Do Not Dry Clean
It is important to be descriptive.
I work on my vocabulary. Not in a flash card sort of way, but I try to expand the way I express myself. This takes some effort because I want to stretch, but never go into territory that feels artificial.
The words I use need to feel organic, so I exercise my choices and then mix them with my foundation. It works for me.
Yesterday I was focused on adjectives. Lately, I’m stuck in my common “go to” words – beautiful, fantastic, incredible, lovely. I need to open up.
I found this exercise that asked me to pick people in my life and describe their personalities, no physical attributes, with seven adjectives. I was not allowed to use the same adjective twice. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m wordy. Only seven of anything is a challenge.
It took a while because I kept changing out words trying to capture the essence of the person I was describing. I also caught myself using words that were not adjectives, but that’s a whole other story about my dysfunctional relationship with parts of speech and punctuation. There were times I used a reaching word and other times the simplest word was the only one that fit. I really like working with simple, clean words.
In the end, my mind was exercised and tired. It was fun. I thought I would post the descriptors for some of the people in my life. Pretty interesting collection of words. I am fortunate. I used letters to represent each person because the names are not necessary.
E refined, ethical, tactile, perceptive, curious, giving, witty
K playful, tranquil, comfortable, spry, loving, luminous, responsible
C mindful, fearless, gregarious, conflicted, hilarious, soulful, humane
M fiery, mischievous, defiant, animated, inquisitive, brave, smart
E quick, genuine, sensitive, methodical, frilly, strong, frugal
A grounded, warm, willful, honest, vital, playful, enigmatic
J buoyant, vibrant, committed, insightful, open, whimsical, expressive
M brilliant, amusing, tender, tireless, complicated, original, reticent
My thoughts from the laundry room. Mellifluous Slumber.
friendship fun lists opinion people words writing adjectives culture friendship people self expression whatever Words Writing
I love your descriptive words – especially in your your first novel, Catalina Kiss! Great book, lovely and sensible building of characters … I also admire that you work on writing skills. My personal new favorite word is quiver, a verb that can also be an adjective.
Hahahaha. Quiver is a great word. Thank you for your kind thoughts about the book and the blog and me. You are go…gracious (yup, that’s one for you.)
I like that exercise. I go for the simple words because my brain can’t retain anything other than simple. 🙂 But I would like to try this, maybe my writing will become sharpened.
oh, and interesting photo. Made me look at every detail.
Once I saw she was on a rocket, I was sold. Thank you, it is fun to look at.
Hahahaha. My brain goes there too. It really was fun.