Bestseller list

I’ve made the bestseller list for the first time in my career. 

No, not the Times or The Washington Post.  Not quite yet.   

The Seattle Mystery Bookshop’s list of January 2010 Bestsellers.

SOMETHING MISSING is ranked sixth on their list of trade paperbacks, which is great news considering the book has been out for six months.  It seems to still have decent traction in the bookselling world. 

And one of my European readers emailed me earlier this week to let me know that SOMETHING MISSING has also been climbing the Amazon ranks of late and recently popped up on Walmart's website.

She apparently has a Google alert set up in my name. 

If she was living in the United States, she might qualify as a stalker, but she knows it.

Still, it’s great to have people who care enough to stalk. 

Foreign deal

Good news on the SOMETHING MISSING front.  My editor informed me that we have sold the foreign rights to a Taiwanese publisher New Rain.  It’s an excellent deal for the region, so says my agent, who specializes in this area. 

With all of my attention on UNEXPECTEDLY, MILO and my current manuscript, SOMETHING MISSING had sort of drifted off my front burner. 

But news that my book will be sold and read in another country never fails to excite me, no matter how many times it happens.

Fresh Voices 2010

I’ve spent the last two days in Chester, Vermont, at Misty Valley Books Fresh Voices 2010, a remarkable weekend-long event that showcases new authors to the community. Lynne and Bill Reed, owners of the bookstore, have run this event for years and have done an amazing job bringing authors and the public together for a weekend of food, drink, conversation and fun.

It was also the first time that Elysha and I left our daughter overnight, but we’ve been receiving photos from her grandparents all weekend long and she is doing remarkably well.

  

Too well, in fact. It would seem that we were not the center of her universe after all. I find myself both pleased and a little angry by her lack of crying all weekend.

Doesn’t she know what she’s missing?

It’s now 5:30 AM on Sunday morning and I find myself in the lobby of the hotel adjacent to the bookstore, sitting at a small table, pecking away at my keyboard while everyone else still sleeps. In a few hours Elysha and I will leave Chester to pick up our daughter, and while I can’t wait to see Clara, it’s a little sad that such an enjoyable weekend is coming to an end.

Some of the highlights included:

On Saturday morning, in temperatures near zero, we spent a couple hours cross country skiing at Grafton Ponds. It was the first time that any of us had been on cross country skis, so our instructor, Betsy, spent the entire time with us, teaching the finer points of the sport. I am happy to report that I didn’t fall once, though I was clearly the worst skier of the bunch, no matter what Heidi Durrow might tell you. I couldn’t strap on my skis without assistance, I heard my name shouted more than any other and I was asked at one point if I “often have a hard time with athletic activities.”

Still, I’ll do it again, hopefully when it’s a little warmer.

I thought it was a little odd for Bill and Lynne to send four authors out for a cross country ski lesson together, wondering how it fit into such airy and lofty topics as literature and writing and publishing.  But I soon realized the method behind their madness. By strapping long sticks onto four nervous authors’ feet and sending them out sliding across snow and ice together, we bonded in a way that could have never happened had we hung around the hotel all day, waiting for our opportunity to speak. Thrust a handful of strangers into a new situation and they must immediately rely upon one another for support, humor, comfort and survival.  This is exactly what happened.  We arrived at Grafton Ponds that morning as five authors who knew a little bit about one another but left with burgeoning friendships. 

We’ve also had the opportunity to spend time with the Chester community, first at dinner on Friday night in the home of Lynne and Bill, then at Grafton Ponds, where the public was invited to join us, and later at a reception following our readings and dinner on Saturday night. It’s an engaging and welcoming community that opened their doors to us and made us feel right at home. 

But the highlight of the weekend was getting to know the four other authors who I was fortunate enough to join on this adventure. Each is a gifted writer and an impressive human being.  On Saturday afternoon we made our way to the Stone Church to speak to a packed house. It was terrific.  Each presentation was remarkably unique and interesting and thoroughly captivated me, and this is saying something.  I find many authors to be dry, dusty, and terrified when they stand before a large audience, but not these four.

Deborah Copaken Kogan, a no-nonsense writer, photographer, and former war correspondent, talked about the journalistic approach that she took to her first novel, which is based upon the murder of her childhood friend.  From all accounts, it’s a beautifully written and haunting novel that I am both anxious and afraid to read, given my new-father status and my newfound sensitivity to stories like this.

