How silly we must look

I wonder what other people think when I'm writing.  I just realized, as I was typing a paragraph, that I was mimicing my MC's actions, trying to find the right word to describe her movements.  Thank goodness no one was here to watch.

I know I do this often.  In the midst of writing, I'll make a face, shrug my shoulders, or pace the living room acting out a scene to gather the most detail I can. 

I'd love to be a fly on the wall and watch myself write just to see how goofy I must look :)

Aaand the definitions are...

1. Alacrity: eager and enthusiastic willingness
2. Hackneyed: rendered trite or commonplace by frequent usage
3. Specious: seeming true, but actually being fallacious; misleadingly attractive; plausible but false
4. Garrulous: given to much talking, tediously chatty
5. Trenchant: sharply perceptive; keen; penetrating
6. Obfuscate: to deliberately obscure; to make confusing

Clearly, I need to start studying the dictionary and quit relying on Google to do the work for me :)

Do you know these words?

I read a tweet yesterday that said something to the effect of, "Open a dictionary, even if you know the word," which reminded me of studying for the GRE. While studying for the Verbal section, I read over the Hit Parade (a compilation of vocabulary words that are frequently tested on the GRE) and was surprised by how many I did not know.  Now, I knew the words, but not the actual dictionary version of the word.

My point?  Maybe whoever wrote that tweet yesterday had it right.  Maybe, as writers, we need to refer to our dictionarys more often to make sure we know what we're writing about.

I've randomly picked six of the words from the Hit Parade.  I'm going to post them below and then will post the definitions tomorrow.  Come back to see if you got them right!  And NO cheating! haha :)

1. Alacrity
2. Hackneyed
3. Specious
4. Garrulous
5. Trenchant
6. Obfuscate

Pictures!

Geeze, you miss a few days and come back to 34713084138 blog posts to catch up on.  Looks like I have a busy night off reading ahead of me.

Here's what I did this weekend:

Road trip!  We drove to Knoxville for a weekend of...

Hiking,

Inspiration,

Beauty and awe,

Relaxation, and if you ask Cale, most imporantly,

Mississippi State baseball!

I hope you all had an equally fantastic weekend :)

Disagreement with my Teacher

First, award time!  The fabulous Kate Larkindale gave me this award (Kate, I'd give it to you also, but I'm not sure if that's allowed).  Her blog is great; go check it out.

Aaand here are five of my favorite blogs I am passing it on to:
1. Sophia
2. Angela
3. Christie
4. Gabi
5. Deana


At some point in my elementary education I had the following conversation (probably more of an argument, or a Juliana-being-stubborn moment) with a teacher about a paper I had written:

Teacher: Juliana, this is very good, but I want us to look at one particular word you used to describe this man. (points to paper)

Me: (Silence)

Teacher: You use the word nice.  Are there any other words you can think of that would be more specific?

Me: ...he was nice...

Teacher: Yes, but nice is a very generic word.  Think hard, is there another word you could use?

Me: But he was nice.

Teacher: I am sure though, that there is a better way to describe him than just plain nice.

Me: (Silence )


I don't remember how the conversation ended, but I have the very vivid memory of standing beside my teacher, at her desk, arguing over the word nice.  I really did not understand why the word nice wasn't good enough.

I have that same conversation with myself many times while writing.

Inner me: Oh honestly, you know better than to use the word shrug.  And did I see you write NOD earlier?  She nodded??  How boring.

Me: But she did nod, how else am I supposed to write that?

Inner me: Oh, I don't know, how about her hair fell over her eyes as she tilted her head to the side, that is much more interesting.

Me: I suppose that's better...


Inner me: You know it is.  Plus, did she really nod?  Maybe she stared at him blankly or maybe she blinked once to indicate she had heard him.  Maybe she thinks he's an idiot and stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry.

Me: I don't know.  You're confusing me.

Inner me:  I'm confusing you?! And how do you not know?  You're writing it!  She can do anything you want her to.


I have this discussion with myself at least fifty times while writing a WIP.  Ugh, it's terrible and oh so annoying.

Are there any words you insist on using even though you know they aren't good enough?