Brookline Patch Column: Words Words Words

Nomi and I are both fascinated with language; she's a writer and editor, I'm an editor and writer, and her background is in linguistics. So it's not surprising that we've been observing with great interest how Muffin and Squeaker pick up language.

It's also not surprising that Nomi would choose to write a column about it.

Want to find out their first word? Interested in how we talk to them?

These questions and many more are answered in Nomi and my current The Brookline Parent column up at Brookline Patch:

Words Words Words

Go click on the link, to see an adorable picture of our kids with one of their favorite books.

N.K. Jemisin on the Value of Our Work

Back in June 2009, I wrote a series of posts about the value of our work as writers and artists, prompted by yet another corporation offering "exposure" instead of payment. As I said back then, exposure is fine, and all of us who create art of some sort make choices in what we want to offer for free and what we feel deserves payment. I blog here for free, and I've blogged elsewhere for free, but I've also written articles and stories for which I wanted to be paid. And in all cases, I wanted the publisher to understand that I value my work at a certain level, and that it is my choice to decide if I'm willing to allow my work to be used for free.

So I was interested when I heard the news that AOL was buying the Huffington Post, because part of the Post's business model (from what I understood) seemed to be based on getting people – important people – to provide content for free, as that would lead to exposure and more sales of their other work. I wanted to blog about what the sale of the Post to AOL meant, but I simply haven't had the time.

Now I don't have to.

N.K. Jemisin, author of the Inheritance Trilogy, has an excellent blog post today, And now a word from our sponsor, in which she discusses some of those very same issues that I wanted to explore. If you're a writer or artist who earns part of your living from your creative work, or if you're a consumer of content who wants to support those creators, I encourage you to read what she has to say.