Elena Gorokhova, a Russian immigrant who studied English while at the University of Leningrad, discussed her memoir about life in the Soviet Union before Perestroika with humor and insight that could only come from someone living there at the time.  My wife has already decided to choose her book for our next book club selection.    

Heidi Durrow, winner of the Bellwether Prize in Fiction and doing the first reading of her career (her book officially comes out next month), spoke with remarkable skill and flair, convincing me that she should have been the one to record the audio book version of her novel.  While I’m looking forward to reading her book, I wish that she would read it to me.  She was that good. 

Jim Landis, a gifted writer and thinker, spoke in a way that left you laughing, thinking, and pondering the nature of man and religion, all while remaining highly entertained.  Not an easy task.  His book reportedly has a surprise ending, but the beginning section that he read to us was enough to hook me.  I started his book tonight.   

I am honored to think of each one of these authors as my peers, colleagues and friends, and plans are already in the works to return to New Voices 2011 next year, so that we can sit in the pews at the Stone Church and listen to another batch of Bill and Lynne’s new authors share their stories with us.

Betsy even promised to give Clara her first skiing lesson, too.

If you’re interested in these author’s books (and you really should be), they are:

Jim Landis: THE LAST DAY

Heidi Durrow: THE GIRL WHO FELL FROM THE SKY

Deborah Copaken Kogan: BETWEEN HERE AND APRIL, as well as her bestselling memoir SHUTTERBABE and HELL IS OTHER PARENTS

Elena Gorokhova: A MOUNTAIN OF CRUMBS

And please allow me to add Denise Landis (Jim’s wife) and her cookbook, DINNER FOR EIGHT to the list. 

And if you find yourself in Chester, Vermont in need of a book or a warm place to browse, be sure to stop by Misty Valley Books.  In addition to a fine selection of books, Bill and Lynne also give French lessons and sell magic carpets, children’s puzzles (we bought one for Clara that I cannot reassemble), local art, and calendars of every shape and size.

Be sure to ask Bill to see his Mr. November photo from this year’s calendar.  You’ll be glad you did.

Waiting on Hollywood

It’s that time of night that film and television news occasionally trickles in. 

Both SOMETHING MISSING and UNEXPECTEDLY, MILO have been optioned to film and television producers, and since they are working on the West Coast, I tend to hear from them around 7 PM Eastern Standard Time.

Lately, the news has been good, and this evening was no exception.  Big-named movie directors are bandied about in terms of UNEXPECTEDLY, MILO, and a serious, no-nonsense television producer is hard at work on SOMETHING MISSING, trying to convince someone that it would make a great television series. 

It can be quite exciting.    

But I’ve learned over the past year to never get your hopes up in terms of film and television.  Everyone from Oprah’s production company to Johnny Depp’s “people” have considered the projects and passed, so despite the enormity of the names, I’ve learned to just sit back and continue writing my books. 

If something happens, it happens.  I’m an author who might get lucky enough to have a movie or television series based upon my stories someday,  but at my heart, I write books for people to read. 

This is my focus.

The remarkable part of the whole process is that I never anticipated anything like this happening when I first started writing.  Truthfully, I never even expected SOMETHING MISSING to be published.  I thought I’d end up with a book to pass onto my kids someday, as evidence that their dear old dad actually existed in a younger form and had half-a-brain. 

Everything since I finished the book has been gravy. 

But in the last two years, I’ve found myself on the phone and exchanging email from time to time with powerful and influential people in Hollywood.  Producers, directors, writers, and agents who want to pick my brain, pitch their idea and pay me for the rights to shop my book around.  I often hang up the phone after one of these calls and pinch myself, wondering if all this could still be real.

Hopefully one day it will be.

A real life Martin?

If you are a fan of SOMETHING MISSING, then read this post by Greg Allen.  I don’t know the man, but based upon his view on rotating dishes, it sounds as if he could be Martin Railsback’s twin.

From his longer post:

“So we have dinner, take down a couple of plates, wash them, dry them, put them back. Have soup more rarely, take down a couple of bowls--big? small?--put them back.

And this is what I sometimes worry about: do I put them back on top of the stack? Do I put the bowls back in the empty front spot on the shelf? Because if I do that, then guess which dishes are going to get reached for the next time? That's right, the same ones.

So do I rotate them, put the dishes away at the bottom of the stack? Because the glass dessert plates are underneath the glass dessert bowls, and that means lifting the entire thing up and/or out to put the plates underneath. And the dinner plates are kind of snug under a rack that holds the salad plates, not so easy to get--anyway, I'm rationalizing now; the reality is, I don't really rotate the dishes that much. Not as much as I feel I should.”

