What Does Meta- Mean?

Meta is a word which, like so many other things, we have the ancient Greeks to thank for. When they used it, meta meant “beyond,” “after,” or “behind.” The “beyond” sense of meta still lingers in words like metaphysics or meta-economy. But that’s still not the meta most of us come across today.

One of the more popular uses of meta today is for the meaning best described by the formula “meta-X equals X about X.” So, if we take the word “data” for our X, and add the prefix meta- to it, we get metadata, or “data about data.” A meta-text is a text about texts, metacognition is thinking about thinking, and a meta-joke is a joke about jokes. The self-reflection sense of meta has also given rise to the use of the word as a standalone adjective, where meta is used to describe something that’s self-reflective or self-referencing.

The self-referencing sense of meta seems especially popular in art. In its simplest form, a book in which a character is writing a book or a movie in which a character is making a movie can be described as meta. Some works are more meta than others—the movie Birdman, for example, is a movie about an actor who played a superhero in a movie and who now tries to rekindle his career in theater, and that actor is played by an actor who really did play a superhero in a movie and is now trying to rekindle his career in a movie that looks more like a play than a movie.

When characters in a work of fiction act as if they are aware that they are in a work of fiction, this technique is called meta-referencing. It is often employed in metafiction, a work of fiction in which the author breaks with conventions in order to show that the work is, in fact, fiction.

In the world of gaming, meta is used in two ways. Meta can be used as an acronym for “most effective tactics available,” and calling something “meta” means that it’s an effective way to achieve the goal of the game, whether it’s to beat other players or beat the game itself. Meta can also be short for metagame, which is using information about the game, derived from the world beyond the game or its rules, to influence the outcome of the game or gain a competitive edge.

3 Trends That Will Dominate English Writing in 2017

Any way you slice it, 2016 has been a tough year.

We lost beloved novelists like Harper Lee and Gloria Naylor; lyricists like David Bowie, Prince, and Leonard Cohen; and book-character-embodying actors like Alan Rickman and Gene Wilder.

We expressed a dip in mood in our writing online. One study by social media analytics company Crimson Hexagon showed that popular retail holidays like Black Friday experienced a rise in negative sentiment in 2016, despite rosy predictions. Similarly, sentiment analysis of the 2016 American election showed more negative emotions than ever before. One study published by the National Academy of Sciences in November even suggests that a well-known linguistic phenomenon, the tendency to use positive descriptors instead of negative ones, could be affected by this year’s political and cultural conditions. This means that, as negative as 2016 was, we could be feeling the linguistic effects for years to come.

We even chose decidedly negative words to represent this year. The first two dictionaries to announce their “Words of the Year,” Dictionary.com and the Oxford English Dictionary, both explained that this year’s picks were far more somber than last year. The OED has named “post-truth” as 2016’s Word of the Year, while Dictionary.com chose “xenophobia.” Not to be confused for a positive choice, Dictionary.com’s announcement blog opines, “Despite being chosen as the 2016 Word of the Year, xenophobia is not to be celebrated.” Ouch.

But instead of focusing on the doom and gloom that was expressed in 2016 online, it’s time we looked to the positive. Some great things happened in English this year, from the recognition of the singular they as an standard English to Christopher Marlowe finally gaining credit as Shakespeare’s coauthor. We wrote more than ever before, and we even added “squee” to the OED!

So, in the vein of these positive achievements in writing, here is an intentionally constructive list of trends we think writers will see in English-language writing next year. As it has done for centuries, English will only get better with age, and we’re very excited for these three trends to continue in 2017.

1 Fake News . . . and Real Fact-Checking One of the most surprising discussions about writing in 2016 revolved around so-called “fake news” and the idea of a “post-truth” society. Major American publications’ sourcing and writing tactics were called into question, and many op-eds were penned on the importance of well-researched writing. We predict that this discussion will continue in 2017, but hopefully with more actionable discussions of citation, sources, and plagiarism than ever before. Google has already added a fact-check tag to its news services, and we expect that others will soon follow suit.

2 Informality Meets Function By now, some of our followers are probably tired of hearing about text speak, slang, and emojis, and for good reason. The English language is constantly evolving, and in 2016, we observed a startling amount of informal language being accepted by our users. And we weren’t the only ones! The scientific community made a massive shift toward less complicated language, while discussion of informal means of communication at work soared.

Of course, some can take this opportunity to decry the “destruction” of the English language, but we don’t have to see it that way. As we saw in our trendy language study, slang does not necessarily mean shortening language, but it clearly is helping some of our users communicate in ways that make them feel more comfortable. We’re excited to see which grammar rules become myths in 2017, and which rules (like the Oxford comma) are here to stay.

3 More Writing in More Places Grammarly checked over 31 billion words in 2016. To give you a sense of what this number means: if every person on earth wrote four words in Grammarly, we’d still be 3 billion words short! Clearly, error-free digital writing was a force to be reckoned with in 2016, and we believe that our users will continue to pound on the keys at record-high numbers next year. Why do we think the amount of writing will increase? Check out these stats for more context on how digital writing grew this year:

• The number of indexed web pages grew by almost five billion from 2015 to 2016. Since the average web page contains 1,600 words, this represents a vast amount of written material.
• Over 2.3 million blogs are published every day, according to WordPress.com. The average blog post in 2016 was 1,054 words, meaning that over 2.4 billion words were written on blogs alone this year!
• At the time of writing, over 321 million tweets were being tweeted per day. Even if the average tweet is only 28 characters and only half are in English, this still represents almost 5 billion characters tweeted every day.

Even if 2016 was a tough year for online writing, we think 2017 will bring an exciting new chapter for the English language. To quote the authors of the previously mentioned LPB study, “previous research has neglected an essential dimension of language: time.” Language has never existed in a vacuum, and we are excited to see the ways in which English will grow and change in the coming year.

What do you think will happen in digital writing next year? Has your writing changed significantly in 2016? We’d love to hear your thoughts about effective writing in the comments below.

Monday Motivation Hack: Get Your Mind Right

When you picture someone meditating, what do you see? A yoga class? A person of South Asian descent in a religious context? A random businessperson in a stock photo?

