Collecting and Sharing Words

Let's talk about words for a minute. If you give me a minute, I might take an hour on this topic. If you tire of my word-speak, I do apologize, but it won't stop.

I have this need of words. This un-containable need to collect words, to write, and to share words. In cases such as these it is impossible to restrict, for the next thing would be an explosion of verbiage. This feeling of being enamored by words and the ebb a flow of how they form form sentences.

A pretty lamp sits on my piano, lit to a soft setting. The warm light casts a vintage glow that cascades to my lace valance hanging just behind it. I don't usually notice that lace valance; it sort of fades to the background of my living room, but when the lamp is on, even a soft light, my eye is drawn to something right in front of me that I barely saw before. I notice how pretty the little lace details are.

Words are light; the warm glow that draws our attention to something we may not notice much. Words bring light to the details we miss. They add description and feeling of something that is being relayed to a reader who is not in that place. In a letter they can say something deeper than what might be said in conversation. There is thought behind the written word. The power of words lie in the ideas they enable. They are powerful, and should be chosen with care and thought.

For some reason, I am drawn to words, to writing, to stories, to books. Like a moth to a light. I am drawn without even thinking about it. I cannot be parted from words even for a short time, or I feel deprived. No matter where I go, I never leave my house without a book and my journal in my bag. And when I read, I often come to sentences that I must underline, and read again. Saying the words in my head, writing them in my journal, and sometimes speaking them out loud to give them space.

I collect them in my head and write them on paper. I am always collecting words. My journals are scattered with new words and their definitions. I gather from sources like reading the dictionary, literature, listening to lectures, talking with other people who use a myriad of verbiage.

The wonderful thing about collecting words is there is always more to collect. Our English language is robust, and have plenty of interesting, seldom used words that may just need to be learned and revived. Watch out! I might just share them with you.