As writers we need to write correctly, right? It’s embarrassing if you publish stuff with mistakes. Yes, all of us writers need to guard against extravagating. So, let’s see if you know how to use some important words correctly.
But before I do that, let me tell you a story:
I was recently enduring a kilfud-yoking with a fellow-writer. His pawky humor was enough to make me keck. In fact, after a while I felt like levigating him!
With me so far?
No?
Well … the words I’m introducing you to are unusual. OK, so using them correctly isn’t maybe that important. And that’s the point here. So often, we are obsessed with ‘getting things right’. Many writers never publish anything because this fear holds them back. I know a bunch of would-be bloggers who never get going because they fear they won’t ‘get things right’.
We all have our particular problems with GTR (Getting Things Right). For example, I have problems with proofreading. Why, oh why can’t I see those nasty, obreptious little gremlins? Luckily, most readers are kind and give me a heads-up about what needs correcting. Some send me strange emails, like this one:
“Are you aware that there is a mistake in the first paragraph?”
Answer: “No. If I was aware of this mistake, I would correct it.”
A few months ago I got a fire-brand email that made me murl inside: “How can you call yourself a blogger if you can’t even PROOFREAD what you write?!” (I deleted that email…)
Are YOU anxious about ‘getting things right’?
If so, my suggestion is to allow yourself to be less than perfect. It’s nice to be perfect, but creativity and perfectionism aren’t good bedfellows. I think it’s much better to be creative and productive as a writer than to get things right.
A great antidote to GTR is to have some fun. Here is a task that will help you refollicate:
Find a weird word in a reputable dictionary and use it elegantly in a comment below.
Let’s see who comes up with some funny examples, followed by a glossary. Like this one:
To extravagate: to wander away from the right course into error.
Kilfud-yoking: Fireside disputation
Pawky: dry humor.
To keck: to make a sound as if to vomit.
To levigate:to reduce to powder.
To murl:to crumble
To refollicate: to refresh.
What words can you find and use creatively? How do you deal with GTR?