Messages about mindfulness have been muddled, messy, and largely unhelpful since its rise to popularity. In the last few years, mindfulness has moved from hippie-and-yogi buzzword to bonified productivity skill lauded by the likes of The Harvard Business Review and Tim Ferriss. Since its appropriation by leadership seminars and tech giant conferences, mindfulness seems to have lost some of its meaning. So what does it mean, anyway? Here’s a simple definition:

Now, if that makes sense, let’s talk about how mindfulness can help you hack Monday mornings. We mentioned mindfulness as a practice when we talked about morning routines, but this productivity-producing mental habit deserves more attention.

Why practice mindfulness in the morning? As Dr. Laura Maciuika puts it in Psychology Today, “Your routine first thing in the morning sets the tone for the entire day. Before breakfast is generally a good time to meditate.” Even if you’re hungry and little groggy, taking a moment for yourself before tackling the day can help you to remember to remain calm and grounded, no matter what happens later.

The Twenty-Minute Version: Full Meditation

If you want the deep dive version, consider taking up a full meditation practice in the morning. If you have the time, this practice can help your days, weeks, and months run smoother than they have before.

To start, you should probably work with one of the guided meditation options below, starting with a ten-minute-long session. After a week (or whenever you feel comfortable), you can try focusing on your breath and your thoughts for ten minutes independently.

When you branch out on your own, choose a comfortable seat on the floor—or in a chair! There’s a misconception that you have to sit in a bendy yoga-esque position to meditate, and this is simply not true. Also, make sure you’re alone in a quiet space, where distractions are minimal. On the emotional side, be sure to enter a fully judgment-free zone when you attempt your first meditation. There’s no “right” way to meditate (no matter what the Internet says), and this is your first time flying solo, so be gentle with yourself. Also, a practical note: to keep your session on track without staring at a clock, be sure to set a timer with a gentle, non-intrusive beep. Close your eyes, start to notice your breath, and follow the instructions you’ve learned through guided meditation. Next thing you know, you’ll hear the beep and find yourself starting the day as a calmer, more centered human.

As you become more acclimated to this type of grounding in this space, you’ll be able to increase your meditation sessions from ten to fifteen to twenty minutes. If you have a full half hour, go for it! If possible, try to keep your meditation in the same physical space, so your mind associates that chair, room, or pillow in the closet with centering and focus. And have fun with it!

The Ten-Minute Variation: Guided Visualization

When we talk about mindfulness, we often equate it with quiet, sit-on-the-floor-by-yourself meditation. But that doesn’t have to be the case! You can just as easily sit in a chair, throw on your headphones, and have someone else guide you to a state of mindfulness.

There are few options to make this happen, from paid services to apps to podcasts to the old, reliable YouTube video. Try these three, and see which one suits you. Then you can check out this larger list of options. And remember, this is about your feels, so there is no “right” way to move through guided meditation!

1 The Classic YouTube Video

Male Voice, With Nature Imagery and Music

Female Voice, With Cats (and Cat Sounds)

2 The Podcast

3 The App

The Two-Minute Option: Mindfulness on the Move

You know what the great thing about mindfulness is? You don’t have to be meditating to practice it! You can apply the principles of mindfulness to anything you do.

Let that sink in. Anything.

So, if your morning routine is already hectic because of limited time or extra people to get ready for the day, you don’t have to carve out dedicated time to meditate. Instead, you can choose a mundane, repetitive activity you do every morning, and apply meditation principles to it. Some great candidates include:

• Walking to work (if you’re one of the lucky ones who can)
• Eating breakfast (if you won’t be interrupted)
• Showering (if you won’t be interrupted)
• Commuting (if you’re not driving)

If you choose one of these activities to do mindfully, you will need to ensure you can do it for five to ten minutes without interruption. It doesn’t necessarily need to be quiet where you are, but you’ll need headphones and a dedicated app if it’s loud. Just use the same principles as above, and do the activity as you normally would. But remember, pay attention to yourself without getting caught in your own feelings web.

Between vs. Among—What’s the Difference?

• Use between when referring to one-to-one relationships.
• Use among when referring to indistinct or nonspecific relationships.

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We already touched on the difference between between and among when we talked about the difference between among and amongst. But let’s take a closer look at these two commonly confused words. We might even dispel a grammar myth in the process.

When to Use Between

There’s a common and oddly persistent belief that between should be used only when there are two elements, and among should be used when there are more than two elements. But this rule is a myth—or, to be more charitable, it’s a great oversimplification. You can use between when there are more than two elements involved:

He had to choose between a bicycle, a train set, a pair of sneakers, and a new backpack for his birthday present.

In fact, you can use between for any number of elements, as long as all the elements are separate and distinct. According to The Chicago Manual of Style, you can even use between when “multiple one-to-one relationships are understood from the context”:

Negotiations between the member states collapsed last night.

When describing spatial relationships, between usually means in the middle of something, or in the space restricted by something:

He drove too quickly between the cars.

When to Use Among

Among is used when talking about people or things that are not distinct and are viewed as a group:

There wasn’t much unity among the council members.

Among could indicate that something belongs to a group:

She only ever felt comfortable when she was among her friends.

When referring to spatial relationships, among tells us that something is surrounded by something else:

Paula always wanted to go swimming among dolphins.

Examples

Palumbo Group is planning on creating an offshore hub between Malta and Tenerife and strengthening collaboration between the two islands following talks it had with Tenerife’s port authority president this week.

Times of Malta

In my last article I wrote about the difference between AI and Machine Learning (ML).

Forbes

The 59th Annual Grammy nominees were announced Tuesday morning, and while familiar names appeared among the five Latin music categories, there were also some nice surprises.

NPR

Among the big-ticket items, one that is set to put a spell on buyers is that of Walt Disney’s last will and testament.

CNBC

How to Spell 40: Forty or Fourty?

40 (forty) is the number that follows 39 and precedes 41. Though it’s related to the number “four” (4), the modern spelling of 40 is “forty.” The older form, “fourty,” is treated as a misspelling today. The modern spelling could reflect a historical pronunciation change.

If you catch yourself misspelling the name of this number as fourty, you’re not alone. It’s a common mistake, both in print and online:

Female grey whales are fighting for their life. Fourty-three female whales are breeding in the group in 2015, a big increase from the 27 female whales in 2004.

—Nature World News

Fourty years ago when the mayor of Elkhorn was Bill Bartley, he and his council members saw the need for a village seniors complex and residence that would keep area seniors in the community as active members.

—Empire Advance

Nevertheless, the correct spelling, forty, prevails.

Forty state legislators oppose a plan to legalize casinos in three Arkansas counties, a group hoping to block votes on the measure announced Monday.

