The Coffee Writer

Category: writing

  • Write All the Words

    Something I wish more writers understood is the notion that words are free.

    The thing nobody wants to admit is that the written word isn’t just computer code with only one right answer to unlock the desired command. Any old word choice might not always do. It isn’t like standing up and talking out a salespitch to convince somebody that your idea is best. You can’t rewind and edit a verbal conversation, especially when it relies on context, voice volume and tone, and even body language to communicate an idea or achieve a result.

    The written word doesn’t have those same shortcuts and requirements. All you have is the letters on the page. This is because the written word is “spoken” in the Reader’s Voice. In the Reader’s head. It has to resonate with the Reader, not with the Writer. It doesn’t matter what the Writer thinks of their work if it means nothing to the Reader. Anybody can make words happen, but that doesn’t mean they’ll hit the mark on the first try.

    Yes, words are hard. Finding the perfect combination of words, to form the perfect sentence, to craft the perfect paragraph, and fill the perfect page… all of that takes hard work. Real work.

    But once those words are on the page, whether written on paper in pencil or pen, or written in a digital document, those words are then easily changed. They can be rearranged into something even better than what they started out. They are not set in stone. They can be perfect words and yet still be rearranged to fit better.

    The only thing preventing the better draft becoming the final product is simple effort.

    Try, damnit.

  • This week’s poetry entry

    I’ve noticed that a lot of my poetry efforts lately end up focused on helping myself understand and come to terms with where my society is in the current political moment. This was no exception, and it demanded to be written this morning. So I present it, without further comment.

    What I See

    What I see
    Is more than we just disagree.
    I see hate,
    Willful and arrogant.
    I see ignorance,
    Shameless and proud.
    I see fear,
    Controlling and winning.
    I see the death of empathy,
    A hard lack of care.
    What you do for the least of these
    Is slander and deface
    Their beauty in diversity.
    If necessity is the mother of invention,
    I see a culture in need
    Who refuses to create.
    I see the pain
    Felt by individuals
    Aimed at faceless masses.
    I see hypocrisy
    That drains the color
    From a flag
    You claim to love
    So much.
    I see we failed.
    I see we lost
    To demons we fought
    In our grandfathers’ time.
    I see a cycle
    In violence.
    And I see little hope
    As it goes on
    To see our colors again.

  • Poetry challenge – day 2

    I’m still hardly any good at it. But I’m still at it!

    Lines – poetry challenge #2

  • I’m no poet

    And trust me, I know it.

    But a friend of mine started a 30-days of Poetry challenge this month. So I thought I would give it a stab. I’ll post them randomly here, too, just for the sake of keeping track of them somewhere. 🙂

    coffeewriter does poetry!
    Day 1

  • Writerly thoughts

    You should grieve if a fictional character is killed. You should care.
    ~ George R.R. Martin ~

  • Word of the Day: Veneration

    veneration

    “The triumphant softball coach was treated with all the veneration of a movie star for days following the big game.”

     

    Veneration – noun

    1) to regard with reverential respect.

    2) adore, revere, reverence, worship.

     

    ~per Merriam-Webster

     

  • 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.