He’s not OCD. He’s just like me.

In discussing SOMETHING MISSING with a book club last night, the subject of my protagonist’s obsessive compulsive disorder arose, as it tends to do.  I was asked if Martin’s OCD was difficult to sustain throughout the novel and if any research into the condition was required.

As I often tell people, I didn’t know that Martin had OCD until much later on, after people began reading the book and saying, “Wow.  That poor guy has a serious case of OCD.  Huh?”

“No,” I would think.  “Martin doesn’t have OCD.  He’s just methodical and organized.  He’s acting like me.”

Granted, I do not think I suffer from OCD, and many people have told me that they do not think that Martin suffers from the condition.  But I’ve also received emails from more than a dozen readers who suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder thanking  me for portraying Martin’s condition with such dignity.

So what gives?

When I set out to write SOMETHING MISSING, I did not envision a protagonist with obsessive compulsive disorder.  Instead, I saw a man whose career choice would require him to be methodical, rule-oriented and unwavering in his meticulous approach to life.  And while I certainly don’t posses these qualities to the degree that Martin does, they are all a part of my life to one degree or another.

I tend to be meticulous and methodical in what I do.  I establish patterns, rituals, and rules in order to improve my efficiency and speed in completing tasks.  I, too, am hyper-organized and a minimalist, constantly eliminating unnecessary things from my life in order to simplify my existence.  Parents often ask me why I was given the biggest classroom in my school, and I have to point out that all the classrooms are the same size. 

Mine is just a lot emptier than most.          

But ask my friends and family if I suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder and I think they would say no.  They might tell you that I possess some obsessive compulsive  traits, but not nearly enough to rise to the level of a disorder.  And that’s who I think about Martin.  If he’s obsessive compulsive, it’s only because his career demands it.  It’s a help and not a hindrance to his life, and therefore I have never viewed his condition as a genuine disorder.  

Ironically, the protagonist in my second book, UNEXPECTEDLY, MILO, undoubtedly suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder, the debilitating version that can consume one’s life.

I wonder what people will think of Martin after getting to know Milo? 

Make your voice heard!

Did you enjoy SOMETHING MISSING?  Perhaps you’d like to nominate it for the NAIBA Book of the Year.  If so, click here.

And thanks!

Nothing good can come of it

When I am helping a friend or colleague prepare for a confrontation with  a coworker, boss, family member or similar individual, I often ask the same question:

What is your expectation for a reasonable outcome?

For example, if you know that your supervisor has strong, seemingly unwavering feelings about a decision that he has made, but you disagree with that decision, is it reasonable to expect that you will be able to change his mind or alter the way he makes decisions in the future by confronting him?

If the answer is no (and quite often it is), then one must assess the benefit of confronting the supervisor at all.  Usually, my advice is to avoid such confrontations, since they tend to yield only negative results. 

This is the question that an author must ask himself when deciding if it is worth going on the offensive and challenging a negative reviewer, as so many have done this past year.     

In June, Alice Hoffman referred to a critic as a “moron” and an “idiot” on Twitter after The Boston Globe ran a negative review about her novel, THE STORY SISTERS.  Three days later Hoffman’s Twitter account had disappeared and she had issued an apology. 

That same month, Alaine de Botton posted a comment on the personal blog of  reviewer Caleb Crain, who had written unfavorably about his latest book, THE PLEASURES AND SORROWS OF WORK.  Among other things, Botton wrote:

“I will hate you till the day I die and wish you nothing but ill will in every career move you make.”

Not the best way to endear yourself to the public. 

In both these cases, I would have advised the writers to refrain from commenting at all, since there was no expectation for a reasonable outcome.  In each case, the reviewer was not going to change his mind about the book, and there was no way in hell that any public sympathy would be garnered through the vitriol that these authors used.  

But at least they used their names when commenting. 

Author Candace Sams went on the offensive against an Amazon reviewer LB Taylor after he gave her novel, ELECTRA GALAXY’S INTERSELLER FELLER, a one-star review on the Amazon.com website.  Sams attempted to attribute some of the problems with her book to her editor and then informed the reviewer and his many commenters that she intends to report them to the FBI.

But rather than commenting under her own name, she used the pseudonym Niteflyer One.  About half-a-second after she began commenting, savvy Amazon users had identified her as the author. 

Shortly thereafter, she deleted all of her comments from the thread.