—Hot Springs Sentinel Record

The staff got the surprise of their lives when the note in question came out without ‘forty’ being censored to ‘fourty’. . . This time the collector stood up and said, “I’m sorry, Mr Pati. I checked the spelling of ‘forty’ in the dictionary. You are correct.”

—New Indian Express

The second quote from the New Indian Express helps demonstrate how to get to the bottom of the issue. Check a dictionary! You will find that the correct spelling is definitely forty. Dictionaries usually provide any accepted alternative spellings of words, but there is no acceptable variant spelling of forty.

Why are there so many instances of fourty on the Internet? Well, it’s kind of a tricky spelling, especially in compound numbers such as forty-four. Forty actually deviates from a pattern if you think about it. There’s four, fourteen, and then forty. Afterward there’s four hundred, four thousand, and so on.

What about related terms? Fortieth relates to forty, so there’s no U. On the other hand, fourth refers to four, so it is spelled with a U. In fact, that’s a good memory aid to help you differentiate the two.

Here’s a tip: The U is associated with four and related words, but forty and its derivatives don’t have a U.

Why Is Forty So Different?

Forty is unique, but how did it get that way? The Online Etymology Dictionary traces forty to Old English from a Northumbrian word that compounded terms meaning “four” and “group of ten.” As early as 1821, its modern spelling appeared in expressions such as forty winks and forty-niners. Just in case you’re wondering, forty winks refers to a short nap and a forty-niner is a person who migrated to California in 1849 to prospect gold. A San Francisco football team, the 49ers, currently bears the name (although they tend to use numerals and thereby avoid the forty/fourty problem altogether). You can easily find references to these iconic “forty” terms in literature. Here’s one:

If she’ll just stay around the house for a few days and take forty winks of sleep she’ll be as fit as ever.

—F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gretchen’s Forty Winks

Don’t be too hard on yourself or others who add that extraneous U to forty. It’s really not intuitive, and there are so many instances of fourty online that you might think it’s right. Avoid being fooled by remembering that forty does not have a U.

How to Customize Your Writing in Job Applications

Writing job applications is a necessary evil that awaits most of us. On the plus side, applications allow us to reach for the stars—or at least for employers we would never be able to reach through recommendations or word of mouth. On the flip side, they offer the same opportunity to hundreds of other people who are also looking for a job. To make matters even worse, in this day and age you can’t use the same résumé and cover letter for every job post you see. You will see a lot of them, and you’ll send out plenty of applications, before landing a job. Employers expect personalized job applications. For you, that means either you’ll have to start each application from scratch, or you’ll need to create a template and learn how to customize it. You could also download templates, or even whole cover letters and résumés from the Internet, but that wouldn’t be smart, given how anti-plagiarism tools (like Grammarly’s) are good at noticing those kinds of things. No, customization is your best bet. If we agree that a standard job application consists of a résumé and a cover letter, let’s suppose you’ve done your research and written templates for them. Now, what?

Start With the Résumé

For the résumé, the whole idea behind the following set of tips is that you shouldn’t spend hours rewriting a résumé for each job application you send out. It’s better to focus on tailoring a few points that are proven to be important for getting your résumé into the right hands. Or any hands, as you’ll see in a moment.

Customize Your Objective

After your name and contact information, the next thing you need to include on your résumé is the objective, or the target job title. You should make sure it exactly matches the position you’re applying for. For instance, if you’re applying for a position as an assistant manager in retail, you shouldn’t write “assistant manager” as your objective—you should add the “retail” part and make it match the title of the position you’re applying for.

Do Not Forget the Summary

This is the part of the résumé that comes after the objective, and you use it to highlight your most important skills and achievements. In the summary, you should bring out only the things that have something to do with the job requirements. Those are your strongest selling points. There’s a method to this madness—recruiters don’t spend a lot of time reading most résumés. So you should give them everything they need to know about you—everything that makes you a good candidate for the job—right from the start.

Mind the Keywords

For all this work to mean anything, your résumé needs to get to a recruiter, and for that, it needs to have specific keywords. Why? Because applications are scanned by software for the most important words from the job post, and applications that don’t contain them rarely if ever get read by human beings. So you should check the original job post for specific keywords, and then make sure you include the same keywords, when appropriate, in your résumé. If the job post states that you need to be proficient in a specific program, let’s say Adobe Dreamweaver, and your résumé says you’re familiar with the whole roster of Adobe’s products, write down each individual product, Dreamweaver included. With that, you have finished customizing your résumé.

Do Wonders with Your Cover Letter

Your cover letter is the part of the job application in which you should expand on the information you gave in the résumé and do your very best to sell yourself as the perfect person for the job.

Start with the First Paragraph

The first paragraph is where you introduce yourself as a candidate for the job. You could make it about yourself, and about the job you’re applying for. Mentioning how you found out about the job is also something you should do because that’s one of the things that signals to the reader that they don’t have a generic cover letter in their hands.

Customize the Middle

Because you already customized the résumé to make it a better fit for the keywords and the job post in general, your cover letter should follow suit. Include the most important skills, traits, and experiences—probably the same ones you included in your résumé’s summary. If you can, show how your other skills support your claim of being the best candidate for the job.

Let Them Know You Listened (or Read)

Include the important terms from the job post in your cover letter. Sure, you should write about how your skills make you a great candidate and how they synergize to make you a being of pure awesomeness, but if that’s all you do, your cover letter will look far from personalized. It needs to reflect the things your prospective employer mentions in the job post because that’s how you show you’ve actually read the job post and took the time to write a cover letter specifically for this job. Just look at the job requirements as a series of problems and your skills as a series of solutions, and customize your cover letter so that it includes both. Don’t just say that you have five years of experience. Explain how their requirement of having at least three years of experience won’t be a problem for you because you have five. Make yourself an answer to their needs.

Words of Wisdom from Great Women Writers

In honor of International Women’s Day, we rounded up nine of our favorite quotes from women writers about reading. Share your favorite quotes about reading and writing in the comments section!

5 Best Writers’ Retreats of All Time

Some like it hot. Others like it cold, or cluttered, or colorful. As you can imagine, authors, poets, and playwrights find inspiration in a variety of writing environments. With Log Cabin Day coming up on June 28, the Grammarly team began thinking about the best — and most interesting — places to write.

Are you curious about where your favorite author penned his or her bestseller?

