Word OD

Do you ever get a word stuck in your head?

Like some sort of crazed addict who got fixated on something, you keep using this one word over and over again, and it just feels so good when you type it out. Only at some point, you realize that you have slathered it all over your writing piece like too much mustard on a hotdog, where it's dripping down the sides and making the bun all soggy and gross. And then you have to go back and delete your precious word, saying farewell to it forever more, no matter how badly you want to keep on typing it out.

Swathed, for example. In the book I am currently writing (and oh yes, almost finished with! Lunula fans, the second book cometh), I realized too late that I had "swathed" all kind of things from darkness, to light, to bodies with blankets. It's such a satisfying word though. Just say it:

Swathed.

I get little shivers from how sweet that imagery is. I could say, "it was in darkness" or I could say, "it was swathed in darkness." So chic. So smooth.

But if everything is swathed then, like mustard (NOT ketchup. I hail from Philly.), it just ruins the main deliciousness I was trying to accentuate.

So what is my cure for this addiction? I give you Dictionary.com and their word of the day:

http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday

You can look up past  archives of all the words of all the days, and eventually you are bound to find a new one.

Couthie, for example. Keep an eye out for all my couthie characters in future books.

I realize this is just taking the addict from one fix to another, but at least you're putting down the mustard and adding a little relish. Variety is the condiment of life, after all.

What words have you gotten hung up on? I want to know! (Maybe you'll give me my next one!) And what tips do you have for avoiding word overdose?

What the...?

I do not always write well. Oh yeah, shocking.

Actually, when I write a first draft of something, it tends to be stuffed with superfluous words like "very" or "particularly." I basically just vomit whatever is in my head onto the screen in front of me, and then go back later to clean up the mess. In fact, I am fairly certain that you can generally understand what I might possibly talking about. :D

 Sometimes, my mother sends me segments of a book she's working on (I try not to get attached since she often ends up moving on to something else equally awesome), and I just stare at the screen incredulously like, "This is your first draft? Seriously?" And I know what you are thinking. Oh please, self-depricating writer, we all think our work is complete garbage sometimes. And that's true. Writers might exit the gate with gusto and self-confidence, but if you do it long enough, you start to feel like you should have trained for the race a little harder.

So here's what I've realized as a writer and aspiring famous author who sits on a couch opposite of Ellen Degeneres: It is okay to write crap.

Not everything has to be inspired. Not everything you put into your story, book, novella, or whatever has to be accompanied by the trumpets of angels. If you write something pretty terrible, and you can feel yourself getting discouraged by it, move past it. Just keep going. Don't let your temporary lack of writing prowess stop you from soldiering on to the next part, where you might really create your masterpiece prose.

Now, that's not to say that you should publish or even share crap. You shouldn't. Keep your crap to yourself. Like my mother says, you have to have a decent "crap-o-meter" in order to be a writer; without it, you won't have the filter necessary to publish a polished work. But it's okay to write something not-so-great, and then come back to it later when you've had a decent separation from the troublesome thing.

I wish I was brave enough to share some of my bad work with you, but I've got my pride. But I feel you, my fellow tortured artists. And when I learned--because it did take practice--to push past my dry spells, writer's block, and cruddy writing days, I got a novel done. Not only that, but it was something I was proud of. It took a good bit of editing to get it refined enough for publishers, but the first step was getting it all on the paper. 

It's okay if you write something, only to go, "What the...?"

Keep writing!

P.S. I seriously do fantasize about being on Ellen's show. Come on, you know you do, too.

What do you think? Do you write past your tough spots?