IWSG: In the Beginning...

{Note to followers: if you want an email when a new post goes up, go the left column and subscribe for emails. Thanks.}

Insecure Writers Support Group

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time.

Thank you, Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh for creating this fabulous blog hop!

Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!
Our Twitter hashtag is #IWSG

Our Co-Hosts for March 2 are
Lauren Hennessy
Lisa Buie-Collard
Lidy Wilks
Christine Rains
Mary Aalgaard

Thanks for all the work, y'all!

Source

 In the beginning for me was words. They fascinated, titillated, were always around, but not fully appreciated until they connected and created Story.

Story is an old concept. We've had Story since we gained the ability to communicate with others. 

• It's what we've told ourselves under night skies when we were scared.
• It's what we tell others to protect our hearts from pain.
• It's what we share when we seek to help with each salve the pain of those around us.

My story (WIP) is about a mother, shook to her core, when she comes to motherhood late in life. She's fully ingrained in thinking she's not worthy of the role she now fills and cries out in that age-old angst that all mothers know. What if I can't protect my child? What if she's ripped away from me? What would that leave now that my heart is firmly entwined with hers?

What's you story? How did it begin?  How did you come to be a storyteller? 

 Next Week: The Book Pusher is back...of course. ;-)

IWSG: Fugitive Words

{Note to followers: if you want an email when a new post goes up, go the the left column and subscribe for emails. Thanks.}

Insecure Writers Support Group

 The Insecure Writers Support Group is a blog hop that emphasizes collective support and sharing the trials and victories of writing. Our fearless leader is Alex J. Cavanaugh. 

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time.
  
This month's co-hosts are: Tyrean Martinson, Karen Walker, Denise Covey, and Stephen Tremp.

Pad or Recorder...That is the Question

 If writers aren't diligent, the brilliant words what surface from our back brains will run away to that limitless and lost area known as: I Had A Great Idea, But I Forgot It! All of us know this dread event and sad occurrence. 

But there's hope! Install these simple measures into your life and no longer fear the dreaded feeling of loss. Never forget the brilliant turn of phrase that defines your story's theme. Or the scene you've been hunting when it reveals itself. Be sure to have note pads everywhere ideas have been found in the past.

• On the bedside table for those ideas that surface in the wee hours
• In each and every vehicle you own for those rides that shake a few golden motes to the surface
• If your bag is big enough, put one there, too
• And last, but not least, in the bathroom for those revelations that comes from a "well-watered brain" that come when you shower.

But wait, there's more. What if you're driving? Or you can write at the moment due to a hand injury? Well, that's an "app" for that! Try a digital recorder.

So, intrepid writer, what's you favorite method for corralling those Fugitive words before they get away?

My next post is Tuesday, Nov. 17 when I will line up another bumper crop of Mini Book Reviews!

The Garuanteed Worst Advice and Best Advice on Writing

{Note to followers: if you want an email when a new post goes up, go the the left column and subscribe for emails. Thanks.}

When I saw Charlotte Rains Dixon's prompt for January 16 in her new book, I was off to the races. Words flowed out and I saw that I needed to share my thoughts on the Worst Advice and the Best Advice I've been giving. For some reason, both centered on writing. Are you surprised? ;-)

Source

The Worst Advice I've received about writing is easy. Truly, how lame is "Write what you know"? As if research wasn't invented way back when the first scribe wrote out the first records in mud tablets with a sharpened stick? We've kept records, recorded stories, and shared them all ever since then.

And the advice wants to limit me to a finite number of things that I've been able to cram into my head through experience? Bah! I have far better things to learn yet. And, let's be honest, as long as I can learn, I can write about things I don't know--yet.

The Best Advice is easy too. It's Read, Read, Read; Write, Write, Write; Re-write, Re-write, Rewrite! All of this is one piece of advice really. That is Work With WORDS. Glorious words are the building blocks of every thought, every story, every invention, every discovery. Without words, our minds can't organize, can't create, can't fulfill its purpose.

Here's where I'll get very personal. We were created in God's image to create. And He gave us the building blocks for everything when He made us able to use words. 

So, go forth and multiply the words of the world. Read, read, read! Write, Write, Write! Re-write, Re-write, Rewrite!

Next Week: I'll post the February Tip!

Update: MOTHER'S DAY is complete! The story is ready to polish (re-write) and, hopefully, share soon.

There's Got To Be a Word for That!

I know you've said that before! I have. Too many times to count. Now I have the perfect website for you:
25 Handy Words That Simply Don't Exist In English

English is the king mutt of languages with more words than any other and they are from many backgrounds. Check out my post The History of the English Language for a brief explanation of this truth. I used to prove this to my Latin students by comparing the Latin word for large--magnus-- to all the many ways you can say it in English--large, big, huge, gargantuan, etc., etc., etc.

I don't know about you, but I need L’esprit de l’escalier --French for thinking of the perfect comeback long after you need it-- nearly everyday.
And I've experienced Age-otori--Japanese for looking worse after the new haircut--a time or two.

What about you? Which of these words have you needed, but lacked?
Do you know some more I need to know? Please?

History of the English Language...In Ten Minutes

I love language. I think all writers do. And I can just imagine the use English teachers can make of this. My sister, the English teacher, said it made her want to be back in the classroom for about two minutes.

And no, I'm not kidding. The following video does exactly that--it gives the history of the English language in an easy to understand, humorous fashion--and all in about ten minutes.

So, without any further ado, enjoy! ; )