Words

About a week ago I was rocking Clara- something I do every night, and I felt inspired to capture my feelings it in a poem. Now, I do not, by any means, profess to be good with words. In fact, I am far from it (I often make an idiot of myself when I try to talk with people), and I'll use this opportunity to express my apologies for previous and future posts with bad grammar and mis-spelled words. I have many friends and family who are excellent writers (you know who you are), so sometimes I get a bit nervous about writing things for them to read. Also, I know you're all dying to read my poem (ha ha), but you'll have to wait. What started out as a fun little activity has turned into a bit of an obsession. But I think it's about done (I hope), and when it is and after I feel courageous enough to share it, I will post it for all to see (yikes!).

That said, I would like to also say how cool words are! Isn't the English language amazing! As I've been writing this poem, searching through the dictionary and thesaurus trying to find the perfect word for what I want to say, I have discovered that I love words. Here I am a college graduate, and I use the same boring words over and over. It is amazing how many ways there are to say one thing, and some words say things better than others. For example, "fleeting" is such a better way to say something is fast, and "repose" is a much better word for sleep, and so on and so on. I think that some words are more fun physically to say- like "delicious," "scrumptious," "reminisce," "bewitch," "solace ", etc. It feels like you can taste the words as you say them. Do you know what I mean? Writing my poem has reminded me of the thousands of words there are and how beautiful they are. I think the dictionary and thesaurus just made my list of favorite books! And I've decided to learn and use more words.

Am I the only one who didn't know who Webster was? I have always wondered that, so I decided to find out. I went to the website on the back of my book- www.merriam-webster.com. First of all, cool website! If you love words or if, like me, you want to learn more words, this website should be bookmarked. Anyway, I did some searching and found out who Webster is. His name was Noah Webster, and he was born in Connecticut in 1758. Among other things, he wrote the first dictionary. I suggest, if you don't already know, to read the short history about him because he was a cool guy. Here's the link: http://www.merriam-webster.com/info/noah.htm.

Well, I guess you could call this my "Ode to Words." They really are amazing, and my hat is off to everyone with the talent to create with them. Since I've been reading more, I am blown away by the ability some people have to use words like a painter uses a paint brush. For example, Shannon Hale! If you've read her books you know what I mean. Her imagery is so vivid- it's like your looking at a painting, and she does it all with words. I also love reading things by my friends and family that I mentioned earlier. You're so talented! I am envious of people who know exactly what they want to say and exactly how to say it. I definitely don't have that ability.

Well, I'm going on too long. One thing I'm still learning about words is that sometimes "less is more." I just wanted to share my feelings with you all. Thanks for reading my "words." :)