On the Death of Amazon’s Writing Culture

How AI has turned what was once a superpower into a liability.

8 Best Stationery Designs for People With a Slightly Unhealthy Obsession With Pens & Notebooks - Yanko Design

Nobody needs their fortieth pen. That has never stopped anyone who truly loves stationery from buying it anyway, because a new notebook still feels like a small event no matter how many already sit in the drawer. This list is for that person, not the casual note taker, but…

The Curious Power of Punctuation

Louis Menand reviews “On the Mark,” by Florence Hazrat, and “Verb Your Enthusiasm,” by Sarah Kaufman.

How To Write With An LLM

Thomas Ptacek on using LLMs as copyeditors, not as writing assistants: Rule Number One: You may not use a single word an LLM suggests to you. [...] I think that …

Where do writing systems come from?

Writing was invented three different times in world history—in Mesopotamia, China, and Mesoamerica. But not all writing systems derive from those three original scripts. How can this be?

https://stratechery.com/2026/write-things-down/

Best of New York Times

Click through for our favourite writing from the New York Times

5 Japanese Pens & Notebooks So Beautifully Made You’ll Never Want to Type Again - Yanko Design

There is a specific quality to well-made Japanese stationery that is difficult to name and easy to recognize. It is not about price or brand recognition. It is the sense that the object was designed by someone who used a pen every single day and got quietly frustrated with…

Writing by Hand is Good for your Brain - Here's how to do it

Because I am known to write using a fountain pen on paper, a number of people have pointed me to this post and its underlying research. I won’t rehash what is said in those sources, but the gist of it is that when you write things down by hand you’re recruiting more of your…

How a notebook at the bar solved the loneliness crisis

and changed me for the better! probably not physically

Kurt Vonnegut Diagrams the Shape of All Stories in a Master’s Thesis Rejected by U. Chicago

“What has been my prettiest contribution to the culture?” asked Kurt Vonnegut in his autobiography Palm Sunday. His answer?

Essential Essays for Writers

Outstanding essays on the craft of writing by some of the world's best authors

[Fundamentals] Signposting: How to reduce cognitive load for your reader

Fundamentals is a new series that highlights my core concepts in communication, leadership, and influence that I personally keep coming back to.

The Patron Saint of Oddballs and Delinquents

The New Orleans writer Nancy Lemann conjures scenes of booze-soaked calamity, where everyone and everything is on the verge of rot, Brandy Jensen writes.

National Magazine Awards 2026 Nominations

The best writing of 2025 as chosen by the American Society of Magazine Editors

The Electric Typewriter

Great articles and essays by the world's best journalists and writers.

The triumph of logical English - Works in Progress Magazine

English prose has become much easier to read. But shorter sentences had little to do with it.

We think we are looking at a language that got simpler

Sentences can be simple (one main clause), compound (two or more main clauses linked with a conjunction), complex (a main clause with dependent clauses, i.e. clauses that cannot stand alone), or complex-compound (one or more dependent clauses and two or more main clauses).

George Orwell's Six Rules for Writing Clear and Tight Prose

Image via Wikimedia Commons Most everyone who knows the work of George Orwell knows his 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language” (published here), in which he rails against careless, confusing, and unclear prose. “Our civilization is decadent,” he argues, “and our…

[Linkpost] A Field Guide to Writing Styles — LessWrong

Windows, Mirrors, and Lenses: On Intentional Prose What is writing style? Is it a) an expression of your personality, a mysterious, innate quality, o…

The Only Right Way to Ask for an Intro (Everything Else Is Wrong)

intro requests that don’t suck

10 Best Japanese Stationery To Achieve Peak Productivity: Ultimate List For Next-Level Efficiency

Back-to-school shopping usually means grabbing whatever's cheapest at the campus bookstore, but Japanese stationery culture operates on a completely different level. While you're stocking up on basic supplies, Japanese designers are obsessing over how every tiny detail can make…

Why Knights Fought Snails in Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts

The snail may leave a trail of slime behind him, but a little slime will do a man no harm... whilst if you dance with dragons, you must expect to burn. - George R. R. Martin, The Mystery Knight As any Game of Thrones fan knows, being a knight has its downsides.

