Words are POWER

John 5:47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

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Did you know that words are a powerful force of emotion. They can hurt, heal, maim and destroy. They can express, release, sit and fester.

When someone says, “You look nice.” Didn’t that make you feel good? Even if you feel like crap? Those words emitted a force of emotion that brought you a positive flow of energy and might possibly carry that feeling all day long, dishing out words to others.

Now when someone says, “I hate you!” What do those feelings emit? A negative energy? And as such, you will carry the painful feeling throughout the day also. You might even lash out at someone else, just to release the anger you felt upon hearing those words.

Words are a force and each one will convey something whether verbally or written. The written word carries the same force and this is what we need to know and remember as writers. This is the very reason we need to choose our words wisely, so we can craft a sentence that is suitable for the force you want to convey to the reader.

I know as writers you don’t wish to inflict pain on your reader, but let me tell you, if the sentence is not structured properly, it can become very painful to read. What do I mean by sentence structure? Well it means to get out of every word that you write, the force that you wish to impart.

In this sentence:
The dog walked down the street, looking every which way he could to relieve himself.

Let’s put power in this sentence!
The big hairy gray dog strutted down the street, eyeing the fire hydrant up ahead.

Now we know he is big and a force to be reckoned with. He’s strutting, which gives this dog attitude. Now we also gather that this dog is a HE, as he’s eyeing the hydrant. He didn’t pass it, because we know, it is up ahead of him.

By restructuring a simple sentence we can glean so much powerful information and in our readers mind, they are forming a picture.

again:
The raggedy gray dog paraded down the street uneasily heading to the hydrant.

Now we know he’s raggedy and he still has an air of confidence about him because he’s parading. The uneasily might mean he really has to go.

Train your brain to restructure your sentences ONLY in the revision stages. See if you can muster power out of them. It is the force you want to project to your readers and the force your readers want to carry with them, when reading!

Are You a Writer?

Acts 14:15 And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:
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Are you a writer or a teller of stories? There is a difference you know.

A teller of stories is one that can evoke visual images just by verbally communicating words or writing them down before the thought gets away. But that’s just it, its a story written down.

Now a writer, that’s a whole other ball game. Anyone basically can tell a story, but a writer? Now he/she needs to tell a story, revise it twenty times, edit it, grammarize it, (as opposed to glamorize), and then the writer needs to sell it or put it in storage. A writer publishes whether it is in blog form or not, on the net or magazines, works for pennies, writes for months, possibly years and has not one dollar bill hanging on the wall declaring, “My first dollar made writing!”

If this is you, then you are a writer!

I notice a lot of new young writers think that writing is all about telling a story. Not SHOWING you a story visually. A writer evokes feelings in the reader that sometimes he never knew was there to begin with. The young writer also thinks that grammar and punctuation are for the editor’s desk and that they don’t really have to worry about things like that, they’re writers after all.

Allow me to tell you this, writing is not separate from grammar. It all fuses together to form a complete work and sending out a sloppy, grammatically challenged piece of work is like sending you to the electric chair, and the outcome isn’t going to be pretty. Ever see The Green Mile? Nope, not pretty at all.

A writer does his/her homework! Okay, I can understand my visually hindered blog friends, a screen reader can not tell you that their is not there. You are an exception to the rule. There is no excuse for the people who can see the error but don’t fix it or doesn’t educate themselves to see if they have it right to begin with.

Writers need to be educated before you post your work! If you are in the English speaking country, then by all means, learn the English language. If you are in a foreign country, learn your language, the correct grammar and how to submit a worthwhile piece of art. Don’t let a comma or misspelled word get you tossed in the trash. Do your homework and then click POST, or SUBMIT. It will truly make the difference between the word PUBLISHED and REJECTED.

Day 2 of f2k

Words are an expression of your mind...paint wisely and all will sit in wonder. ~joni
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As expected, it was a slow day in F2K. Either the returnees are back, mingling with old friends or the new kids on the block have come in and said their “Hi’s” and have found a quiet corner of the room to hide in.

Imagine tackling writing after many years of absence, how overwhelming it can be to walk into a new course and spread your wings in hopes you’ll fly. I see the timid faces even through a screen. They may be older than me or younger but they still have that fear of releasing their writing to the world.

I see so many people with questions like, “What if someone wants to steal my story.” My response is, “We’re writer’s and as such we would never ever put ourselves in a position of plagiarism. We’re trying to be professional and that certainly isn’t the way to start a career in writing.” And then I tell them, “There are so many writers in the world with ‘original’ ideas that someone is bound to come up with the same ‘original’ idea with a twist. In other words, it has been done before and you’re just a new writer putting a twist on it!”

