the importance of words

The TUNING FORK

/ roughwighting / 88 Comments

tuning fork, jodi picoult, small great thingsI flew to California this summer and survived the flight by reading a big thick book: Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. The book caught me, like the way we get a hitch to our voice when something hits us profoundly.

I thought I knew and understood about race. About how unfair racism is. About how I’m not racist, because I don’t see the color of someone’s skin.

For instance, I was talking to “my” Starbucks barista today about a man who had entered the café at 6 the previous morning singing a Broadway tune in a much too elevated mood for most humans at that time of day. Continue reading →

What’s in a Name? Part II

/ roughwighting / 54 Comments

Shakespeare, creative writing, what's in a nameTeaching about writing is an oxymoron.

      [Oxymoron – the use of two words that contradict each other, like ‘wise fool.’]

How can I, or anyone, teach another to write?

oxymoron, writing, creative writing

A rocky oxymoron.

Well, that’s the point. I don’t offer a creative writing class to teach how to write, but to point out the importance of using the right words – to name things correctly –  when creating a story. Even more importantly, I offer small (writing) steps that each of us can use to help our pen move.

If the pen moves, we connect.  

Brain, pen, soul, body, back to pen, brain, soul equals a story worth telling.

That’s my theory, although others may debunk it. Continue reading →