Words That Work (or Don't)

There aren't many words I dislike. This is because I need a huge arsenal of them for the day job, and using the majority of them has always made me happy. I think some of the old slang words when I first joined the online writing community bugged me a bit (snark, podcast and webinar, I'm remembering you) or were what I considered unattractive (blog, definitely) or trendy but silly (chiaroscuro, and have mercy, it showed up in almost every SF book I read for years.) I also have names I don't care for or use because of unpleasant personal associations (Ryan is #1 on that list) but I think everyone does that. Who names their child Adolph, right?

In any case, I'm a wordsmith, but not one who believes only the educated deserve access to ideas and stories. I avoid using gatekeeping language or any words employed to prevent a certain section of society from understanding what is being conveyed. I think that comes from being self-educated. I don't like word snobs of any variety, especially the ones who use words as weapons. Writing is meant to communicate, not punish.

I had a dream the other night that I had invented a drink made out of words, and when you drank it you understood them completely, as in they made you smarter. Since I really hated school it seemed wonderful, as would anything that would make most of compulsory public education unnecessary.

I think my generation might be one of the last to keep handwritten journals, which makes me sad. At the same time I admire the younger generation for finding new ways to record their experiences in life. Instagram, Facebook and other social media platforms provide a place of expression for everyone (some, like that place formerly known as Twitter, have become unsafe, but there are good alternatives like Mastodon.) The kids seem to be living their lives on their phones, and that's fine. Even wordsmiths have to evolve.

Image by narciso1 from Pixabay, word wine glass image from The Library of Congress store, writing notebook image by Pexels from Pixabay

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Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.

Love Means This

Invested in a couple of hand-dyed bundles from one of my favorite fabric artists. This one said "Make me into something for Valentine's Day." So I went for a quilted and embellished tote. I kept thinking about what love means to me as I worked on it. Here's the finished tote. Although I was tempted to embellish with beads and pins, I got sick and only felt well enough to do a little stitching every night. As I worked I thought about how often love seems disappointing to us, especially when it fails to live up to our expectations. But now that I've experienced love in many forms, I can say that it's made me a better person than I might have been without it. Love is a precious thing, and should be appreciated in all its forms. I am very grateful for the love of my guy, my child and my friends who have stuck with me all these years. That's you two, in case you're wondering. :) Also finally found something to do with a ve...

Store Closing Haul

The mega Books-A-Million store over in Sanford is closing, and offered an extra 20% off on their current stock -- all sales final -- so I went over to do some shopping. Safely but sadly there was no one in the store but me the entire time I was there. The Holly Jackson novel is for Katherine, the Halloween board book is for Oliver, and the copy of Garden Spells is to keep on hand because I give that book to everyone. The rest of the books are for me. I love Anne Cleeves, and the Galbraith novel sounded interesting (the first couple weren't, but I'm willing to take another chance.) The Escape Room is by a new-to-me author, plus it was cheap. The GreenCraft mag is just a guilty pleasure. Hopefully the smaller BAM nearer to me won't close. I don't buy many books from brick-and-mortar stores these days, but that's really the last one within reasonable driving distance.

Valerean

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