In a society where people are conditioned to check their e-mail every two hours, we have inadvertently become a nation of amateur writers. Conversation has been replaced with chat rooms, e-mails and instant messages. Everyone is writing. But the content of that writing is less than what some would hope for. That is where author Patricia T. O'Conner steps in. In her second book, Words Fail Me, O'Conner does her best to enlighten writers of all levels on some technical and not so technical aspects of writing.

But buyers beware. Those searching for a textbook lesson on the English language should keep moving down the aisle. This book is more than just an overview of subject-verb agreement.

With her unmistakably witty humor and flare for making the unexplainable explainable, O'Connor covers topics that would prove useful even to the professional novelist. And with chapter titles such as "Pompous Circumstance," the reader can hardly refrain from laughing along with O'Conner's humor.

Catching common grammatical errors, learning the difference between a good and overly exaggerated description, drawn-out sentences and finding or adding rhythm to a piece of writing are just a few topics O'Conner touches on throughout her book.

"Contrary to popular opinion, there's no mystery to writing well," O'Conner states in her introduction to Words Fail Me. "It's a skill that just about anyone can learn, more craft then art."