I try to put them at ease and when it is your first time sharing, it can feel like you’re placing your heart on a guillotine, just waiting for it to plunge downward and slice it in two. I’ve been there/done that and I know all of my work is copyrighted the second I put it into the MW (microsoft word.) It is my valid proof that I, and only I, wrote it. And the blog is public proof! I hope these writers find all that they came to find in way of returning to the writing world once again without fear.

So as the f2k clan reminisces about older classes in f2k, the new kids find friends and chat with others, links are surfed, virtual food is cooked, atmosphere and ambiance overflows the place; we head into the week of Orientation with a smile on our faces and ready to write our hearts out!

I’m telling you, it is the place to learn and grow but most of all, to find people with the same love as you and that is being a writer! My new phrase in the place is this... “Don’t write to earn money, write because you love it. Passion comes before monetary measure. If you get paid for your passion, that’s a bonus."

Write Right people!

Wordy Wednesday

The man with insight enough to admit his limitations comes nearest to perfection.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Words are like a stream of tickertape spewing across the screen. They either become a sentence or they turn into jibberish.

Have you ever been listening to people, in a restaurant for example, and all the words seem to blend together like scrambled eggs? Jumbled and confused you can’t discern one conversation from the other?

We as writer’s have to listen and pick apart a conversation in our writing. We can’t jumble it all together and expect readers to get the point. Always try to remember a beginning, a middle and an end. Using this technique will make your words have a cognitive point.

If we start a paragraph, we should start with point A., move on to point B., and finish it up with point C. Tying it all in to point A. We can’t confuse the reader by giving them the whole alphabet and expecting them to put it all in order and make sense of what we write.

Our words are going to flow from one point to the next and the reader is going to be all the more enthralled in your story. Whether you blog, whether you’re telling a Short Story, or whether it is a Novel, you must always keep in mind the reader.

I know of some writer’s who try to over-explain, and in this sense, they lose the reader. It’s as if the writer is writing in desperation, trying to get the story out and all that they get from me is sympathy. This is where a lot of possibly good writer’s are left behind on the way to publishing success. I also note that while in the library, there are many writer’s who are published sitting on the shelf collecting dust because either the cover didn’t grab someone or the story synopsis was lame.

I’m going to pick up a book that has a little taste of what the writer has written. His style or her flair will pull me in and if it doesn’t, then onto my search for the next Shirley Jackson or Stephen King. They know how to streamline words. They know what the reader wants. The reader wants to get lost in some fantasy world, but wants you, the writer, to make sense of this fantasy world. Our words are going to keep them reading.

It seems my tickertape has run amuck and must end here. Remember, words are your friends. Take good care of the relationship and it will blossom.

Talk-o Tuesday

I went into a McDonald's yesterday and said, 'I'd like some fries.' The girl at the counter said, 'Would you like some fries with that?' ~ Jay Leno

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I’m always being teased by,you know who, about my names for my ‘special days’, like Quotation Saturday, Poetry Sunday, and I used to have a Funny Friday.

Well, you know who says I should have a Taco Tuesday. He remembers the olden days when Taco John’s had Taco Tuesday, so now he thinks I should have a taco Tuesday. So for him I am declaring today, Talko Tuesday!

You heard/read me right, Talk-o, for him and his audiobooks. You see, my fiance went blind only months ago although he struggled with his sight for a few months before that and years before that with infections, a cornea transplant and what-not, but in any case, audiobooks became a big part of this avid readers life. He loves to read. I never seen a man so hooked on the written word. Maybe there are a few guys out there that will admit to liking reading, but besides his computer, books are his thing.

Since becoming blind, books have been swept away from him like dust on the floor; taken away and placed in the wastebasket. Then the audiobooks came along and kept the man reading. Now he has a talking screenreader and by daggone it, he can now use the computer AND hear his books on his mp3 or the audio system that the NFB set him up with. He’s almost in heaven!

What does a bored man do? Only what he knows best, he writes reviews of the books he listens too! He has two blogs and maintains them all on his own without my help. One thing I’ve learned is to back away and let the man do things for himself. He does beautifully for someone who was thrown into blindness and learning on his own. We’re learning together actually, but he is, more than me because I’m a sightie. I like to think of myself as his guide dog. ha ha. Always by his side, I’m soft to the touch, and I roll over and play dead!

Do you wanna know whether to read the next book or listen to it on a ten hour trek in the car? Maybe you listen to books while on the treadmill and just don’t know whether a book is good enough or not. I’m pushing his blog because I’ve found that the man can write too! What a guy! He’s honest in his reviews, gives the duration of the book, lets us in on who is the voice, and you know what else? He doesn’t give the whole story away. He let’s you decide if the book sounds good to you, then you can decide for yourself whether it’s worth listening to.

Why not give him a click, you’ll be glad you did. Reviews of the Deep, my mans blog!