The Coffee Writer

Category: thecoffeewriter

  • Word of the Day: Cadaver

    cadaver

    “The coroner’s assistant tripped over the cadaver in the darkness of the crime scene.”

    Cadaver – Noun

    : a dead body.

    ~per Merriam-Webster

  • Word of the Day: Kindred

    kindredspirits

    “Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It’s splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”
    ― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

    Kindred – adj.

    : of a like nature or character.

    ~per Merriam-Webster

  • Word of the Day: Nook

    As it happens, I like my Nook and wish I had a nook to read it in! Although I generally do more writing on my Nook than reading.

     

    nook-hd

    “With a Nook for company, I curled up in the breakfast nook to read in the sunshine.”

     

    Nook – noun

    1) an interior angle or corner formed usually by two walls.
    2) a sheltered or hidden place.
    3) a usually recessed section of a larger room.

    ~per Merriam-Webster

  • Writerly things – Reference sources

    Lately I’ve been on a sci-fi/urban fantasy kick.  And by lately, I really mean the past few years.  It just sort of showed up and then decided to stay.  Accordingly, I’ve found a few sources to help me along as I’m plodding through my writing projects.  I’m sure they’re supposed to be for more intelligent, academic pursuits, but they certainly suit my purpose for chasing potential muse-rabbits down their plot-holes.

     

    The Medieval Bestiary is exactly what it says it is.  And it has some fun graphics.  The site itself is a bit out of date, but it’s dealing in old lore and folktales so the information isn’t terribly likely to have changed too much since it was put up.  Everything sources back and usually has neat quotes from ancient texts, just in case you don’t like their summaries.

     

    Encyclopedia Mythica is a bit more straightforward and less graphically-inclined than the Medieval Bestiary.  It’s set up like a wiki. In my poking around between the two, the Mythica seems to cover a broader range of topics.  It includes an option to check their references but it doesn’t have the same handy quotes right there on the entry page.

     

    And then there’s WolframAlpha, which is a cool little quick-fact generator.  Type in a topic and it will do a breakdown of the information for you.  For example, type in the name of a city and it will return with a page full of stats and demographic information and random facts useful toward the goal of writing about them.  Very user-friendly, rather like Google.

     

    A friendly warning:  All of these pages are rather easy to get lost in, just like tvtropes.org, tumblr, or urban dictionary.  One search leads to another which leads to another and before you know it you’ve lost an hour to looking up if bears really pee in the woods or if that’s just a fairy-inspired wives-tale.

     

  • Word of the Day: Nostrum

     

    “When Trina came down with the flu, Old Bill suggested the nostrum of an onion peel and honey.”

    Nostrum – noun

    : a questionable medicine or remedy.

    ~ per Merriam-Webster

     

  • Word of the Day: Godhead

    Our-Surrendered-Nature

    “I have no idea how to use godhead in a sentence.”

     

    Godhead – noun

    1) divine nature or essence
    2) the nature of God, especially as existing in three persons

    ~per Merriam-Webster

  • Word of the Day: Adjective

    Back to the tedious basics…

     

     

    “A noun does not always require a colorful adjective; sometimes they can be rather bland.”

     

     

    Adjective – noun

    : a word that typically serves as a modifier of a noun

    ~ per Merriam-Webster

  • Word of the Day: Refectory

    Not sure I’ve heard this one recently if ever.  And I’m honestly not sure how to use it in a sentence just because, well, why?

    hp1

    “The Great Hall from the Harry Potter movies was based on a combination of the books and the refectory of Christ Church college at Oxford.”

     

    Refectory – noun

    : a dining hall (as in a monastery or college)

    ~per Merriam-Webster

  • Word of the Day: Autocracy

    kitteh

    “The fraternity is run as an autocracy by a four-legged feline with an affinity for tiaras.”

     

    Autocracy – noun

    :government by one person having unlimited power.

    ~per Merriam-Webster

  • Word of the Day: Interminable

    Photos-Vanishing Point“Wearing the mobility-limiting cast became an interminable experience after the first week.”

     

    Interminable – adj.

    1) Endless
    2) wearisomely protracted

    ~ per Merriam-Webster