Henry David Thoreau: Walden Pond

Seeking an escape from modern life, Henry David Thoreau found the perfect spot adjacent to picturesque Walden Pond. There, he built a minimal shack for under $30 and kept it simple with just chairs, a desk, a bed, and a table. Happily, this shack served as more than a refuge — it became an inspiration to Thoreau. He lived here for two years while he pondered and wrote his best-known book, Walden. An experiment in self-sufficiency, simple living, and independence, Thoreau’s Walden continues to inspire readers today.

George Bernard Shaw: “London”

George Bernard Shaw built a unique writing structure on his own property, hidden in the garden. He gave it the code name “London” so that when callers inquired after his whereabouts they could be honestly informed that the playwright had gone to London. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the hut is its ability to rotate to catch the best possible sunlight. Since Shaw preferred to write under constant sunlight, London was the ideal location.

Virginia Woolf: Garden Shed

Anyone who has read Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own knows exactly how the author felt about having a private retreat to put her words to paper. In the garden of the house she shared with her husband, Woolf had a small shed of her own where she wrote some of her best-known novels. While she didn’t pen A Room of One’s Own here, it is where she wrote Mrs. Dalloway and The Waves, among others. Even better, her home was a magnet for other writers in the Bloomsbury Group, including T.S. Eliot and E.M. Forster.

Roald Dahl: Gypsy Hut

Like Woolf, Roald Dahl also worked from a garden shed to write some of his best novels. His was custom built and known as the “gypsy hut.” He worked hard to keep the space to himself, going so far as to ban his own children from entering. Those who caught a peek inside reported that the hut looked more like a laboratory than a library, which is perhaps fitting for such an inventive writer. Dahl worked religiously in the hut, penning much-loved novels like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, and James and the Giant Peach.

Dylan Thomas: Boathouse

While some writers keep their spaces impeccably tidy, Dylan Thomas plastered his writing area with words, lists, rhymes, and pieces by fellow writers like Walt Whitman and W.H. Auden. Before Thomas used this area as a writing space, it had spent a previous life as a cliffside boathouse. Thomas saw this space as his workshop and treated it as such, pinning inspiration, photographs, and works in progress to the walls. Today, there’s no doubt this was an inspiring space — the writer penned his famous Under Milk Wood here before departing Wales for New York, never to return.

In lieu of a private office or library, the writers above decided to try something different to help inspire their work. From custom-built huts to garden shacks to repurposed boathouses, each author took the initiative to create a unique space meant to stop writer’s block in its tracks. As a result, these writer’s retreats inspired some of the most-loved works of literature.

Where (or what) is your ideal writer’s retreat?

This Is How to Effectively Plan for Second Interview Questions

You’ve been invited to a second interview—well done! But don’t get too comfortable just yet. If you’ve been asked to interview a second time, you’re likely up against the company’s top few candidates. That means the stakes are higher than ever, and you need to prepare to give the interview all you’ve got.

Why Second Interviews Are So Important

Think of the first interview as the getting-to-know-you phase. The interviewer assessed whether your skillset checked off all the right boxes and you seemed like a good cultural fit. In the second interview, the hiring manager who chose you gets to show you off. “Look! Here’s one of my top picks for this position.” You’ve got to make him look good by proving him right.

It’s also essential to realize that you’re almost certainly not the only person interviewing a second time. You’re going to be up against another candidate or two with qualifications that closely match your own. You may even be a little bit behind the curve for one reason or another. Perhaps you’re an amazing cultural fit, but you fall a bit short on experience compared to another candidate.

For these reasons, it’s essential to pull out all the stops in preparing for your second interview. You need to go in ready to make an impression that will earn you a job offer.

In the second interview, the hiring manager who chose you gets to show you off. “Look! Here’s one of my top picks for this position.” You’ve got to make him look good by proving him right.

What Happens in a Second Interview

Chances are, your second interview will be with the person who interviewed you, plus another stakeholder or two, such as a manager or department head. Although you’ll be introduced to new people, and you may be asked some of the same things you were asked during the first interview, you should be prepared for some more in-depth questions.

Second interviews typically include more detailed questions about your qualifications and your ability to handle the job. Prepare to be asked how you’d handle various on-the-job situations. Where first interview questions are often more general, expect second interview questions to become more specific and targeted toward the job you’re applying for.

Examples of Common Second Interview Questions and Answers

What challenges are you looking for in a position?

This is a good time to talk about skills you’d like to advance. If you’ve recently received education or a certification, you might discuss how eager you are to apply what you’ve learned.

Why are you interested in working for this company?

Hopefully, by now you understand the requirements of the job very well. Use this question to reiterate how having skills that match those requirements makes you excited to take on a new challenge.

What do you know about this company and what we do?

Research! Take notes as you’re exploring the company website, social media profiles, and the LinkedIn accounts of key players and people you’ll likely be talking to. Being able to talk about what you’ve learned shows enthusiasm and passion.

Why are you the best person for the job?

Again, this is a great opportunity to reiterate your skills and accomplishments and how well they match the requirements for the position. If you’ve already addressed these things, talk about soft skills like your work ethic, adaptability, or willingness to take on new challenges.

Why do you want to work here?

This question will make your research pay off yet again. Talk about how your goals align with the company’s objectives.

What are your salary requirements?

It’s important to know what you should be earning, so advance research will help you negotiate. Begin by saying that you’re open, based on the requirements of the position and the overall compensation package. Wait to see what’s offered and negotiate from there. If you’re forced to give a number, be prepared to show research that supports your salary request.

Preparing for a Second Interview

In some respects, second interviews are easier—you already have a good idea about the things you said in your first interview that sold the hiring manager. Now, your job is to expand on them and show the company why hiring you would be a sound business decision.

Build on your first interview.

Pay attention to the hiring manager during your first interview. She’s likely to give subtle (or not-so-subtle) tells when something piques her interest. She may nod her head, lean forward, smile, ask clarifying questions, or show other signs of enthusiasm.

What responses did the interviewer react positively to? These are some of the same things you should drive home in your second interview.

Do your homework . . . again.

You probably researched the company for your first interview. That knowledge helped you become a leading candidate. Now it’s time to dig in again and find out all you can about the company, the requirements of the position, and the people you’ll be talking to.

Scour the company website and social media accounts. Do a Google search to see if they’ve been featured recently in the press. You’ve probably already noticed major themes, like whether the company values innovation or has a more traditional structure. Now is a good time to home in on details. Knowing more about the company will enable you to relate your skills to the company’s needs.

