a richer life with words
I’m sitting here fist-pumping and whooping my joy (quietly - I’m the only one of the household awake). Why the joy? A brilliant creative writing project is getting the praise it’s due. The Coop Times is not mine. So, why do I care? Read on. If you’ve ever known the pain of a deadline – you will care too.
Ever said a word over and over again until it ceases to make sense? I love that, especially with words that have pronounced vowel sounds, like elbow – also a beautiful word to repeat over and over again longhand, of you’re ever stuck during a free writing exercise. I love absurd, unanswerable questions too.
I am asked this question often. The short answer is: there’s no short answer. Part of me wants to say: ‘Please see “How long is a piece of string?” and similar unanswerable questions.’ But I don’t, because I understand: the publishing process is new to most people, and ebook and other digital publishing formats are changing so often that it may as well be new to many in the book trade.
I suspect I love words as much as I do because from an early age, I was encouraged to be silly with them. Before I could read to myself, I was digesting the humour of Spike Milligan, Edward Lear and of course Lewis Carroll. This is one of the reasons I really enjoy doing children’s writing workshops — kids haven’t yet forgotten how to be silly. Adults often have; they need to warm into it.