Fun with Definitions

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Catherine Castle, redefining words, SMP Author blog, the English language, Word definitions, writing

Today I’m talking about definitions and with some fun examples of how they can change the meanings of whole sentences.

By Bebb, M.S. Wikimedia.com

The English language is nothing if not strange. Its homonyms and homophones can confuse anyone. Add synonyms to the mix and that’s a lot to learn. Here’s another twist you can add to the complexity of our language: the redefining of words throughout the ages. When I was a kid, sick meant you were ill, not feeling well as in “I’m too sick to go to school.” In the eighties, the word came to mean awful, terrible as in “She’s so sick. I hate her.” Today when the kids call something “sick” they’re not referring to germs, they’re making the word a compliment: “That concert was sick!”

As writers, we should consider the changing guard of words as a challenge and use them to add flavor to our books. This can be especially interesting if you want to put your out-of-time characters into a pickle when they try to communicate with characters from earlier historical eras.

Read these sentences I created using words that have changed over the years and see if you can figure out the real meanings. To continue reading click here and go to the SMP Author Blog site for the rest of the post.

Five Reasons Writers Should Welcome a Head Cold

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Catherine Castle, cold and flu humor, SMP Author blog, writing humor

I’m over at the SMP Author Blog today with a little cold and flu humor as it relates to writing. The common cold might just be underappreciated by the writing community. We should embrace this winter sickness and welcome our colds.

wikimedia commons

Welcome a head cold? you ask. Why would anyone in his or her right mind want to catch a cold?

I know I don’t. I hate being sick, especially with the head cold that turns into bronchitis and a sinus infection. You know the one I mean. Where you end up barking like a cross between an angry Rottweiler and a giant sea lion in mating season. The illness that turns your normally melodic soprano voice into a second bass who can’t speak above E below middle C, much less sing. The head-cold-from-hell that makes you wish you had stock in Puffs or Kleenex because you had to buy out the grocery store to keep up with your draining sinuses.

Well, that’s what it’s been like for me this past three weeks.  To read more click here.

Five Things Writers Need to Seize to Succeed.

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Catherine Castle, guest blogging at SMP Authors, SMP Author blog, writers tips

I’m over at SMP authors today blogging about Carpe Diem (Seizing the Day)and five things writers need to seize to succeed. Join me and let me know what you’re planning to seize as a writer, or what great brass rings and things you’ve already grabbed from the writer’s merry-go-round.

In case you don’t want to click on the link, here’s a sample of the post.

As writers we need to seize several things if we are to accomplish our goals. We need to–

• Seize the dream. Without a dream we have nothing to strive for. I love the song from the musical South Pacific called Happy Talk. The lyrics ask if we don’t have a dream then how are we going to make a dream come true? Good question.

Now hop on over to read the rest.

Guest blogging today at SMP Author Site

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guest blogging, SMP Author blog, Soul Mate Publishing, The Nun and the Narc

Today I’m posting at the Soul Mate Author Group  as one of their new authors. In case you haven’t heard, my first book The Nun and the Narc will be released from Soul Mate Publishing this spring. I’m just beginning the first round of revisions, which you’ll hear more about in future blogs. I hope you’ll come join me today at the SMP Author blog. I’d love to see you there. I’ll be back here next week.