Forums: Writing

(CNN) -- A senior U.S. law enforcement official has told CNN that U.S. intelligence believes the principal author of the new online al Qaeda magazine is an American citizen who left for Yemen in October 2009. The magazine -- called "Inspire" -- appeared last week. Running to nearly 70 pages online, it included articles on bomb-making and encrypting electronic messages, as well as an interview with fugitive Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al Awlaki.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Sarah Palin has taken to her Facebook page to complain about her new neighbor—a writer penning a book about her. Author Joe McGinniss has taken up residence in a house next to Palin's lakeside home in Wasilla. McGinniss previously wrote a critical expose on Palin and her natural gas pipeline plan for the Conde Nast publication Portfolio last year, and is planning a book about the former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate. It's tentatively titled, "Sarah Palin's Year of Living Dangerously" and could be on the shelves in the fall of 2011.

Cursive Writing Is Fading Skill, But So What? Fewer school emphasize ‘penmanship’ as computer use increases A student practices both printing and cursive handwriting skills at a classroom at the Mountaineer Montessori School in Charleston, W.Va. . Bob Bird / AP [Pic in URL] CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Charleston resident Kelli Davis was in for a surprise when her daughter brought home some routine paperwork at the start of school this fall. Davis signed the form and then handed it to her daughter for the eighth-grader's signature. "I just assumed she knew how to do it, but I have a piece...

SAN JOSE, Calif. - A shambling sentence about sea fellows who bellow took top honors in an annual contest celebrating bad writing. David McKenzie, a 55-year-old Washington man, won grand prize in San Jose State University's 27th Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest with this: "Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the "Ellie May," a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it...

I have been working as an independent professional rewriter and editor for many years and have recently began upgrading my resources and skills to handle science and medical technical papers, etc. I have heard some good things about Stylewriter, but I have also heard it takes a long time to get used to and the settings are difficult to manage. I have also seen online advertisements for a product called White Smoke, that seems much easier to use, but I have no idea of how capable it actually is. I know Free Republic has a great number of writers and...