Words

Once again, a blog that pertains to the writer in me, I guess I simply can’t help myself. Writing has always been an invariably large part of my life. Think of it as a jigsaw puzzle with most of the pieces making up the “writer in me” and then there’s the few scattered pieces that represent other parts of me. That was an off-hand metaphor, I know.
For any writer, words are an invaluable tool that is used daily and treasured. I know I certainly treasure words! Wherever I go, whether I’m reading, writing, in class or traveling, I’m constantly looking for new words. I have an ongoing list I’ve kept for roughly a year now of new words I’ve learned. It’s almost a compulsive thing where if say, I’m reading, and I find a word I don’t know I have to write it down to look up later. Once that’s accomplished I’ll add it to my list and use it in my papers and short stories. Like I mentioned in my blog post “Detail-Oriented”, I regularly enjoy games that pertain to words such as Scrabble, Boggle and word searches. I simply can’t get enough of words! And if that wasn’t obsessive enough, I also wish for an electronic dictionary for my birthday or Christmas. For my brother, this one never gets old!
Perhaps, again referring to my previous blog post mentioned above, I am so detail-oriented because of my love for words. If I’m writing and use a word I think is inadequate I’ll stop what I’m doing and wait until I come up with a better one. Other times a word will simply pop into my mind and I have no idea what it means!
In addition words can paint beautiful pictures. Again, referring back to the afore mentioned blog post, when I’m writing I’ll create a “mental picture” of sorts in my mind and use everything in my power to convey every inch of that picture into my story, and to the reader. While I’m tying into my other blogs, I might as well refer to my blog post entitled No Time For Reading. In it I spoke about the values of an expanded, rich vocabulary. I am constantly looking for new words because every time I describe something whether I’m talking, emailing, writing or blogging I know I can use different words to describe things in different ways. Words can add great dimensions to anything, drawing people in, deepening a story to powerful depths. And heck, if I use a word that’s uncommon that someone doesn’t know it might just inspire them to look it up themselves!
Words can be used to tell of far-traveled stories, to describe delectable food that was tasted in exotic places. It can add another dimension to an already captivating photograph. Words can pull you in when plastered attractively in an advertisement. Words can convince you to buy a book by offering up a snippet of the story within.
Albeit like Erica mentioned in her blog post entitled “Misused Words”, words can be a double-edged sword. In it she told about how people misuse powerful words like love and hate. Too often words are tossed around like simple feathers, never realizing the true weight they carry until they fall back down like leaden anvils. Perhaps the overused nature of love and hate has drained them both of what they were intended for. Obviously, this paragraph isn’t about the allure of words…but the dangers of them. How simply a few spiteful words spoken off of a sharp tongue can end a friendship, create an enemy or forge a bitter bond between two people. Words can belittle, discourage, tear down, betray, mislead…etc.
Despite what that paragraph portrays, words are a beautiful tool that everyone should use.
In a recent email that my parents received entitled Breath, it talked about air and words. It said that words are simply breath; they are simply air set in motion by a living soul. Hate or love spoken, same air. Encouragement or discouragement spoken, same air. Compliments or criticisms spoken, same air. Curses or blessings spoken same air. This ties into Erica’s blog post about misused words and their unrealized weight. Just as words have become famous in some of America’s most classical and treasured writings, so can they resonate inside the lives of others as we write our own stories, speaking to one another.
As most of you have figured out by now in my English 102 class, I prefer the written word to the spoken one. I rarely have anything to say in class, but when I do it usually comes out in my writing. Again, as you’ve all probably figured out since my blogs can be quite long! Perhaps that is the irony of it all? At any rate, that is how I view words. Now I wish for your opinion!