Saturday, November 20, 2004
Saturday, November 13, 2004
Procrastination
I'm supposed to be writing my nano novel, or doing any of a dozen other practical things that desperately need doing around the house. Why am I here? It's either this or the chocolate chip cookies. I baked them yesterday and gave myself permission to eat six a day. I just finished the seventh. Okay, confession is good for the soul and I've confessed. Back to the novel.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Word Lover
I'm a word lover--a reader, writer, talker. I love words in any form: fiction, essay, poetry, conversation, anecdote, lyric. Foreign words like pamplemousse, (grapefruit in French)and miercoles (Wednesday in Spanish) delight my mouth and my ear. Surnames challenge me to discover their meanings: Guttschmidt, (German for good smith)Kaminski, (Polish for Stone.)
The only word I truly hate is the *f* word.
Its meaning is foul and the very sound of it is displeasing, hard, guttural, and angry sounding to my ears. Everywhere I go I hear it, even from children in grade school, and I'm puzzled by its appeal.
I once got so annoyed at a co-worker's constant use of it, despite the fact that I'd asked him politely to refrain from saying it around me, that I told him I considered it "verbal rape" and that its only legitimate use would be if he came home and discovered his wife in bed with another man. His jaw fell open and I realized he actually found speaking without it nearly impossible.
You'd think that any word that could be used as so many different parts of speech would elicit my admiration. Sorry, but no. Why rely on constant repetition when the world's full of glorious evocative words? Is it laziness? Ignorance? A lack of education? A glitch in the brain? Is that really how people want to be perceived?
What a shame. What a lack of imagination.
The only word I truly hate is the *f* word.
Its meaning is foul and the very sound of it is displeasing, hard, guttural, and angry sounding to my ears. Everywhere I go I hear it, even from children in grade school, and I'm puzzled by its appeal.
I once got so annoyed at a co-worker's constant use of it, despite the fact that I'd asked him politely to refrain from saying it around me, that I told him I considered it "verbal rape" and that its only legitimate use would be if he came home and discovered his wife in bed with another man. His jaw fell open and I realized he actually found speaking without it nearly impossible.
You'd think that any word that could be used as so many different parts of speech would elicit my admiration. Sorry, but no. Why rely on constant repetition when the world's full of glorious evocative words? Is it laziness? Ignorance? A lack of education? A glitch in the brain? Is that really how people want to be perceived?
What a shame. What a lack of imagination.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Nanowrimo Time
My mind loves to go off on a tangent, to stray off target. It tends to get seduced and captured by random thoughts. It yearns desperately to ditch the current idea and delve into something (anything) more fascinating than what I'm committed to writing. Index cards come in handy. I write a word, a question, a sentence, put it aside, and get back on track.
Life's like that, going off on tangents, being seduced by things that take you away from the task at hand. My task right now is Nanowrimo. No, it's not baby talk, it stands for National Novel Writing Month and I'm signed up to write a 50,000 word novel in November. I'm behind and I probably won't make the goal, but I'm committed to giving it my best shot.
So why am I here? Because this blog is my pack of index cards, a place where I can get the surplus thoughts out of my head so I can get back to whatever it is I should be working on. Done. I'm outta' here. It's nano time!
Life's like that, going off on tangents, being seduced by things that take you away from the task at hand. My task right now is Nanowrimo. No, it's not baby talk, it stands for National Novel Writing Month and I'm signed up to write a 50,000 word novel in November. I'm behind and I probably won't make the goal, but I'm committed to giving it my best shot.
So why am I here? Because this blog is my pack of index cards, a place where I can get the surplus thoughts out of my head so I can get back to whatever it is I should be working on. Done. I'm outta' here. It's nano time!
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