When have you encountered slang that sounds of out of place? What was your reaction?

Music can be a powerful way to evoke memories and details that might get overlooked when you’re writing a linear narrative.

Even the most straightforward-sounding idioms may not necessarily be clear to your readers.

I've heard others push back on using compassionate language, saying it's too difficult, or too politically correct, or not important.

Even as a little kid, I thought like a fact-checking editor. Or at least as an advocate for truth in advertising.

Clear communication sometimes relies on one letter.

"Forego" and "forgo" can be a tricky pair of words. Should we use the “e” in the middle or leave it out?

The thing is, like sticks and stones, names do hurt. Especially when they come from people who should know better.

I grew up in a household that was fairly strict about swearing, which is why I have a goody-two-shoes vocabulary that's almost comical.

We had headwinds nearly all the way, lost one Child by Sickness and a few fell overboard.

Dear mother and brothers me and Theodore is well and hope these few lines will find you all the same.

My great-great-grandparents, Carrie and John Wood, married in Towners, NY, on Jan. 20, 1884, when she was 18 and he was a mere 15 years old.

Elnora and I are the only daughters in 161 years of this Mason branch.

Now, I’d like make her a cup of tea, sit with her in her beautiful sunroom full of plants, and ask about her life before she married.

I have no idea why these well-dressed men gathered in the woods, presumably near Springfield, Massachusetts.

One of my biggest brick walls right now concerns this lady, who I believe is Ann Eliza Wood (1846?-1883), my 3rd great-grandmother.

Have you found any unusual names in your family tree? My favorite belongs to a woman I know very little about.

I’m never surprised to see “seamstress” noted on my ancestors’ census records.

With Easter approaching, I share one of my favorite photos, taken sometime in the early- to mid-1970s.

Richard Williams (1882-1939) was an accomplished musician and shared his musical passions with his family.