Richard Lederer, author of Anguished English and other popular language books: "If you love language and the unvarnished truth, you'll love Everything You Know About English Is Wrong."
FeatureBook.com: "A good counterpoint to Lynne Truss’s anxiety-inducing Eats, Shoots & Leaves."
Author Biography: Bill Brohaugh
Bill Brohaugh has immersed himself in words throughout his career. He has worked in publishing and has been writing about writing both as editor and writer since 1976. (And unprofessionally even before that: He wrote his first terrible, atrocious novel in the eighth grade. He has no comment on when he wrote his most recent terrible, atrocious novel.)
Brohaugh is the author of:
Unfortunate English (Writer's Digest Books, October 2006). This collection of themed essays uncovers older meanings of words that are out of joint with almost everyone's sense of propriety--word histories that reveal the deintensification of the disgusting, the generalization of the ribald, the disguising of the grotesque, and the mutation of the offensive. Opening the book, you can start having fun ... or maybe you shouldn't, considering that the word fun originally meant ... well, something different. Says the Midwest Book Review: "From political incorrectness to offensive expletives of the past, Unfortunate English draws some important connections between the older meanings of words and their modern usage, covering both literary and social history in the process. Lively chapters provide informative yet fun histories of selected words and their evolution, from the Old English meaning of 'pretty' as 'artful, clever' to the misinterpretation of 'corsage' today, Unfortunate English is a fun way of absorbing the changing histories and meanings of words." (Visit the Unfortunate English website.)
Write Tight: Say Exactly What You Mean With Precision and Power (paperback, Sourcebooks 2007; first edition from Writer's Digest Books, 1993). Says Dean Koontz: "These days, most creative-writing courses teach self-indulgence. Write Tight counsels discipline. It is worth more than a university education. Its advice is gold." A writing instruction and style book, covering concision on the macro level (should I write this down in the first place?), the micro level ("pour down"?--as opposed to "pour up"?), the mid level (don't use four examples when three will do, and don't use three one one epitomizes your point). Foreword by Lawrence Block.
English Through the Ages (Writer's Digest Books, 1997). A reference tome listing the known appearances of words both common and obsolete in chronological order, accompanied by essays with interesting highlights and observations about words. (586 pages. Don't drop it on your foot.)
Professional Etiquette for Writers (Writer's Digest Books, 1986), on how to deal professionally as a creative person dealing with sources, agents and editors, during interviews, submissions, negotiations and editorial work.
Just Open a Vein (as the book's editor, compiled for Writer's Digest Books, 1987).
The Grill of Victory, an in-depth narrative profiling the competition barbecue circuit (Emmis Books, 2006). The book's backjacket blurb was written by bestselling barbecue cookbook author Steven Raichlen (The Barbecue Bible and others); the foreword, by Claud Mann–Chef Claud on TBS's Dinner and a Movie. (Visit the Grill of Victory website).
Thinking of You, a book of poetry beautifully hand-crafted by my wife, Annie Sisson.
Currently the managing editor of COLLOQUY (it means "conversation"), Brohaugh served as Editor of Writer's Digest from 1982 to 1990, and as editorial director of Writer's Digest Books from 1990 to 1998. He is the author of the "Writing the Nonfiction Book Proposal" course of WritersOnlineWorkshops.com. He has written several hundred published or produced magazine articles and short radio pieces.
Romance Writers of America Annual National Conference (San Antonio, Keynote Speaker)
National League of American Pen Women conference (Honolulu, Keynote Speaker)
Society of Southwestern Authors (Tucson, luncheon keynote speaker)
Maui Writers Conference (Maui, presenter of multiple sessions)
U.S. Army War College Department of Distance Education (twice guest lecturer on the subject of Write Tight)
As well appearances in workshops and lectures in Sacramento; Madison, Wisconsin; Space Coast, Florida; Nashville; Cleveland; University of Oklahoma; Monterey; Cincinnati; Little Rock; Kansas City; Anchorage; and Denver.
