Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Word Collecting

Since I was very young I have been collecting words. I think it started around the time Anne of Green Gables came out on the CBC. I had never heard language play that way and I was enchanted. We had taped the made-for-TV movie and I would sit in giddy anticipation with scribbler and pen ready to capture those words that charmed me so. From that day forward a love affair began and it has never waned.

Some people collect leaves and press them between pages. I collect words. When I read a book I will write down word combinations in my ‘word collection’ journal. My daughter collects words as well and we compare our finds now and again. I would be very curious to meet anyone with the same hobby. Let me share a few:

Butterfly summer
Magically spun
Gentle corner
Stung with cold
A long ago Queen
Cheery charm
Petal-strewn
Surrounded with tradition
Friendly arrangements
Soft spoken advice
Weedy chaos
Fabric-by-mail
The enchanted realm of childhood

Don’t they sound like playful blog headings? These words paint pictures in my mind that inspire me to write. I am not the most talented writer but I love to do it. As a goal I am going to write under these headings to help sharpen my skills as a writer and to try to inspire my daughter to do the same.

2 comments:

arlene said...

I jot down the words that strike me as particularly wonderful, but I never do it in one place. I have little notes to myself strewn throughout my many journals, on the backs of envelopes, in the margins of books...
Some of my all time favorite phrases are in the same poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti...
"the dragonfly hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky"

"the pasture gleamed and gloomed"

"the sun searched growth"

and the most amazing of all....

"your eyes smile peace"

Is that not beautiful?

stacy nicol said...

Thank you for the wonderful words! I love them all and I've added them to my collection.

Just beautiful!