Expect the unexpected.

When you’re offered the second interview, it’s perfectly acceptable to ask what you should expect and who you’ll be talking to. Knowing the names and titles of the people you’ll be interviewing with, as well as other details about the process, will help you prepare.

If your job is such that you can build a portfolio of samples, prepare one and bring it. Even if you showed them at your first meeting, the new person or people that you meet with will also benefit from seeing them.

You’ll likely meet several people, so consider scripting a brief elevator pitch to introduce yourself, your skills, and your experience. Rehearse your spiel so you can recite it easily when the time comes.

The stakes may well be high with a second interview—although you’ve garnered attention, that job offer’s not in the bag yet. But taking the time to prepare will enable you to walk in with a level of professionalism and confidence that’s sure to impress.

What’s the Difference Between Was and Were?

The key to understanding when to use was or were in a sentence is determining whether you need to use the subjunctive mood or not. A verb is in the subjunctive mood if it expresses an action or state that is not reality. For example, it might be hypothetical, wished for, or conditional.

“Was” and “Were” as Past and Subjunctive Verb Tenses

To better see what we are up against when deciding when to use was or were, let’s compare the past and subjunctive conjugations of to be side by side.

Past tense of “to be”	I was	you were	he was	she was	it was	we were	you were	they were
Subjunctive of “to be”	I were	you were	he were	she were	it were	we were	you were	they were

Our chart reveals something delightful. You can’t go wrong choosing were with the second person (you), the first person plural (we), the second person plural (you), or the third person plural (they). We only need to make a choice about when to use was or were with the first person singular (I) and the third person singular (he, she, or it). Isn’t that great news?

Is It “If I Was” or “If I Were”?

Use were if the state of being you are describing is in no way the current reality. This is true whenever a hypothetical situation is expressed, for example.

If Harry were to find all the Horcruxes in time, we would not be forced to submit to Voldemort’s evil will.

Would you invite me over if I were more polite at the dinner table?

The first sentence can be described as an unreal conditional clause. These hypotheticals are easy to spot because they are often introduced by an if and are related to another clause containing a would or could.

Another type of unreal conditional sentence that uses the same construction demanding the subjunctive were is the impossible or improbable type.

If it were possible to solve the puzzle, I would have done it.

Here the speaker implies that the puzzle is unsolvable. Therefore, solving the puzzle is not a likely reality, and the subjunctive were is used instead of the past tense was.

That does not mean that every clause beginning with if I requires the use of if I was rather than if I were.

If I was wrong about Felicity’s love of puppies, I can take this one back to the shelter.

In this sentence, the speaker acknowledges that it is possible he or she may have incorrectly thought that Felicity loves puppies and has given her a puppy in error. The fact that it is possible the speaker is describing reality makes this an indicative sentence, not a subjunctive one. Therefore, we use was instead of were.

Use “Were,” Not “Was,” for Wishful Thinking

A sure sign that you should use the subjunctive is when the word wish is used. A wish is the desire or hope for something that cannot or probably will not happen.

I wish I were the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

He wishes his grammar were better.

I wish the stories about me were true, but I am not really the master of the universe.

She wishes she were at least five inches taller.

Here’s a tip: These phrases are never correct: I wish I was, I wish it was, he wishes he was, she wishes she was.

Always remember this rule about the usage of was and were: use were with expressions that are hypothetical, wishful, imagined, desired, doubtful, and otherwise contrary to fact—that is to say, not real.

Bear vs. Bare—What’s the Difference?

Homophones sound the same but are spelled differently. People often confuse homophone pairs, and bare and bear are no exception. Which phrase is correct—bear with me or bare with me?

The Difference between Bear and Bare

Besides being the name of a big furry animal, bear functions as a verb. It means to tolerate, to carry something, or to endure.

The grizzly bear seemed friendly, but we wisely kept our distance.

She could hardly bear the thought of selling her beloved vintage car.

It is too cold to go outside with bear arms.

Bare functions as an adjective or a verb. As an adjective, it can mean minimal, naked, uncovered, or without supplies. The verb bare means to reveal or open something to view.

The cupboard was bare.

Darlene had no idea why she began to bare her heart to the stranger.

The backpack weighed thirty pounds, a heavy burden to bare.

How to Remember the Difference

To forbear means to be patient despite annoyance or provocation. Encapsulated in the word forbear is the verb bear. If you associate bear with the meaning and spelling of forbear, you will never confuse it with bare.

Commonly Confused Phrases With Bear or Bare

Here are some phrases that contain bear or bare. These phrases might have confused you before, but you should easily understand them now. For instance, is it bear with me or bare with me?

Bear with me means “be patient with me.” My husband bears with me even when I am grumpy.

Bear in mind means “keep in mind.” Bear in mind that the forecast calls for rain today.

Bear the cost (or expense) means “to pay for something.” The company considered hiring additional staff, but it couldn’t bear the cost.

Bare minimum means “the least possible.” Keep costs to a bare minimum.

Bear weight means “support.” The builders designed the structure to bear weight.

Bear the pain means “endure the pain.” Ask for an aspirin if you can’t bear the pain.

To bear fruit means “to have positive results.” Studying really bears fruit on exam day.

Examples

Words dazzle and deceive because they are mimed by the face. But black words on a white page are the soul laid bare.

Guy de Maupassant

Do you think I am an automaton?—a machine without feelings? and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup?

Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

I have decided to stick to love . . . Hate is too great a burden to bear.

Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches

MLB Fans and Grammar: A Whole New Ball Game

As Major League Baseball gears up for the All-Star Game, Grammarly teamed up with The Wall Street Journal once again to see which team has the most grammatically correct fans. We looked at all 30 official MLB team sites and analyzed the top 150 comments for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. Each team had an average of over 10,000 words.

The Cleveland Indians hit a home run making the fewest mistakes (just 3.6 mistakes per 100 words) while the New York Mets strike out making 13.9 mistakes per 100 words. Take a look at the scorecard below to see how your favorite team stacked up.

To share this infographic with your readers, embed this in your blog post by pasting the following HTML snippet into your web editor:

Please attribute this infographic to https://www.grammarly.com/grammar-check.