The append-and-review note

A simple but powerful approach to note taking

To instantly sound more sincere, do this

If you aren’t careful, you may come across as less sincere because your writing doesn’t translate your intent. Here’s how to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Writing is thinking

On the value of human-generated scientific writing in the age of large-language models.

Thrive in obscurity

The path to creative mastery begins with years of silence. Publish anyway.

The Golden Age of Japanese Pencils, 1952-1967

It was the summer of 1952, and the executives of Tombow Pencil were about to revolutionize the Japanese pencil industry—or, possibly, fall flat on their faces. Hachiro Ogawa, the son of founder Harunosuke Ogawa, was Tombow's managing director, and he had just finished a…

Sentence structure for writers: understanding weight and clarity [extract]

Some sentences just sound awkward. In order to ensure clarity, writers need to consider more than just grammar: weight is equally important. In the following extract from Making Sense, acclaimed linguist David Crystal shows how sentence length (and weight) affects writing…

What both these examples show is the importance of length, or weight.

Both illustrate the principle of end-weight.

ChatGPT Doesn’t Have to Ruin College

The power of a robust honor code—and abundant institutional resources

Beyond the Basics: Top 10 Cutting-Edge Trends in Stationery Design - Yanko Design

Stationery remains essential, adapting to global trends like sustainability, and minimalism, and bridging the gap between digital and analog domains. With technological advancements, stationery for school and office settings is progressing towards smarter, sustainable products…

Every Page is Page One

Use A Work Journal To Recover Focus Faster And Clarify Your Thoughts

You’re working on the most complex problem in computer science: fixing permissions on a deployment pipeline. It’s been 4 days you started on that simple task...

A Close Reading of the Best Opening Paragraph of All Time

From Shirley Jackson's ‘We Have Always Lived in the Castle’, of course.

Graham Greene and The Art of the Opening Paragraph

Ten great opening paragraphs from one iconic author.

50 Types of Social Media Posts ?

50 Types of Social Media Posts to Engage Your Audience In the vibrant world of social...

5 Best Online Writing Tools In 2024

Read our article to learn about the best online writing tools out there to help you with your writing projects.

How To Write Stuff No One Else Can – The Write to Roam

Paraphrasing Tool - QuillBot AI

Write effortlessly and efficiently with QuillBot's suite of AI tools. Paraphrase, check grammar, analyze tone, improve fluency, and more. Start doing your best work.

The Craft of Writing Effectively: Essential Lessons from the Longtime Direc

Academic writing has a bad reputation.

Publishing to my blog from Obsidian

This is how I publish to my Git-based blog straight from Obsidian (kind of)

The fascinating evolution of typing Chinese characters

From Wubi to Zhineng ABC, here are the different ways Chinese people have typed their language over the years.

Cut out everything that’s not surprising | Derek Sivers

See Inside One of America’s Last Pencil Factories

The family-owned facility in Tennessee produces more than 70 million pencils annually

What the Heck is Cuneiform, Anyway?

The writing system is 6,000 years old, but its influence is still felt today

Significant Objects | …and how they got that way

…and how they got that way

Carl Braun on Communicating Like a Grown-Up

Industrial genius Carl Braun believed that clear thinking and clear communication go hand in hand. Here the guide on writing productively to get things done.

Where Did Writing Come From?

The rise, fall, and rediscovery of cuneiform

The brief but shining life of Paul Laurence Dunbar, a poet who gave dignity to the Black experience

Paul Laurence Dunbar became the first Black writer to earn international acclaim through his poetry, essays and musical lyrics.

Content Syndication: What It Is & How to Do It Successfully

This article will discuss content syndication in more detail, how it works, and the benefits of using this technique.

The Strange Real-Life Mystery Behind Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat”

George Stebbins was tearing down a stone wall in the cellar of his home in Northfield, Massachusetts when he uncovered the bones. A skull emerged first, then the spine and the bones of the arms and…