don’t words deserve to have a life, too?

May 19, 2010 by rachel

I’ve been following conversations about blogging, writing, and the writing of blogs. Absent minor modifications, this post originally ran in May 2008 under the title, “the secret life of words revealed,” and offers a perspective not often heard. Enjoy this while I percolate with another, related post more specifically attuned to writers who blog (and bloggers who write). As someone who has always danced with words, I frequently face this conundrum (BTW, one of the greatest words ever, no? ). […]

Categories: inspiration, writing & creativity • Tags: blogging, language, words

apostrophe catastrophe – and it’s getting possessively(sic) worse!

September 1, 2008 by rachel

Forgive me for turning my attention away from the larger issues of the day, but as a writer, I can no longer avert my gaze! Pity the poor apostrophe, who seems doomed to live an existence of misuse, misalignment, misappropriation, and a torturous life of being utterly misunderstood. It’s as though it’s one minute before midnight — and an egg sac the size of the Milky Way has suddenly burst and spewed countless numbers of these once-sparse punctuation marks in […]

Categories: eclectica, humor, poetry, Rachel Snyder, writing & creativity • Tags: apostrophe, English, grammar, humor, language, poetry, punctuation, Rachel Snyder, writing

the secret life of words revealed

May 11, 2008 by rachel

As someone who has always danced with words, I frequently face this conundrum (BTW, one of the greatest words ever, no? ): In one way, words mean everything to me; from another vantage point, they increasingly mean nothing at all. In my reality, every letter, every sound, each phrase, each word, is a living organism. They breathe, vibrate, sing, dance, live, die and are reborn. They inhabit some vast otherwordly universe, awaiting deployment. Some bide their time patiently — others […]

Categories: inspiration, spirituality, writing & creativity • Tags: creativity, language, literary, living organisms, living words, Margaret Magnus, phonosemantics, secret life of words, spirituality, words, writing