Zoomorphic

I really wanted 'grotesque zoomorphic corbels' as the word of the week, but as Gary pointed out, that's more than one word. Still, I can use them as the illustration, can't I? These are on the Castle Acre priory.

Something which is zoomorphic has, or represents, an animal form.

Thanks to Sharon Boothroyd for passing on the details of this free to enter poetry competition. It's open to UK residents only (dead or alive!) and there's a £100 prize. If you can work zoomorphic into your winning entry, I'll be really impressed!

Lapidarium

A lapidarium is a collection of carved masonry and gravestones. This one is at Coldingham Priory.

I hope you appreciate the lengths I go to in order to find you interesting words ... Coldingham is 409.8 miles from my home!

Lin, win and In(secure)

Has your writing ever taken you by surprise?

That's this month's Insecure Writer's Support Group question. (If you'd like to join the group you can do so here – but you don't have to be a member to join the discussion.)

My answer is YES! I don't think I could keep writing if that wasn't the case. When I start writing, I don't always know the direction the story or character's will take. I don't know if that story will sell, win a prize or be one of those which doesn't quite make it.

Competitions wins have surprised me – I had a poem performed in the House of Commons and a novel published as the result of winning competitions. As a result I'm always on the look out for free to enter competitions, such as this poetry one, which I regularly share on this blog.

The biggest surprise though has been the change to me as a writer. I started off 17 years ago, writing just for fun, imagining it to be a short term hobby I'd quickly abandon when a new enthusiasm took over (that's happened before). Today I'm a full time writer. I even present workshops to encourage other writers, such as this one in Nottingham next month.

Another thing which can surprise me is the English language. I'm always learning new words (which is why I post my regular word of the week). Today's is lin. A lin is a 'collection' of water – it can mean a pool above or below a waterfall, but is generally applied to the waterfall itself, or to a ravine through which water is forced, producing a torrent.

The photos are of The Lin of Dee (apparently Queen Victoria's favourite picnic spot) and The Black Lin (centre). On our current trip we've also seen The Lin of Quoiche and The Lin of Tummel (my favourite in terms of names). They're all in Scotland.

Artificial

Artificial is something made by people, rather than occurring naturally, especially that which is a copy of something natural (eg artificial sweetener).

Artificial can also be used to describe insincere or affected behaviour.

I'm not keen on things which are artificial or false – I much prefer the real deal.



Can you think of any examples where the artificial version is better than the natural one?

Thanks to Alyson for sending me the link to this free short story competition. The theme is Artificial Intelligence and the prize is £500.

There's still time to enter last week's Friday Freebie and win a signed copy of Gail Aldwin's The String Games.

Subreption

Subreption is the method of obtaining something by surprise or misrepresentation.

I've had quite a few twist ending stories published – do you think it's fair to say that I obtained those sales by subreption?

Misrepresentation won't help you win this short story competition, but writing something which surprises the judges might. The prize is $1,000.

Excursus

An excursus is a detailed discussion of a particular point in a book, often placed in an appendix, or a digression in the narrative. It comes from 'excursion', which makes sense.

How do you feel about books which sometimes stray off the main point? Do you enjoy the excursion, or prefer to stay on track?


The photos are from one of our excursions in the van – I'm not digressing from the writing theme of this blog by posting them, as I'm writing a story set in this location.

If you won the $1,000 prize in this free to enter writing competition, you could afford a lovely excursion – where would you go?

Medicine

Medicine can mean the science or practise of diagnosing and treating or preventing disease. It's also any drug or preparation used to treat disease – I think that's what most of us immediately think of when we hear the word. Medicine can also describe a spell or charm thought to cure disease.

Taking your medicine means to put up with something unpleasant, whereas having a dose of your own medicine means to endure something you've inflicted on others.

A medicine man is someone with powers of healing within themselves, rather than a dispenser of drugs. A medicine chest is any container which holds drugs or medication.

Herbal medicines are traditional remedies, some of which work extremely well. Next time you have a sore throat, try gargling with sage tea. Tastes awful, but does the trick. Talking of traditions, you might like this free to enter short story competition from On The Premises, which has that theme. First prize is $220.

Am I the only person who doesn't trust any medicine which tastes nice?

Ongoing

Ongoing means in progress, under way, continuing, being worked on. I have a novel that's been ongoing for years and now looks as though it will be more than one book (the big project I mentioned last month).

The amount of work involved, and not knowing if it will be a success at the end of the process, was making me feel a little insecure. Thankfully several members of the Insecure Writer's Support Group did what they're there for and offered support and encouragement. Amongst the helpful suggestions was a common theme – just go for it, do a bit at a time and don't put obstacles in my way. Since then I've added more words and am feeling just a little less daunted.

Other meanings of ongoing are progressing, advancing and growing. The story is doing that, albeit slowly. They're the aspects I'll try to focus on, rather than how much more there is to do and what might happen when I eventually finish.

This ongoing competition from The Third Word asks for just 80 words, which can be a complete story, scene or extract from a longer work. I won once and that was with a novel extract.

Napper

Napper is an 18th century slang word for the head. Did you know that, or did you, like me, think it was a word for people who take naps?

Don't get caught napping and miss this free competition. If you use your napper and come up with something good enough to win, you'll have it recorded by a professional actor and made available on their website. Previously published work may be entered.

And here's a free to enter poetry competition.

And this is for Dr Who fans.