Rachel Starr Thomson

Sam Torode of Boundless loves words, too! As it happens, I love his words (and his wife’s). Intelligent, articulate, and, in this case, all about Winnie-the-Pooh. Go read it.

The lovely ladies of the YLCF also like words. The proof is in the bookshelves.

Taking a quick break from work…

I work with words for seven or eight hours every day. I read them, I write them, I correct them. They never cease to amaze me. The fact that we can string 26 letters together and communicate worlds with them, across centuries and cultural boundary lines, that we can form new ideas and challenge old ones, put fears to rest and create upheaval… words are amazing.

I write to create beauty. I realized this the other day. For me writing is not just about communication. It’s an art form. That’s why I get a thrill out of poetry, or a piece of description that’s just perfect. I love a sentence with rhythm; a paragraph with style. I love a line of dialogue that sounds in my head. I love the way beauty itself communicates: with more power and truth than can be in words alone.

I love it when words force me to stop my day for a moment just to absorb them.

I love the vocabulary of Scripture. I like to pull its word out and run them through my head: grace, thanksgiving, great love; awesome, holy, LORD of Hosts. “I call to remembrance my song in the night” (Psalm 77:6).

What are words to you?

or, Why Your Friends Should Always Read Your Work First

I’m rewriting an old short story for hopeful publication, and I asked my Wayside girls to read it over yesterday. Apparently, “laconic” does NOT mean something like “sluggish; uncaring.”

It means “using or involving the use of a minimum of words : concise to the point of seeming rude or mysterious.”

My vocabulary bubble has been burst.

Thanks, Rach ;).