life as we live it

New Words

New Words

Last week I blogged about creating words or phrases that your characters can use. Well, that prompted me to wonder – how does a word become official? English is considered a fairly new language, based on words from other languages – Greek, French, etc., and most of those have a Latin origin (hmmm…does this really mean […]

Word Play

Word Play

Searching for something quirky for your character? How about creating a new catch-phrase or word? It happens more often than we think. I’ll bet you sometimes use a phrase that  you picked up from a television show, movie, or book somewhere along the line. Gone With the Wind gave us “Fiddle-dee-dee” and “Tomorrow is another day.” Films like […]

Give Yourself Permission

Give Yourself Permission

I was reading an article from Writers’ Digest the other day and one of the suggestions spoke to me. No. It yelled at me. Allow yourself to write badly. Wow. I needed that. You see, editing as I go is one of my greatest problems. While my friends can plow through a chapter in an hour, […]

Are We Dis-connected?

Are We Dis-connected?

Do we have, as The Captain in Cool Hand Luke called it, a failure to communicate? That’s a funny question for a writer to ask, but recent events have caused me to consider it. Communication is more than just delivering a message. It’s interaction with others. Remember that invention called the telephone? Dictionary.com defines it […]

Words and Music

Words and Music

At the Lucidity Poets’ Retreat, speaker/writer/educator Charlotte Renk shared six things that she calls the Qualities of Effective Writing. One of them is MUSIC. She specifies repeated sound and structure, but often a poem or essay ‘sings’ to me in other ways. It seems to call to me, deep inside. I think this is the […]