I’ve never exactly been one for labels.
Although I can hang under the umbrella of a few, I’ve always preferred to stretch my face toward the aliveness of rain.
There is one label I’ve tended to own more than others, though: writer. A writer is simply what I’ve always been.
With decades of dedication to my craft—during which time I’ve zigged from short stories, zagged to print journalism, zigged to conversion copywriting, zagged to books (Sunrise over Half-Built Houses, my debut)—one versatile punctuation mark has never left my corner.
The em dash allows for rhythm. It lends the feel of sound, of music, to the written language.
The em dash mimics how our brains can begin a thought—cut through it with another—then return to the original thought with new context.
See what I did there? All in the snap of a nanosecond.
Which makes now the ideal moment to introduce WordNerds.
This is a wisp of a moment. ChatGPT and its kin are brand new in the scheme of things, and not going anywhere. The world has changed, as it does.
[Side note: if you are currently like “what are you talking about?” ChatGPT has been over-producing the em dash and now it’s getting branded as an “AI indicator” and writers like myself who feel strongly (romantically, even) about this longtime human punctuation mark are annoyed and indignant because we love (LOVE) our em dashes and don't want to stop using them.]
Anyway, I’m sure this current discourse won’t carry on much longer. The powers-that-be at ChatGPT have even introduced a way to disarm this writerly tendency from its output.
But that is definitely not the point.
The point is, this is a time in history to ask ourselves and each other (hell, even ask ChatGPT):
What does it mean to be human?
What does it mean to trust yourself?
What does it mean to reject external finger-pointing?
What makes art, art?
What can't ever be mimicked?
Oh, and yes, we go deep here. This is what we do.
For many years, I’ve straddled two worlds. (In fact, my Oxford-educated astrologer tells me this M-O is quite literally screaming from my natal chart, which is also not the point).
I mean the world of business and digital strategy and the world of creativity and art. It’s made me grapple with how to define myself in the digital sphere.
I've searched for the intersection where the business-oriented strategist and the arts-oriented dreamer can meet. I've asked if they can co-exist. I've wondered if they ought to.
Now I know that these are not separate opposites or anything to grapple with: they're elements of a whole human self. In fact, they need each other. In stronger fact, they already borrow from each other.
WordNerds is a reflection of this realized truth.
Both a labour of love and one of (fun) defiance, we don’t take anything too seriously 'round here and we take everything seriously.
We get meta on Meta. We write about writing. We think about humaning. We consider “what does it all mean?” then challenge that, and challenge it again. We ride waves, we play, we adapt, we experiment.
Right now, we’re annoyed and indignant about the em dash.
So, that's where the WordNerds story begins. Let’s just see what happens.
Happy you’re along for the ride.
💛✨ Erin Steele | Writer, Em Dasher, Human
