A Bag Of Toys

…I’ll post again. Last one in May? Time flies when you’re living. And it doesn’t matter when you’re dead. Or something like that.

I have been writing a lot in the last year but little of it has shown up in blogs. I wrote for a day job (note the past tense…I’m hunting…again), wrote for freelance clients, wrote for practice, and once in a while–just for the fun of it.

I’ve been committed to a long-distance peer review process for sales copywriters. The practice is good. But keeping a group cohesive and producing material for review is not as simple as I thought it would be. I find my energy and committment level varies with the amount of group output.

However, I am adjusting to the daily practice of writing and while all of it isn’t suited for the narrow focus of the copywriting group, I am writing and trying new things. I’m also making mistakes, mis-steps, misjudgements on how I put ideas into words. What sings to my mental ear doesn’t always hit the right note for others.

That’s where the feedback comes in handy. Better judgement comes from trying, erring, adjusting, and trying again. So let’s say I have a ways to go before any kind of mastery at the craft of writing. Of course, lack of mastery isn’t going to stop me either!

If you haven’t tried this, go. Seeing the Java application that runs Visual Thesaurus will be worth a good thousand of my words.

Very handy for exploring word choice options. For example, I’m writing for a business. I need different yet still precise and clear ways to express a concept while avoiding excessive repetition.

VS could also be  useful for crosswording but I can’t vouch for that. My mom preferred her stack of dictionaries beside a comfy chair.

My most used online writing tool is The Free Dictionary. It’s very fast and has excellent coverage of the English language. It doubles as a thesaurus and is great for finding synonyms and subtle variations that nail down the exact meaning of what I’m trying to express. Precision may not be critical in informal blog copy, but is useful, even essential,  in business copy when I want what I write to be so clear and unambiguous that the writing is transparent. By transparent I mean words, grammar, and syntax don’t get in the way of a reader understanding the copy. People should flow through a piece of writing with no hitches or hesitations.

The site also has medical, legal, and financial dictionaries for more specialized terms. And I have fun with the Hangman game. It doesn’t take me many rounds before I hit a word or name in history that I don’t know, so I can look up the word, win or lose, and learn something new.

Connipted - having a conniption fit

As in:

“He’s all connipted about something.”

“Don’t get all connipted about it!”

Happens to me regularly. A variation or mangle of the English language pops into my head. I have a quiet laugh. I let it go. And forget all about it. Maybe these will amuse only me. Here goes…

I’ve always wanted to write. I’ve always written. At some points in my life, I wrote better than I talked. People who know me could argue that is still true now. I like to think a stint with Toastmasters helped me clear that obstacle.

So laying out words has always come naturally to me. Writing hasn’t always been easy. But if I have one talent, writing is it.

Ability aside, writing is a craft with words as the raw materials. A rookie builder can build a leaky, crooked house with the same pile of lumber a master turns into a fine home. I’m interested in knowing words well enough to do great work with them. Partly that’s knowing basic definitions but also the subtleties and how and when to choose the right words for the job.

Love letter, sales letter, letter to a friend. Different audiences, different word choices to fit the situation. But the way I put them together is different too. Partly it’s instinct based on years on the ends of pens and pencils and seated at keyboards. Tone, flow and structure are part of it too.

A Bag of Toys means a couple of things and will be a few more. The toys are the words. I’ll look at interesting words I pick up. I see new ones daily.

It’s also a colloquial expression. As in, “I’m just a bag of toys today.” I heard this from a friend from Saskatchewan. She meant she was having a rough day and wasn’t in a great mood. I’m not sure I see the connection, but that’s how it goes sometimes.

I’ll also write about interesting expressions I stumble across and share links of useful writing resources on and off the Web. I’m on a deadline to get a few blogs up and running before the Northern Voice conference later in February 2008.