Category: Writing

Words Have Wings

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Words have wings

One of the things I love about reading and writing is where it can take you. I love that words have wings. They fly us outside our usual boundaries into the atmosphere, the stratosphere, to new places, some which exist and some which exist only in the imagination of the writer and the reader.

As writers, we can be anyone we want to, experience whatever we can imagine and learn from it as much as we want to extract. We can never imagine where those words will fly, who may read them and what they might do to the lives of others. What a privilege that is!

As readers, we can live more lives than anyone has time for, experience things we never imagined possible, and learn more than we ever expect. As a lifetime learner, I love this. And, it’s all because of words, the most wonderful world of words.

Inner Music

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Inner Music

When I was reading recently, the words tugged at my heartstrings, popped with new ideas, blasted away the protective coating on my emotions, soothed the hurt, tore the skin off old wounds, then cleansed everything with fresh tears. That’s the pleasure of reading a good book by a skilful writer (The book was Away in Montana by Jane Porter whom I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting several times over the past 11 years).

But, that’s not what the quote talks about. How does writing make me feel? A whole range of emotions including the above. I remember writing my first novel for NaNoWriMo in 2005, sitting at my desk at 11pm when my tradesman husband had been in bed for hours and gotten up again. He said, “Are you coming to bed yet?” My response? “But I want to know what happens!” No, I hadn’t plotted that one! Some things have changed but not all.

‘No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.
No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.’
Robert Frost

Think you know someone?

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Reading list

What is your reading list like? Do you stick to your tried and true authors and genres or are you like a tourist, roaming at will, trying new things, seeing how other people use the same words in different ways?

I firmly believe that to look into your library, the books you call ‘keepers’, gives great insight into your likes and dislikes, interests (or lack thereof), personality, level of tolerance for violence and vices. Is there a mix of fiction, non-fiction, travel, reference, etc? Do you own a dictionary? Thesaurus? How much love do you put into your library?

Even beyond the actual content of the books in your library, is the state of the books, their ages, how they are arranged, dogeared (or not), presence or absence of margin notes, markings, doodles or highlights…

What would my library tell you, you ask? My library is either famous or infamous among my friends, I can’t tell which, though I’ve been told more than once it’s a good place to spend time. Well, I think so. I have many good friends, old friends and acquaintances in there.

Sectioned and arranged by genre and type, fiction here, non-fiction there, books about writing, references I use when writing my historical books, children’s books, poetry, puzzle books, travel guides, dictionaries, thesauri, old books and new books lovingly read and reread, collected and treasured. Shelves of books autographed by friends.

Recent changes in our household have meant saying goodbye to some of my ‘babies’. My library can’t possibly house as many as I need it too. I miss them already and I’m sure I’ll want them back sooner rather than later.

I’d love to hear about your library. Please leave a comment below.