While I disagree with the actions of all three authors, it’s Sams with whom I find the most fault.  If you’re going to criticize anyone in a public forum, at least have the courage and decency to attach your name to the criticism.  While I question Hoffman’s and Botton’s judgment, I do not question their integrity.  They disagreed with a review and made their voice heard.  They stood behind their remarks.    

Sams chose to hide behind a blanket of anonymity, but her blanket ended up being as thick as cheap toilet paper, as it often is in the digital world.  She acted like a coward.  Her actions were underhanded and dishonest.  In the end, she looked like a fool.

I despise the anonymous attack and am glad that Sams was exposed by the Amazon user-base.  Anonymity is a powerful, deceitful, insidious and gutless means by which a individual can lie, exaggerate, mischaracterize and slander without threat of retribution or rebuttal.  It must be rejected and renounced at every turn.

Thankfully, I have never felt the urge to respond to a negative review.  Even more thankfully, they have been few and far between.  Of the 51 reviews on Amazon, only four of them are one or two-star reviews.  But even if more had been negative, I cannot envision myself attacking the authors for their reviews. 

It all goes back to reasonable expectations.  I never expected everyone to like the book, so I knew that there would probably be some negative reviews.  Drawing attention to those negative reviewers by attacking them, both anonymously or publicly, didn’t seem to make a lot of sense, as a handful of authors discovered in 2009. 

Another review to close out 2009

Hartford Magazine reviewed SOMETHING MISSING for their January 2010 edition, which arrived at my home this week.   

Marion Dooling writes that “Matthew Dicks’s tale about OCD thief Martin Railsback and "’his clients’ is a fun, quirky book that kept me reading far beyond regular bedtime.  His sense of humor and off-beat storyline often made me smile and share passages with friends.”

A nice holiday treat for me!

Literally singing the praises of books!

What’s better than an independent bookseller singing the praises of your book to the tune of a classic Christmas carol?

Not much!

Timing is everything

Just as the Miami Dolphins tied the score, sending their game against Tennessee into overtime (annoying me immensely), my Google Alert pointed me to this delightful post on The Official Gordon Korman Web Site. It read:

I quite accidentally stumbled across this writer, and I’m glad I did. Matthew Dicks is the first author in a long time that held my interest the same way GK does. I finished the book in 2-3 days, and GK’s the only other author who’s books I finish that fast.

This is Mathew’s first novel and I look forward to his next one. Something Missing is about an obsessive-compulsive thief who ends up trying to help out his ‘clients’, as he calls them. Well worth picking up. You would definitely be ‘missing something’ if you didn’t.”

It’s always great to hear that someone enjoyed my book, but it seems as if the universe constantly conspires to send me these snippets of goodwill at just the right moment.

And just as I finished reading the post, the Titans kicked a game winning field goal, making it a nearly perfect football Sunday.

Nearly perfect because I was supposed to be in Buffalo with a couple friends today, watching my Patriots crush the Bills on their own turf, but confusion on the calendar left me stuck in Connecticut, spinning tunes at a wedding.

It didn’t make up for the missed trip, but the literary and football Gods seemed to be in perfect alignment this weekend, which helped.

Holiday treat

Praise from Jim Higgins of the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, who includes SOMETHING MISSING in his Ten Books You Will Just Simply Enjoy.

The kindness of strangers

It’s always nice to discover that someone is saying something nice about your book.  Especially when it’s a bookseller. 

From Shannon McKenna Schmidt on Shelf Awareness:

“At Saturday's event, Joe Drabyak will be recommending books from various publishers and titles from Random House imprints both on the Grid O' Gifts--John Grisham's Ford County: Stories--and off, like Something Missing by Matthew Dicks. The debut mystery about an endearing thief who steals only items that will go unnoticed and who plays guardian angel to the homeowners he burglarizes, said Drabyak, "is the type of book I could easily recommend to anyone."

Tuesday Teaser

Blogger Wendy Morris of Well-Mannered Frivolity recently wrote a post about SOMETHING MISSING which I thought was interesting and unique. 

Wendy’s politics and mine are like oil and water, but it appears that our fondness for books might allow us to nevertheless be friends.  She writes:

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Wendy’s Tuesday Teaser:

The dog growled and continued to tug, snapping up more fabric, pulling Martin even closer, and more fabric in its jaws, Martin felt his airflow begin to constrict. He wondered if Cujo might choke him to death before the dog ever managed a bite.

