Wordsmith Day

Who or what exactly is a wordsmith?  The classic definition found in the dictionary is a skilled user of words.  I immediately fell in love with the definition as I thought it was right on target.  Emily Dickinson is often characterized as having spent days, weeks, and/or months deliberately meditating over that one right word for the poem she was working on at the moment.  Maybe not to the extent Dickinson perfected the art of wordsmithing, I often stop in mid-sentence trying to free my mind for that right word to complete the thought at-hand.  In addition, the goal in writing, for me at least, is to rid the document of repetitive phrases and words.  (Such as the descriptive word my, or beginning every sentence with the pronoun I.)  Communication is so important.  I challenge each of my readers to say what you mean by giving more thought to how you state your intention and desire.  Often I discover people don't ask the right question for the answer(s) they are looking for or truly capture what they intend through their declarations.  Become a wordsmith.  This takes practice, so don't expect to master the process overnight.  In addition, becoming an ardent and avid reader helps.  Look up the definition of the word, and try to find examples of the word as lived out in the lives of others.

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