Tuesday Writer's Block

I've decided to have a little fun on Tuesdays. I mean - let's face it - Tuesday usually gets lost in the midst of the work week. It's not dreaded like a Monday; nor is it a hopeful "hump-day" Wednesday. It doesn't warrant Thursday's fatigued gasps of 'hurray, a day closer to the weekend!' ; and it's certainly not a Thank God it's FRIDAY! So poor little Tuesday is being elevated here at Mirkwood Cottage, to the day on which we break through our writer's block.

Each week, I'll randomly open a page of my nifty little book The Writer's Block. If you'd like to join me (and I'd love it if you do!), just write a few paragraphs on the topic each week and either copy and paste it straight into a comment, or if you have your own blog, paste the link in a comment on this post. The following Tuesday, along with a new random topic, I'll wax lyrical about my favourite of your entries. So, this week's topic... drum roll please!

Tuesday's Writer's Block: What book influences your writing most?

Keep reading for my first attempt at breaking writer's block!

Unlike most kids at that time, who had attachments to toys, bikes and gadgets, my most favoured possession as a child was a 1975 edition of The Pocket Oxford Dictionary. Tattered and more than a little worn, it was a book that my mother had purchased during her university years. I loved to browse through its pages; to read aloud amazing new words, tasting them as they rolled off my tongue. Often scornfully referred to as "the walking dictionary" by my peers, I took pride in my vocabulary, relished spelling tests and endeavoured to find new and exciting ways of describing things that I saw, felt and thought. I'd set challenges for using new words - in a high school standardised test, I vowed to correctly use superfluous, superlative and omniscient in my essay, just for fun!

Even today, I'd rather find someone rambunctious than noisy; effervescent than extroverted; and I don't mind making a kerfuffle about it! I am particularly enamoured with older novels, such as The Secret Garden and stories by Jane Austen and Agatha Christie, because they challenge and extend my vocabulary, often occasioning a trip to my well-loved dictionary for clarification!

Words are my thoughts. They are how I feel. They capture my dreams and imaginings. For, as any writer will tell you: words are our life.

Comments

[Amber]

Great idea, Erin :) My post is here: http://www.writingworld.org/2008/04/tuesday-writers.html

[Erin Le Clerc]

Awesome! Thanks, Amber!

I was *this* close to saying Enid Blyton too ;) (Oh, I say!)