From Something Missing: A Novel by Matthew Dicks

And since it’s Tuesday, I thought I’d share my own Tuesday Teaser:

Lillian in the supermarket, terrified and angry, her long hands running over shelves, knocking down cans, grabbing at last a box and muttering, reaches out to grab an innocent shopper, thrusts the box into the woman’s face, shrieking, “What is this! Tell me what this is!,” until the shopper, in irritated charity, says, “Cornflakes,” and shakes loose.

From GEEK LOVE by Katherine Dunn

That’s my book!

Book maven, Twitter fiend and podcaster extraordinaire Ann Kingman directed me to this photo on the website of the Northshire Bookstore in Vermont.  

The subject of her email: SOMETHING MISSING “in the wild”

As dorky as this may sound, seeing my book in someone’s hands is still very exciting.  And Ann obviously understands this.

Old fashioned book burning: Follow-up

The North Carolinian book burning went off last week without a hitch, and I have yet to hear back from minister to whom I sent a copy of SOMETHING MISSING for review.

Did it go up in flames along such heretical texts as modern translations of the Bible and books by Mother Teresa?

Was it well received and placed along side the King James Bible, the only true Bible according to these book-burning religious fanatics?

Or was it simply ignored, recognized for the bit of authorial amusement that it was meant to be? 

I wish I knew.

On good authority, I haven’t changed a bit

During my appearance at Renaissance Books on Saturday, I was asked to explain the reasoning behind choosing the section of SOMETHING MISSING that I read aloud to audiences.

Personally, I find the actual reading of the book to be the most boring part of any author’s appearance, my own included. I would much prefer to plug my iPhone into a docking station and play a portion of the audio book, read by the talented Jefferson Mayes, instead. As an audience member and an author, I much prefer the variety and spontaneity of the question-and-answer portion of an author’s appearance to be the most entertaining. As such, I try to keep the reading as short as possible. In answer to this woman’s question, I confessed that my publicist had recommended the section that I read after I was unable to identify a suitable passage on my own.

She then followed up her question by asking if I had to choose a section of the book to read, what would it have been?

“The last ten pages,” I answered.

“Is this because the end is your favorite part?”

“No,” I said. “I just want to spoil the ending for everyone.”

With the utmost sincerity, another audience member asked, “Why would you want to do that?”

“Because that’s just the kind of guy I am.”

From the back of the room, Mrs. Allan, my former middle school teacher, grumbled, “He hasn’t changed a bit.”

As odd as it may seem, I find great comfort in knowing that my occasionally sarcastic, slightly rude, and less-than-conforming nature is not something new.

Hometown appearance

I spent Saturday in my hometown of Blackstone, MA, speaking about Something Missing to audiences in the Blackstone Public Library and then down the road at Renaissance Books in Uxbridge, MA. There were great turnouts for both events, thanks in part to Stacy Juba, a local author who arranged the appearances, promoted them aggressively, and spoke alongside me. Oddly enough, the library stands on the former site of my middle school, and before that, my father’s high school. It was quite surreal to return to a space that I once occupied as a student in order to share my novel with an enthusiastic audience. I have many memories from that AF Maloney Middle School, which was raised in order to construct one of the finest small town libraries that I have ever seen. One of my most distinct memories is of the playground, which consisted of a patch of blacktop that was backed by a dirt field. A white line was painted across the pavement, dividing the playground into a boy’s side and a girl’s side, with the patch of dirt in the back reserved for the boys who used it for football and soccer games.

The fact that we still enjoyed recess in middle school is incomprehensible to my current students.

The fact that boys and girls could not play together is still incomprehensible to me.

The fact that boys were allotted twice as much space than the girls was incomprehensible to me even as I enjoyed this unfair benefit as a ten-year-old.

I also had a science teacher (Mr. Morin) who required you to raise your dominant hand (left for me, right for most) and a math teacher who played Dungeons & Dragons with students during study hall. Lunches were cooked at the high school and eaten in the classroom, and as a member of the top group of fourth graders (students were sorted by academic ability back then), my class was sent to middle school a year ahead of the rest of kids in our grade.

Strange times indeed.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of Saturday’s visit was the number of old friends and teachers who were kind enough to attend, some of whom have actually played a role in the writing of Something Missing and Unexpectedly, Milo.

Mr. Compopiano, the high school English teacher who is mentioned in the Acknowledgements of Something Missing, stopped by prior to my appearance to say hello.

Laura, my high school sweetheart and the girl from whom Martin’s girlfriend, Laura, derives her name, also stopped by with her sister and mother. I haven’t seen Laura in years, so it was great to spend some time together.