How to Stay Focused on All Your Tasks

We’ve all found ourselves distracted from things we should be doing. A 2014 study found that a whopping 87 percent of high school and college students are self-professed procrastinators. Odds are good that you’ve found yourself distracted when you know you should be focused on a task. Is there a cure? Let’s take a look at how to avoid the pitfalls of common distractions.

When the Internet Interferes with Your Productivity

Distractions are everywhere, and the Internet doesn’t help. My article deadline is approaching and I still have a long way to go. I’m a perfectionist—I wouldn’t dare slap something together just to have it done—so that means either finishing soon or facing the indignity of asking for an extension. Ugh.

I stare at the cursor. Blink. Blink. Blink.

Maybe I’ll scroll through my Facebook feed. (Hush, conscience! There may be inspiration there. You never know.) Is that an ad for a meal delivery service? Sounds interesting. I like cooking. Cooking requires electricity. I wonder if I paid the electric bill. Maybe I’ll check my personal email account for the receipt. Hmm, Amazon emailed to see if I’d be interested in a panini maker. Would I use that? I’d like a panini for lunch. Ugh! This article won’t write itself. I need to get my ducks in a row.

I don’t have ducks. There is no row. I think what I have is more like over-caffeinated squirrels run amok.

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3 Internet-Blocking Productivity Apps

Fortunately, there are apps for that. If you have the self-discipline to use them, they can help you keep your eyes off social media and other time-wasting sites that lure you away when you’re trying to work. Here are a few:

• Self Control is an open-source Mac app that blocks time-waster sites that you specify. Simply add your most frequent offenders to the blacklist, set a timer, and run the app to keep distractions at bay, even if you restart your computer.
• Freedom helps over 100,000 users block out Internet distractions (and even the entire Internet for those who want to get some reading or other non-digital work done). Although it costs $29 for a one-year plan, the program is robust and works across Mac, Windows, and iOS platforms. The downside? They don’t have an Android app and currently have browser plugins for Chrome only.
• Forest helps you keep your hands off your Android or iOS device by gamifying the process. Start the app to plant a virtual tree. As long as you keep your paws off, the tree grows. When the tree matures (which takes a half hour) you can add it to a grove that eventually becomes a forest. Bonus: users can spend virtual coins they earn in Forest to plant real world trees.

When the Real World Gets You Off-Task

The Internet is a significant distraction, but it’s not the whole picture. The Internet has been with us for only a short span of human history, but distractibility has probably been a thing since that one guy, we’ll call him Trogg, first wandered away from his tribe of hunter/gatherers in search of something shiny he spotted on a distant hillside.

Sometimes, a little structured procrastination can actually help you regain your focus. But more often, it represents the things you do when you really should be doing something else. The more focused I’m supposed to be on an article, the more inclined I am to get up and make a cup of tea or decide that the dog needs walking. Office environments pose a different problem, because workplace distractions abound. What to do?

4 Ways to Increase Your Focus

• Focus on habits over goals. Think of goals as the overarching theme. (I want to stay focused and finish my articles before their deadline.) Goals are fine, but failing to reach them is a recipe for feeling bad about yourself. That’s where habits come in. By creating habits, you break your goals down into manageable steps. (I’ll research and outline in the morning, write in the afternoon, and finalize and edit in the evening.) Plus, those good habits become ingrained and, hopefully, stay with you for life. Win!
• Allocate time to plan your day. As you can see above, I have a strategy for researching and writing articles that works with my own schedule. If you spend a few moments in the morning allocating your time, you’ll be less likely to let the day slip away before you’ve finished your tasks. My schedule might look like this: 9-11 a.m. research and outlining; 1-2 p.m. answer email; 2-4 p.m. write 800 words; 9-11 p.m. finish writing and editing.
• Take a stand against pesky coworkers. When I work in an office setting, I tend to become the office “social worker.” Everyone comes to me with their problems, or their desire to share their life story. (It’s a gift, albeit a questionable one.) I once had a boss who was the worst offender. She’d sit in my office for hours talking about her personal life, and then complain when I wasn’t finished with my tasks at the end of the day. If you find yourself constantly subjected to office chatter, disengaging can be as simple as standing up when an eager-to-talk coworker enters your workspace. Your unwelcome guest will find the idea of sitting down while you’re standing awkward and will be less likely to overstay their welcome. Voila!
• Make to-do lists. Start your morning (or end your day) by creating a to-do list. We tend to stay more focused on tasks when they’re laid out for us and we can prioritize. Posting a written list can provide a useful bit of visual incentive as you gleefully cross off the tasks you’ve accomplished. It really is that simple!

We’re distractible people, and the world is a distracting place. To make matters worse, technology is all up in our business 24/7. But with a little planning, and maybe even some help from technology itself via productivity apps, we can shut out the noisy world and get things done.

Do you have trouble staying focused? Share a story and your favorite way to stay on task in the comments.

Stationary vs. Stationery—What’s the Difference?

• Stationary means “fixed,” “immobile,” or “unchanging.”
• Stationery refers to paper, matching envelopes, and writing implements.

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At a glance, stationary and stationery look very much alike. But they couldn’t be further apart in meaning and function. So confusing them—and they’re often confused—is a noticeable mistake.

What Does Stationary Mean?

When something is fixed, immobile, or not subject to change, we can use the adjective stationary to describe it:

I don’t care much for the stationary bike; I prefer riding a real one.

It stands in the square as a stationary reminder of the march of history.

What Does Stationery Mean?

Stationery refers to the collection of papers, envelopes, and other things you’d use to write letters or cards:

The hotel offered complimentary stationery to guests who wished to write letters.

She wanted to write a letter, but the drawer where she stored her stationery was empty.

Examples

When you go to the gym and hop on the stationary bike you’re literally spinning your wheels.

Forbes

Is there a fate worse than having to host a pirate-themed stationary cruise?

A.V. Club

At the “Left & Write” stationery store you can purchase a variety of unique and stylish cards that cater to the season and the occasion.

The Review

So how has Smiggle, the colourful, kid-friendly stationery retailer founded in Melbourne 13 years ago, turned into a global powerhouse?

NEWS

The Post-Vacation Blues: Is There Any Way to Beat Them?

You’re getting your tan on at the beach. You’re living your Lord of the Rings fantasy on a mountaintop. Maybe you’re just catching a snooze on a couch. What matters: you’re on vacation.

But then, with a sudden jolt, the freedom you briefly tasted is snatched away. Jetlag ensues. The alarm clock goes off. You’re back under the fluorescent lights of your office. How do you bounce back?

