What you don't understand you can make mean anything....And yes, I stole that line from Diary by Chuck Palahniuk

Mood: Exhausted yet reflective
Category: Writing

Currently on my IPOD: The Night Season By: David Nevue

Quote of the Week: The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility!

The Importance of Being Earnest

~Oscar Wilde


Dear Friends,

Oh my. This week has been, well the last several weeks have been a whirlwind of whatevers in life. I am saying whatever to the life I lead because I am starting to think that I am taking it all too seriously. So, before I go on I want you to do two things for me. Take your hands and make them into a big W and hold the W in front of your forehead and then...as my girlfriend Carrie is so good at saying, out loud, I want you to scream the word, WHATEVER. It no longer matters does it? Do it again. But this time, do it in front of a mirror. Then laugh. VERY LOUDLY. Make people who live with you wonder. And if you don't live with anyone then do it in front of a mirror the next time you are in a store and trying on clothes in that terrible, three-way mirror. Concern people with your sanity status. Go ahead, I dare you.

Feel better? I do.

A few things are going on. A friend and I are thinking about taking over the world with super powers. Really, a friend and I are considering starting a memoir/non-fiction writing retreat. If you think that this could be something that you would want to attend, contact me through blogger or my myspace page.

Second, I have been ill. Again. But that's okay. Really it is. The hospital gave me lots of time to read and think.

Alright, onto the topic at hand. What you don't understand you can make mean anything...Have you ever written an onomatopoeia? ( No Travis, this isn't a vegetable that is green and sitting on the side of your plate untouched, nor is it related to anyone French and has a starring role in the Veggietales movies. ) Although I am sure Travis knows exactly what this crazy word is.

Onomatopoeia is a word or group of words that is used to describe a sound.

I.E.: Schqwak!!! went the mustard onto his shirt from the little barrel shaped yellow container. He squenched his teeth around the juicy hot dog and the bun fell onto his shirt as well as the ketchup he had applied just moments ago. The boy cursed the hot dog makers for not making the buns as long as the hot dogs and then he sent the Care Bear mafia brothers in Chicago to hunt down the bun makers and kill them with their oozy's that went kapap so fast that you could barely tell that there was more than one bullet in them.

Now if you go and actually write a paragraph this bad, I will call your mother and tell her what you did on your second night in college with that one...oh, what was that name you told me? Yeah, that one.

But I think you get the point. If you don't already have a word in the dictionary for what your character is about to do or trying to do, then make one up, just don't make it look like a mistake. The editors of WHATEVER Press will make you change it up if it doesn't make sense. And make it readable. Like the word, Onomatopoeia...What you don't understand, you can make mean anything.

Right?

How's this...The eeks and squench of his shoes echoed through the polished marble in the hall...

Can you hear it? And when you go and start making up the dictionary of you, make sure you read the words you made up for sounds out loud. Will help tremendously.

I am exhausted and heading off for now. Go and write a list of new sound words and post 'em here. Would love to see what everyone comes up with. Or, take a movie or TV show and listen to the sound effects, pause the movie and then write down what you heard.

I hope your health is better than your wealth and your words are all good this weekend.

Yours in Schmacked, Slammed and Sitting Still for the Moment,

Cicily