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Enough already with the historical present. The go-to tense for history lecturers and NPR guests has worn out its welcome and is starting to come off as a twitchy reflex, as annoying as starting sentences with 
Periodically, I experience a sinking sensation roughly verbalized as, “The person who wrote what I’m reading isn’t a writer by trade, but does what I do better than I do. Damn his eyes.” When I had such a reaction to the memoirs of Alec Guinness and Bob Dylan, and the diaries of Richard Burton, I could at least comfort myself with the fact that they are, or were, creative types.But not so with my most recent sinking feeling. It came a couple of weeks ago, while I was reading Warren Buffett’s annual state-of-Berkshire Hathaway letter to shareholders.
My new book, How to Not Write Bad: The Most Common Writing Errors and the Best Ways to Avoid Them, was published on February 5, 2013. You can order it here. The book is based largely on my twenty years experience teaching writing at the University of Delaware. I've noticed that a relatively small list of mistakes and problems accounted for the vast majority of the comments and corrections I make on my students' work. The book is an explanation of these problem spots, and a guide to getting them out of your writing. It's meant for students, teachers, and, in fact, anybody who's interested in kicking his or her writing up a notch. If you have a writing emergency right now, check out my On Writing section.
About Ben Yagoda
Ben Yagoda teaches English, journalism and writing at the University of Delaware, and is the author, coauthor or editor of nine books. He has written about language, writing and other topics for Slate.com, the New York Times Book Review and Magazine, The American Scholar, Rolling Stone, Esquire, and many other publications. He contributes to "Lingua Franca," a Chronicle of Higher Education blog about language and writing and "Draft,"a New York Times blog about the art of writing. His personal blog is "Not One-Off Britishisms." He lives in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.
Find Me Here
Not One-Off Britishisms - Over the last decade or so, an alarming number of traditionally British expressions have found their way into the American vocabulary.
Chronicle of Higher Education's Lingua Franca - Language and writing in academe.
Draft, The New York Times - A series on the art and craft of writing.
Email: byagoda at benyagoda dot com