Beating the post-vacation blues isn’t an easy task. But try these tricks and self-reminders and you’ll be well on your way.

Newsflash! Feeling weird after vacation is normal

Post-vacation blues, post-vacation depression, having trouble getting back into your routine, or even crying after vacation are all very common phenomena. Don’t believe us? Just ask Psychology Today or WebMD. They’re doctors.

The main cure is time, but with a few extra boosts, you can shrink that time down and be back to waking up with a smile on your face every morning.

Okay, we can’t totally promise that. But you’ll at least get rid of that nasty feeling of wishing you were somewhere else.

Plan to beat your blues before they start

It sounds painful: all you want to think about is the glorious vacay that awaits, not the possibility that it could ever end. But do some prep, and your post-vacation self will thank your pre-vacation self.

Plan for your return before you leave

Planning for getting back can be as simple as making a list of the projects you were in the middle of before you left and first tasks to tackle once you’re back. It’s easy to push everything out of your head while you’re away, so even a gentle reminder can help you get back on track.

Come up with a recovery strategy

If jetlag is involved, plan for extra sleep, or different hours if you have time zones to acclimate to.

If thousands of emails are involved, set aside some time on your calendar to trudge through those. (And make sure you write them clearly and assertively, no matter how bleh you feel.)

If you think you might be sad when you get back from your vacation, leave yourself positive notes. If you write them while you’re still in anticipation mode, the good vibes will rub off on your future self when it’s in grieving mode.

And if you feel like grieving: grieve. It’s all part of the recovery.

Allow yourself a mourning period

What’s the point of beating yourself up about being sad about being back from vacation? Acknowledge your need to wallow for a few days. And wallow well:

Give yourself leeway

Maybe you allow yourself that chocolate bar or just stare at the wall until your brain returns to solid form. Let yourself be sad for a bit. But give yourself a deadline, and then decide to feel better.

Have methods for cheering yourself up

Candy. Music video breaks. Animal pictures. Whatever gives you comfort, get it.

Hold on to your vacation

That is, hold on to the positive memories, but don’t cling to them for dear life. Here, as in everything, it’s important to find balance.

Be grateful for your vacation

Every time you catch yourself thinking “It sucks to be back,” change your mindset: think about your favorite memories from the trip, and remind yourself how happy you were at that moment.

And no, don’t sink into the pit of thinking how happy you were then compared to how miserable you are now. Just picture that great memory, and force yourself to feel some gratitude.

Integrate your trip into your regular life

That doesn’t mean pack your bags and move to Berlin, or make backpacking Peru your day job. It means you tack a picture of your favorite spot to the wall by your desk. Or learn how to cook the best dish you discovered while away. Or take a language class so next time you go to that place, you’ll be able to have a real chat. There are lots of ways to bring your vacation spot home with you.

Suck it up and let it go

Didn’t we just say “hold on to your vacation,” and now we’re all “let it go”? They’re not as different as you think. After all, you’ve done your mourning. You ate the chocolate and revisited your favorite ’90s vids. But at a certain point, you’ve got to stop wallowing and dive back in.

Find the fun in your routine

That morning cup of extra-special coffee. The coworker who always has something nerdy and unexpected to say (weird ideas for celebrating Star Wars Day, for instance). The sense of satisfaction when you wrap up an important project.

Sure, those aren’t as fun as exploring the lake region of Uganda or the Martian landscape of Iceland, but there’s a lot to be said for appreciating the little things.

And if you truly need help getting back in the groove, here are tips to stop procrastinating, take productive breaks, get inspired to write, beat writer’s block, and clean up your writing.

Start thinking about your next vacation

Sure, it’s not the healthiest if you’re just living one trip to the next and existing as a business-casual zombie in between. But having something to look forward to can add an extra dose of motivation to where you are in the time being. Whether you start looking at flights or just do some image searches of potential spots, the daydream factor can give you a boost.

Live it up where you are

A good way to make sure you’re not just counting down the days until your next trip is to find new and exciting things in your own time zone. Crazy idea: fun and familiar things will do the trick, too.

Maybe there’s a pretty hike people have recommended, or a restaurant you haven’t tried, or a part of town you’ve never explored. On the familiar end of things, you can binge on your favorite TV show, make a reservation at a restaurant with your preferred comfort food, or schedule visits with all the friends you missed while you were away.

If you fill your calendar with things to look forward to, you could discover whole new worlds in your own backyard. Or on the flipside, find out that your yard is a pretty comfy place to be. The busier you are, the sooner you’ll get back into your routine—and actually start enjoying it again, too.

Remember Dorothy’s words of wisdom

That’s right: there’s no place like home. It’s certainly a thrill to get off the airplane and think “We’re not in Kansas anymore,” but there’s a lot of comfort in coming back to familiar surroundings. Notice the ones that make you happy, and savor them. Reminding yourself to appreciate your home can make even black-and-white reality seem like a Technicolor adventure.

Punctuation Standards in British English

There are certain punctuation standards in British English that are important for a writer to understand. Even the most insightful article might be dismissed by readers because of punctuation errors, even if they have nothing to do with the merit of the content. Some mistakes crop up time and time again, making them understandable, but all the harder to excuse. Consider these punctuation pitfalls in British English that often trap the unwary.

The misaligned quotation mark.

This problem arises from a difference between American and British English. Writers mistakenly put full stops and commas inside quotation marks (the American way) when they should be outside (the British way). Further confusion arises from the fact that British English does follow the American format in fiction, when characters are speaking. For example:

Correct in British non-fiction: The gentleman said “good morning”, which was pleasant. Correct in American non-fiction: The gentleman said “good morning,” which was pleasant. Correct in British fiction: “Good morning,” said the gentleman.

Note that question marks and exclamation marks are placed inside the quotation marks if they are part of the text being quoted. They go outside if they are part of the entire sentence.

The errant apostrophe.

This tiny symbol can make or break a piece of writing, simply by being one space to the left or right. To academics and many employers, a misplaced apostrophe sticks out like a sore thumb. The confusion arises with the difference between the plural and possessive. For example:

A word can be made plural by adding an s, as in Davids, meaning more than one David. A word is made possessive by adding an apostrophe before an s, as in David’s, meaning belonging to David. A plural noun is made possessive by adding an apostrophe after the s, as in Davids’.

The treacherous its vs. it’s.

