Each year, I take a bus up to New York City and stay in a swanky hotel, just to hang out with my great colleagues of the American Society for Journalists and Authors. The workshops and speakers are amazing. But best of
How Do Writers Use Math?
Get the Party Started: Celebrate Pi Day!
If you have the kind of Facebook or Twitter newsfeed that I have, you have likely figured out that March 14, 2015 is pretty darned special. And at 9:26 a.m., there’s even more reason to celebrate. That exact time is
Math: It’s Not Just for Science Writers
Yeah, yeah. I get it. You became a writer because you didn’t want to do math. You got into editing a general interest magazine, because you wouldn’t be required to remember the difference between mean and median. Or you decided
Celebrate Good (Math) Times
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years of freelance writing and blogging, it’s this: I should always, always celebrate accomplishments, big and small. Truth is, 2014 was a really, really big year for Math for Grownups. So I
There’s More than One Way to Skin a Math Problem (Video)
I never was fond of the step-by-step process many of my math teachers favored. But by the time I reached high school, I figured out that math is pretty darned flexible. And in college, that lesson really took hold. You
The Inner Critic: NaNoWriMo and Math
I’m going to reveal a big secret here today — with my tummy doing summersaults and my hands sweating. Here we go: I’m participating in this year’s National Novel Writing Month. There I said it. And god help me, I hope I
Stop Freaking Out About Ebola (Because: Math)
When I read Richard Preston’s The Hot Zone in the mid-1990s, I was terrified. This was the first I had heard of a scary new disease called ebola. I was working for an AIDS Service Organization at the time, so I understood
Math at Work Monday: Kelly the Virtual Assistant
This world is spinning fast, and a lot of things are changing. Today’s interview is with Kelly Case ofTime on Hand Services. She is a virtual assistant or VA — in fact, she’s my VA! Without Kelly, this blog would be empty most
3 Website Statistics Tools Reveal Your Visitors’ Secrets (in a good way)
We writers have all heard about platform, and so many of us have blogs — both to share what we’re thinking and to reach audiences that might also be interested in reading our books. But how can you tell if your
The Brain Ordered: A review of The Organized Mind
These days I’m devouring just about any writing I can find that features the cross section between neurology, sociology and psychology. Daniel Pink’s Drive completely changed my mind and confirmed my suspicions about how motivation actually works. And now The Organized Mind by behavioral neurologist Daniel Levitin has helped
Tough Equations: Aging parents and housing
I’ve hit the age when many of my friends and colleagues are managing the realities of having aging parents. Luckily, I’m not there yet — my mom is still very active, both physically and mentally. But many of us in our
Math at Work Monday: Becca the Trauma Nurse
When it comes to life and death situations, we want to have confidence in those that are taking care of us. How do they know when to give us medicine, or exactly how much we need? Rebecca Paisley has been