Yesterday, I spent half an hour trying to think of the precise word needed to describe a certain situation. No wonder I find snails borrowing my keyboard to send e-mails to their chums.
Still, the book progresses. Word by word.
And talking of drip, drip, drip, I spent the last few days staying with a friend in Lewes and yesterday, Monday, the rain was relentless. The main street resembled a river as the water ran down the hill. Residents living by the banks of the Ouse must be greatly concerned as it was only a few years ago that the river burst its banks with disastrous results.
For those interested, the precise word was post.
'You know how Perry's always using hundred-dollar words he doesn't half know the meaning of?' Truman Capote, In Cold Blood.
5 comments:
I'm sure 'post' was most apt so time was not wasted:-)
Post as in verb or noun? The right word is essential!
Lane, Jon,
Post, as in a sentry at his post, is most apt. I don't think it helped I was watching Midsomer Murders out of the corner of my eye at the same time as writing. (Dangerous village with a body count of 200 so far!)
You're so impatient, David. James Joyce once said to his friend that he'd been working all day on a sentence. "Trying to find the right words?" asked his friend. "No', came the reply,"I already have the words, I was just trying to put them in the right order." (The words may not be exactly correct but that's how I remember it).
And for the dangerous village: remember Jersey and what a dangerous place that was. The key connection is the actor, John Nettles. Nab him quick guv, I say!
That is so heartening to hear, S&G. I spend ages fiddling with the structure of sentences, substituting words, trying to improve the flow, the musicality, the rhythm, altering where the stress falls, changing my mind and reverting to the original, throwing my arms up in the air, catching them, sewing them back on to my shoulders. I am half in love, half in despair with the whole process.
Post a Comment