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Wordsmithy: Hot Tips for the Writing Life
Wordsmithy Hot Tips for the Writing Life Author:Douglas Wilson "...The Anglo-Saxons had a great word for the right word, the word that you need right now, when another one simply would not do. That word is wordriht. So in no particular order of importance, I would encourage those who want to learn the wordriht life to approximate something like the following: 1. Know something about the world, and by this... more » I mean the world outside of books. This might require joining the Marines, or working on an oil rig, or as a hashslinger at a truck stop in Kentucky. Know what things smell like out there. If everything you write smells like a library, then your prospective sales audience will be limited to those who like the smell of libraries.2. Read. Read constantly. Read the kind of stuff you wish you could write. Read until your brain creaks. Tolkien said that his ideas sprang up from the leaf mold of his mind: your readings are the trees where your fallen leaves would come from. Mind mulch. Cognitive compost....."