Words

Duh. It all comes down to the words--the ones we choose, the order we put them in, the number of them we use. They can be a powerful sword or a limp noodle. We're all writers, and some of the more pretentious of us call ourselves 'wordsmiths' (wankers).

Frankly, I can't be bothered buying into the mysticism of The Word. For me, they're just the stuff I use to make my books pretty.

I'd much rather play with them like tiddlywinks.

Rhyming's fun.

So are iambs and trochees. Setting up rhythm patterns and then filling in the blank for instant poetry is a nice pasttime for lazy afternoons.
Here. Write your own limerick:

A _____  ______'/_____  ______'/_____  ______'/
A _____  ______'/_____  ______'/_____  ______'/
B _____  ______'/_____  ______'/
B _____  ______'/_____  ______'/
A _____  ______'/_____  ______'/_____  ______'/

Playing with synonyms is fun, especially if you're looking for a particular shade of a word to compliment the atmosphere of a scene.  By substituting a different word for 'said', you can alter the mood of a conversation.  

"Where are we?" Tom said.
"Where are we?" Tom laughed.
"Where are we?" Tom whimpered.
"Where are we?" Tom shouted.
"Where are we?" Tom whispered.
"Where are we?" Tom groaned.

So yeah. Play some games. But when it comes to the craft, when it comes to writing, I don't give too much thought to words. I just let 'em flow.

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Her Grace can't be bothered with a postscript today.

NaNoWriMo Word Count

22050 words and counting.

Here you go.  I did promise a sporadic word count.  Currently, I'm just under par.  I was hoping to breach 30K by now, but that didn't happen.

On the Life front, I had a few End-of-Year things (concerts, etc) going on that took up more time than I planned.

On the Writing front, I sold a novella and cleared up my Sonar list, sending a handful of short stories out on sub.

Will I win NaNo this year?  Entirely possible.

When do you get to see this novel?  Not for some time.  NaNoWriMo's all about the first draft.  Some haters may hate NaNo for exactly this reason, but I see it as valuable.  Putting down this first draft is the passing through the door from Idea to Novel.  Even if it's an SFD (which is the norm), it's still got value.

Then I take that SFD and polish it up to the fiction you all know and love.

In a few years I'll spend a day the local library as the Author in Residence as part of their NaNoWriMo celebrations.  Then y'all can come and watch me crank out a draft and ask questions.  More details later as details are finalised.

______________________
When Her Grace isn't writing, she's dreaming about writing. Or music. A lot of that goes on as well. This song has been going through her head for the past few days:

The Soft Furry Purry Thing