This problem catches many writers, because it doesn’t quite follow the usual rules of apostrophes. The confusion comes from the fact that it’s is not possessive but rather a contraction. The apostrophe and s replace is or has. Meanwhile, its is not plural; it is the possessive form of it. For example:

Make it possessive with an extra s, as in ‘This building had its opening last year’. Use it’s to indicate a contraction of it is or it has, as in ‘It’s not your fault’ or ‘It’s been cold this winter’. When in doubt, try inserting is or has into your sentence after it and seeing whether the sentence still makes sense.

The confusing comma.

Many writers misplace commas, largely because they think of comma placement asa stylistic choice, not subject to any hard rules. This is not quite true, because misused commas can make text very difficult to read. For example:

Too few commas result in an unwieldy block of text: To place your commas consider the points in a sentence where you would naturally stop for breath or pause for effect when the sentence is read aloud that way the sentence will read much better.

The example above is missing a crucial comma. It also runs two sentences into one.

To place your commas, consider the points in a sentence where you would naturally stop for breath or pause for effect when the sentence is read aloud. That way, the sentence will read much better.

The suspect semicolon.

The problem with the semicolon is that it often gets used where a colon or dash would be better. People can generally spot a place where one of these punctuation marks is needed, but they may not know which one to select. A semicolon does not perform the same function as a colon, and the two are not interchangeable. For example:

To merge two clauses or sentences into one sentence, use a semicolon: Brian chose to buy a blue sweater; it matched his new trainers. To begin a list, use a colon: Brian bought several items: a blue sweater, blue trainers, and a top hat. The dash and colon are broadly interchangeable, but the colon is more formal and the dash is more like a dramatic pause, used more aptly in fiction.

The frustrating full stop.

Known in American punctuation as the ‘period’, the full stop is fairly straightforward. Nevertheless, there is one circumstance when it’s very easily misplaced, which again refers to a distinction between the rules of American English and British English.

The circumstance in question is the placement of a full stop after an abbreviated title, such as ‘Mr’, as an abbreviation of ‘Mister’. British English punctuation does not require a full stop after an abbreviated title, so long as the last letter of the abbreviation matches that of the full word. When this is not the case, a full stop is added. For example, ‘Dr’ ends in an ‘r’, which is the same as the last letter of ‘Doctor’, so no full stop is needed. American English requires a full stop, or period, after all abbreviated titles. For example:

Correct in British English: ‘Mister’ is abbreviated to ‘Mr’ without the addition of a full stop. Correct in American English: ‘Mister’ is abbreviated to ‘Mr.’ with the addition of a full stop. Correct in British English: ‘Professor’ is abbreviated to ‘Prof.’ with the addition of a full stop.

4 Memorable Quotes from Larry David That Will Make You Think

Comedy lovers rejoice! After a six-year hiatus, Larry David’s acclaimed comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm is returning to HBO on October 1 for its much-anticipated ninth season.

Not familiar with the irascible Larry David? Larry got his start doing stand-up in the 1970s and was briefly a writer for SNL. But he’s best known as the true genius (and head writer and executive producer) behind the beloved ’90s sitcom Seinfeld, one of the most successful shows of all time.

Curb Your Enthusiasm (in which Larry plays a fictionalized version of himself) has also enjoyed its share of accolades, including two Emmy Awards (out of thirty-nine nominations), and a Golden Globe Award (with five nominations).

We’d say that’s pretty, pretty, pretty good.

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So today we’re celebrating the return of Curb with some creative wisdom from Larry David himself.

1Prioritize Your Own Standards

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To be honest . . . I think the only thing that really worked in my favor, is that right from the beginning I really didn’t [care] whether or not [Seinfeld] was a success. That’s not to say I didn’t want to do good work, but I wasn’t about to let myself be judged by network standards. When you’re not concerned with succeeding, you can work with complete freedom.

Despite pressure from NBC to play it safe, Larry chose to stay true to himself and his vision and make the art he wanted to make. Instead of pandering to the bureaucratic overlords, he chose to create something that he was personally proud of, regardless of its reception.

By removing the pressure to achieve, and setting his creativity loose, he was able to create something which brought joy to hundreds of millions of viewers.

2Don’t Be Afraid To Go There

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On some viewers’ surprising response to Curb Your Enthusiasm:

. . . people told me after the show started airing that they had to leave the room for some scenes because they were cringing and they couldn’t bear to watch — it was like a horror movie — I had no idea it was having that effect on people.

That was a complete surprise to me, and I liked it. I liked that they couldn’t see it. But I never really gave it that much thought. I was just trying to do funny shows. I never felt I was going too far. I felt I was doing what I wanted to see.

If you’ve seen Curb, you’ll know just how painfully cringeworthy some scenes are. But even after Larry discovered his show was having this effect on people, he didn’t tone down what he was doing to make his audience more comfortable; he continued to push the envelope.

Not everyone will understand, appreciate, or be comfortable with the art you make—and that’s okay. Do the work you want to do. Your audience is out there!

3Push Your Creative Boundaries, Even When It’s Hard

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When I drove home every day, because we were improvising it, I’d think, “Would this scene be better if I’d written it?” And 98 percent of the time, I’d thought “No.” It was better improvised. You could just get to places that you couldn’t get to writing.

But the editing is really hard. Compared to a written show, where you’re doing two to three takes and they’re all the same. For this show, every take is different.

The dialogue of Curb Your Enthusiasm is mostly improvised by the actors (instead of scripts, Larry writes outlines for the show), and the results are hilarious. The process of getting to the final product may be difficult, but it’s absolutely worth it.

4Your Perspective Can Be a Game Changer

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On Larry’s conversation with Jerry Seinfeld where they came up with the idea for Seinfeld:

We were in a grocery store and talking about the different products on the shelves. And we were making each other laugh. Then we both realized that this is the kind of dialogue we never really heard on television, or even movies, for that matter.

Chances are many of your favorite TV shows and movies have dialogue that sounds natural, and may even sound similar to how you talk with your friends. But before Seinfeld hit the airwaves in 1989, that was rarely the case, and a show celebrating the minutiae of everyday life was unthinkable.

Just like Larry and Jerry realized there was something missing in entertainment, you might also see gaps in your field that no one else has filled before. You may feel like an outsider because of your perspective, but this can also be your strength if you’re willing to act on it.

Need to catch up on Curb? The first eight seasons are available to stream on Amazon Prime!

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