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Week 3: Dedicated to the antinovelist!

 The big word of the week is…

antinovel n. – a novel in which the traditional approach to such aspects as plot, form, character, etc is rejected.

Does that mean those amazing unpubbed authors who struggle with plot, form and character are actually called – antinovelists!!!

Seriously, this week’s read took me from Algeria to arctic, uncovering some great words along the way including:

antiquity: the quality of being ancient; great age

aplomb: 1. self-possessiveness, poise or assurance.   2. a perpendicular position

apophthegmatic:  to speak one’s opinion frankly [pron: ap-uh-theg-mat-ik]

aqueous: watery, of, like or containing water

“Despite the apophthegmatic compliment, she carried her antiquity with great aplomb.”

(Hmmm, okay, you can probably do better!)

Today’s dictionary travels brought me here – to ARCTIC. Join me next week as we travel from ardent to bagatell.

PS Thanks for your mum wishes on my previous post. Given my week, it seems fitting that included in this week’s words included analgesia and anaesthetic. She is ‘better’, although an overnight stop at Port Macquarie Base hospital (two-hours south) turned into four very long days. But we are back home and hoping for the best. Thanks for your wishes and for joining my journey.

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Week 2: A Very Special Year of Words Post: absolution – algebracic

Today’s Year of Words post is for my mum – Shirley. That’s her a few years back.

Why?

Short story – her father (shell-shocked from WW 1) was a bit of a nut case and he made her sit down after school every day and write out the dictionary.

The outcome?

No one ever challenged Mum to a crossword!

Right now though, Mum is in hospital and a little confused (low sodium, liver/kidney disease to name a few) and talking about the nurses playing in a band in the hall at night!!!!

When I visited her today however, telling her about my Year of Words challenge, and sharing a few of my finds from this week, she smiled and started telling me the meaning and putting the words into a sentence. I smiled then too.

So my choices this week, courtesy of my Mum are…

Akimbo: to stand with one hand on a hip and bent outwards.

Ambrosia: delicious, sweet – referring to taste and smell.

Ambit: the extend or boundary (the ambit of his love…)

 

Here’s a few things I learned.

It’s alright to spell alright all right!

Aggro: is the correct spelling for someone with a bad temperament. (For years I’ve written agro, making them a rather rude (but funny) and obnoxious (but cute) puppet!!!!!

Adrift: (just because I like it.)

 So, taking a few of this week’s words….

She stood akimbo, determined to resist the ambrosia of his maleness!

Oh la la (Not sure I’ll be using that in my next novel, but it was kinda fun. LOL)

Hope you all learned something too. Thanks Mum. Until next week…

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My 2012 Leap Year Project – A Year of Words

 I may be totally insane.

 My leap year project is all about words. In fact, I’m reading the entire dictionary. My old, old faithful friend, The Macquarie Encyclopedic Dictionary (which I used just now  to spell encyclopedic) has 1,122 pages. This year, being a leap year, we have 366 days. So…according to my trusty calculator, that’s 3.06 pages a day. Easy peasy!

I just finished reading my first 3 pages (interestingly it was from ‘A’ to ‘absolute zero’!) and already feel inspired to leap into a new year of writing (not that I need a lot of motivation to do what I love).

The idea of my leap year project is to find new words, words I like, and words I’ve never got quite right (like ‘tenderhooks’ is actually ‘tenterhooks’, but who knew!). Then jot them down for sharing on my blog.

Here’s a couple from this morning’s pages:

abdicate: Okay, so we all know what abdicate means, but how can it be used as something fresh and different in my writing? The first thing that comes to mind is this…

He stood as if abdicating a throne -slowly, stiffly, pokerfaced.

Here’s one more…

abraded: means scraped away or worn down (often by friction): 

He was worn down by the friction of his life.

Oooh I like that one, so I’m off to get stuck into my other 2012 project – book three in my small towns, big hearts collection (Season of Temperance) and maybe I’ll even use one or both of these.

And that is my LEAP YEAR OF WORDS project. 

Anyone care to join me, knowing we might end up totally insane by the end?

Next post, next Sunday.

Happy New Year!