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National Word Nerd Day

National Word Nerd Day with a pair of glasses and an open bookYesterday was National Word Nerd Day. I missed posting about it because I was too busy celebrating. Here are three ways I honored my linguistic skills:

🤓 I picked my 2026 Word of the Year: Clarity. Clarity is so essential in messaging, copywriting, and storytelling because words matter. To that end, I continue to offer my clients web copy, email marketing campaigns, blog posts, and more that are free from jargon and speak directly to their target audience in a way that resonates. Clarity is also what I continue to work on in my professional and personal life. But that is a post for another day.

📅 I bought myself a desk calendar titled 365 New Words A Year. Each day highlights a different word, its definition, origin, and an example in a sentence. There is also some fun trivia, which I always enjoy. Honestly, only a word nerd like me would geek out about this little gift.

(Side note: The word for January 7th was collude: to work together secretly, especially to do something illegal or dishonest. Given the national events of that day, I wonder if this calendar is a little psychic too.)

🧩 I start every day with coffee and the NYT games app. Yesterday, I got the Wordle in 5 guesses (it was a hard one!); did the Crossword in 20 minutes; and the Mini Crossword in a minute and a half. I love word games. In the old days, I was great at Boggle, and Scrabble remains a personal favorite. As a writer, doing these puzzles makes for the perfect warm-up to my day.

Did you choose your word of the year? What is it?

Shop Talk and A Big Splurge

When I am with other writers, we can easily fall into conversations that may bore other people to tears.

First person vs. third person

Active vs. passive voice

Who vs. whom

And don’t even get us started on em dashes vs. AI. We could be here all night!  (Ok here it is the truth—human beings use em dashes. They are not a dead giveaway that something is written by Chat GPT.)

Thank you for your attention to this matter. 😊

Are you asleep yet? I’m just getting started.

What is your favorite book about writing?

Easy – Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

What is your preferred brand of pen?

Writers often have a favorite brand, make, and model of pen. Mine is the Pentel R.S.V.P Ballpoint Pen in fine point, preferably blue ink. My second favorite pen is the official swag item for Red Pen Resources, my writing business. They are really nice. Let me know if you want one.

What have you splurged on recently that no one else would understand?

Recently, I stopped in a local stationery shop and had an in-depth conversation with the manager about the Blackwing pencils. He was quite knowledgeable and told me about other customers who rave about them. But I didn’t have to take his word for it. He had several samples on full display complete with clean, crisp sheets of white paper to test drive them. I had heard about these fancy pencils before, but never tried them for myself. How could I resist?

But, a pencil is a pencil, right? What is the big deal?

But, I was wrong. Oh baby was I wrong.

Blackwing pencils are the chef’s kiss of luxury pencils—made in Japan with premium graphite and wood to create the perfect writing instrument. Beautiful craftsmanship with an iconic look and a comfortable grip. It also has its own pencil sharpener and replaceable erasers, sold separately, of course. But, I didn’t get carried away.

I spent about 15 minutes scribbling these beauties on the notepad, enjoying the experience and made a decision. No Dixon Ticonderoga #2 pencils from grade school for me. I splurged on a set of Blackwing Pearl pencils, and I’m not even sorry.

My Advice

First, feel free to use em dashes.

Second, buy the fancy pencils (or whatever tool in your line of work that is worth the splurge).

Finally, find a community of people who get why you love what you do and are willing to read about it to the end of the blog post. 😉

What have you splurged on for yourself lately? Are you willing to share in the comments?

XO

Elisa

My Notebook Addiction

Writing in a notebook

My daughter told me that I have a serious obsession with buying notebooks. No, not obsession—a sickness. And she’s not wrong.

While helping me reorganize my home office this weekend, she was taken aback by the different types of notebooks I own. I keep them in random baskets and desk drawers. And I know there are more. If we were cleaning out my bedroom closet, she would have found maybe a dozen more. Those pages are mostly filled with old blog posts and stories I only share with certain people. In my defense, they are keepsake journals, which are entirely different notebooks and shouldn’t count in the grand total.

I’m just sayin…

From pretty journals to practical notepads, I admit to having a nice collection. And by collection, I mean a plethora of notebooks. I can’t help myself. Sometimes, when I want to support an indie bookstore and know I don’t need another novel, I buy a notebook instead. This way, I don’t leave the store empty-handed. I’ve accumulated others that came to me as giveaways at workshops and conferences I’ve attended over the years. I tend to save them, but they don’t collect dust. I scribble down ideas that come to me at 2 am that I know I’ll forget in the daylight hours. These are my “in case of emergency” notebooks for when I have nothing else to write on.

I can’t say that I’m loyal to a particular brand. I was a big fan of Moleskine’s classic notebooks. They are sleek, high-quality journals that come in various sizes and colors. I’m still a fan and often tempted to buy them, but they are expensive. So, I switched to yellow notepads and CVS scratch pads. Soon enough, I worked my way back up to less costly but more appealing bound notebooks with bold colors and inspiring quotes on the cover. My latest purchase is a beauty. The colors are gorgeous, and the quote is from Vice President Kamala Harris. “Dream with Ambition. Lead with Conviction.” They are certainly words to live by.

At this point, I’m sure I have enough journals to write my life story. However, my work life has overshadowed my writing time lately, and the blank notebooks accumulated with only my good intentions to fill them. But eventually, I hope the stories that go into those notebooks will be of great value for generations to come.

I’m glad that my “sickness” is out in the open. Maybe someone will read this, see me at a Barnes & Noble in the stationery section, and pull me away before I make a purchase. When you do, please remind me of the notebooks sitting at home waiting for my pen and my words to grace their pages.

XO,

Elisa

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