Wordy Wednesday

Acts 17: 30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
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As writer’s, our words are our itinerary, our arsenal. Words can maim and hurt, make you laugh, cry, sigh, and fear. Words are weapons of elation, or mass destruction. One word can cut like a knife and leave you bleeding on the floor until another word can come and pick you up.

When we write, what we’re really doing is reaching out to touch a person. I know it sounds strange when you think of a word with arms outstretched, but really, this is what writers do. This is how we communicate, through the word stream.

Our word stream is full of fish waiting to leap out at you, maybe even get snagged on a hook, be reeled in, and later savored for a nice dinner. Yes siree, words are what we use to grab you, hook line and sinker!

Yesterday, a wannabe writer left a comment on my f2k board telling me I showed poor leadership in my room. Knife in, blood all over the place. Writers are sensitive people. I think as human beings we were made to be sensitive but the insensitive ones can always tread upon you, hit you where it hurts and rip out your gut.

I had to think back on my previous f2k sessions and this current one too. What would make someone say such a rude, ignorant, and thoughtless thing. Through a little research, I found that he didn’t, wasn’t or even going to try to read the tips that I, as a mentor posted. He missed ESSENTIAL postings and just thought in his egotistical way that he could coast through the course without any guidance from a mentor and in turn, realized, he was WRONG, and missed quite a bit of good, important stuff.

No he didn’t apologize for his bitter words, I think he stuck his tail between his legs and pouted off after I ‘gently explained’ to him that Mentors are here to guide you, not hold your hand and walk you through this course. I told him how we are volunteers and we respond only to lesson one, the rest is peer to peer feedback.

By week six, the rooms almost appear empty. It is up to YOU, the writer to mix and mingle, go from room to room and make friends. Comment on others and they’ll visit you and comment on your work. This is a tried and true course. It works! Many who sign up once, come back again and again. Why? Because they gain something from the course, and let me tell you, without the mentors to guide them, they would never return.

Two people in my class almost caused me to say, “Forget f2k, I’m done!” BUT, my family of writers, those whose words mean more to me than Pepsi or coffee, will see to it that those souls are just wandering souls who need prayer more than anything. Guidance from a mentor is the least of their writing problems.

Words cut like a knife, entering  deeply in, slurping out with your blood on the blade, shaken off with a grain of dignity left intact.