Wendy, whose last name is used for a minor character in Unexpectedly, Milo, also attended the reading. Wendy and I attended our Sophomore Semi-Formal together (she brought photos from that evening to show my wife), and she was also kind enough to bring a photograph of me and Patty Catalano, on stage during the elementary school spring concert. By order of our music teacher, Mrs. Carroll, I kissed Patty at the end of our song and dance number while Wendy was being kissed by a boy named Danny. This turned out to be my very first kiss, onstage of all places, and it was probably Patty’s as well.

I’m sure it’s all been downhill for Patty since that fateful spring evening.

I also saw my high school friend, Jim, who actually appears, alongside his mother, as a minor character in Unexpectedly, Milo.

Later on in the afternoon, during my appearance at Renaissance Books, I was greeted by Mrs. Allen, my middle school social studies teacher. Mrs. Allen’s classroom was formally the middle school’s undersized auditorium, and as a result, she had a stage in her classroom, which was one of the most beautiful and unique classrooms that I have ever seen. Mrs. Allen’s classroom, and specifically her stage, served as the inspiration for the stage that I now have in my fifth grade classroom.

Little did she know how much influence she might have on one of her former students.

In addition to former classmates and teachers, I met a whole bunch of new people, many of whom have read Something Missing and enjoyed it a great deal.  I met a woman whose book club just met about the book last week, as well as a man who is currently reading the book to his 85-year old father.

Many thanks to Stacy Juba and her husband, a teacher at my former high school, who were kind enough to make the day possible.

Honesty translates into respect

One of the most surprising remarks I hear from readers is one that I heard twice last week. In both instances, readers thanked me for handling Martin, the obsessive-compulsive protagonist of SOMETHING MISSING, with “gentleness and respect” and “great decency” when writing about him.

To be honest, I’m not even sure if Martin is truly obsessive-compulsive. When I was writing the book, I thought that Martin’s methodical nature was merely a slightly elevated depiction of my own personal approach to life, but as people began reading, commenting and reviewing the book, phrases like obsessive-compulsive and OCD were mentioned quite frequently, leading me to question my own nature.

Am I also obsessive-compulsive? Methodical, perhaps, but OCD? I don’t think so.

Either way, a surprising number of readers have expressed their appreciation for the way in which Martin and his condition are portrayed in the novel, often using words like decency and respect when thanking me.

While respect and decency were not priorities as I was writing the book, an honest portrayal of the character was foremost in my mind as I was crafting the story, and perhaps it is to this that readers are reacting so positively.

I’m just happy that so many people love Martin as much as I do.

Many hands make light work

Writing is not always a solitary process.

In addition to a crew of faithful readers who are kind enough to read my books as I write them, chapter by chapter, I also have a stable of readers who are nice enough to help me with my blog as well, offering me editing and revising suggestions when needed.  My wife is often my first line of defense against my typical typos and other blunders, but lately, others have joined in the fray.  A European reader has most recently been the first to fire me an email when I make an error on the blog, and other friends step up from time to time as well. 

All are consistently and remarkably insightful in their suggestions for revision, as my good friend, Charles, was this morning, when he wrote:

“In your post "Kudos from readers in Greece and Norway" you use the word alternate twice.  The correct word is alternative.

I am somewhat shocked though.  I just looked it up on Merriam-Webster.com and they list that alternate is acceptable usage.  I guess since so many people have used alternate erroneously in place of alternative that the definition has been added.  Strunk and White definitely don't concur with this.  Alternate implies a cyclic change (from Latin alternus: "one after the other"), whereas alternative means a choice between two options.”

And to think I get editing advice like this for free…

Like Charles, I do not like it when errors are made acceptable based upon the frequency of their usage.  My least favorite commonly accepted error pertains to the phrase “beg the question,” which does not mean to raise or illicit elicit a question, no matter how many newspaper writers, television reporters, politicians, or NPR correspondents use it this way.

The correct definition, from http://begthequestion.info, is:

Begging the question is a form of logical fallacy in which a statement or claim is assumed to be true without evidence other than the statement or claim itself. When one begs the question, the initial assumption of a statement is treated as already proven without any logic to show why the statement is true in the first place.

A simple example would be "I think he is unattractive because he is ugly." The adjective "ugly" does not explain why the subject is "unattractive" -- they virtually amount to the same subjective meaning, and the proof is merely a restatement of the premise. The sentence has begged the question.

If you could join me in the crusade to rid the world of this improper usage, I’d greatly appreciate it.