As I try to catch up on my blog reading and commenting (at long last. . .of course, it won't be long before I'm behind again), I'm finding myself over use the word 'love'. It bothers me immensely. This has been a favorite word for the past few weeks and it's getting worse. I see a piece of jewelry on someones blog or facebook or read them utter a statement with which I identify and my first response is to say, "I LOVE IT!!!"
What the hay? I think it might be physically impossible to love all of that. And I question what my real feelings are over what I'm seeing in front of me. Do I really just like the item/statement/emotion/expression a whole lot? Can I not find any other words in my whole vocabulary to express what I'm feeling? I think this the problem, my internal thesaurus has become condensed. [Side note: As a kid I had an exceptional vocabulary. . .or so I'm told. What I remember about my vocabulary was me TRYING to use big words and instead getting the words 'manure' and 'maneuver' mixed up as well as confusing the words 'tentacle' and 'testicle'. Yeah, you say that at the age of five to your mid-twenties aged parents and they laugh their asses off at you. It's kinda humiliating.]
I'm putting this out there because thinking about reducing my use of the word 'love' has me pondering WHY it feels like my vocabulary has become so restricted. I came to one resounding conclusion; because I just don't write as much as I used to. As a kid, there were essays for school and diary entries. As a teenager and into college, I wrote lengthy papers and in my 'journal' (I had far outgrown a diary). I also fancied myself a poet for most of my formative years. That stopped after I graduated college. Now as the years have weathered on, I find that I hardly write anything of substance anymore. There are my to-do lists and grocery lists and jewelry descriptions. And, of course, I write blog posts. These blog posts are the closest thing I've had to real writing in years. Yet, all the blog writing experts profess that we bloggers should simplify our writing to appeal to a variety of readers. Sigh.
I'm exasperated with my limited, dumbed-down, repetitive vocabulary. I'm ready to break out of this word tomb I feel encased in.
The solution? Write MORE. I've heard for years that the more you create, the more creative you become. I've been working on that for quite a while in my jewelry-making, but I really need to apply it to writing too. I'm hoping to comment on blogs more often, possibly have a few more of these rambling posts (I apologize in advance), and dust off my long neglected journal. Who knows, I might even knock out a poem or two.
Don't say you haven't been warned.
Oh, and speaking of 'love'. . .I was featured in this treasury titled "I Love Adventure"
Are you ready to go on this adventure with me? I think this is the starting point, but I have no idea how long it will be or where I'll end up. Dang, I kinda feel like a Hobbit.
Hope, it's often in the rambling that the most interesting thoughts are discovered. Write on, baby!
ReplyDeleteI agree, Write On! I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels that way about their own vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteI love this post. ;) I believe I remember the moon journal from college. I agree that as we've grown farther from are collegiate lives our writing has gone down. I also think social media has made us lazy. Twitter wants 140 characters. Facebook asks what's on our minds or how we feel. None of this allows substance like writing in a journal, writing a letter, or blogging. Good luck with the creative writing. I can't wait to read it.
ReplyDeleteHeather- I'm so glad you like this post. I've got a few more 'journal-like posts' in the works with some random thought spewing as well. That moon journal was very possibly college. . .I'd have to go check and I'm being lazy this morning so I'll have to later. Thanks for the encouragement!
ReplyDeletei completely hear what you are saying! it seems i have fallen in love with every little thing i see! each time i write that word, i think "dust off that thesaurus, girl!" i was a writer too, back in the day. i was big into poetry and stream of conscious and took all sorts of creative writing classes and was published in some local poetry booklets. it all came to a screeching halt when i got married. i wondered for a long time if it was because my experiences were more restricted once i got married, thus i had not enough to write about. not sure. i really feel like i could have written this post you wrote word for word. so i guess that is why i cannot stop talking about ME when i should be talking about YOU.
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