do everything. And because LLMs seem magical, it's easy to overlook what, to me, is the elephant in the room: for most   writing, an LLM is actually redundant.   What , you say? From the bottom of my writer and editor heart, I’m telling you it’s true. By a mile — or several — it’s s...

I'm taking a mental health break this week — which I also call space-off time. As an editor, the opportunity to let my mind wander is a treat!  Imagine juggling writing and editing. Is it hard to finish writing anything when your editorial tendencies are bossier than your writing brain? Yep. Neither vocation is for wimps. For this week, I'll leave you with a couple of thoughts: Keep in mind that you can do things without devices. Let your brain breathe. (For guidance on how to unplug, I highly recommend Thich Nhat Hanh's book Silence .) Visit your local library. For books. Our libraries need your support: https://www.ala.org/faq-executive-order-targeting-imls I'll have a new post for you next week. Take care, Kammy

I absolutely meant to have a new post up last week. It's fair to say that last week was a lot for many of us. If you were not able to attend Saturday's protests, or you're looking for a quieter way to resist what's happening in the US, I recommend reading at least one banned book.  Here is a current list of banned books (for adults and young adults): https://pen.org/banned-books-list-2025/ A longer list of banned books recommended by Barnes and Noble ( not an affiliate link):  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/b/banned-books/_/N-rtm One Recommendation I really like Irmgard Keun's works. I came across her novel The Artificial Silk Girl thanks to an ebook sale several years ago. I had a feeling her work did not get the praise it deserved during her lifetime. That feeling was correct. Her later novel, After Midnight , and eventually all of her work, were a target of the Hitler regime. She was amazing. She and her writing were proof that even though we writers are a quie...