Artistry With Words

And a very Happy Tuesday to you all! I hope the weekend was good to you, and you are ready to dazzle the masses with your words.

This marks the first of the expanded format here on Artistry with Words. I hope you find it helpful.  If not, we’ll change it again.

I spent the weekend working on our urban farm, and we also went to the Northeast Neighborhood Street Fair.  What a great community we live in.  What great neighbors!  I am feeling quite blessed today.

Let’s get this show on the road.  Hop in my jalopy and buckle up.  Let’s find out what this engine can really do on the open road.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“But I think beautiful is simple and elegant, like a ballad with simple harmony.”

John Fogerty
How often do you visit a site where John Fogerty is quoted?

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

Let’s talk a moment about the elegance of writing.  We writers are communicators.  I heard once that we are the storytellers of our generation, and I believe that to be true.  I want to put in a word about practicing elegance when you are writing.

There is a beauty in words when they are used perfectly.  It really is quite remarkable what we are capable of saying with a few simple nouns and verbs, mixing and matching, tossing in and tossing out.  It would be a shame, wouldn’t it, if we did not do our best to find all of the elegance we could with those words?

Metaphors….similes….themes…..voice….tone….we have so much to use as our tools.

Don’t shortchange your readers.  Give them your best.  They deserve it.  Make each of your writings elegant, and at the end of the day you can step back, look at your words, and smile.

TIP OF THE DAY

Try a new approach to your writing this week.  Even if it is just one article, or one flash fiction exercise, try writing in a different point of view, or toss in a metaphor you have never used….something that stretches you as a writer.

SUCCESS OF THE DAY

A shout out to my dear friend Sha, who shared the following with me on last week’s blog:

“I’ve been fortunate this week to have change come to me. I had just purchased a course on how to double your freelance earnings. This was Tuesday. No sooner had I downloaded the program (which I’ve yet to look at and now don’t have the time) that I was sent a short assignment writing meta descriptions. Later that day I heard from an author in need of an editor who was referred to me. Then I heard back from CopyPress who had sent me a couple of (paid) test assignments for Rocky Top Log Furniture. They also have a DIY reality show on DIY Channel and American Country Channel, called Logheads. They loved my copy and now I have 29 product descriptions to write for their website. Whoo hoo!

On top of that, the author has accepted my rates and I’m in the process of drawing up the contract.

These times they are a changin’! Finally!!”

Hooray to Sha!  Perseverance and hard work led to that success.  She never gave up and finally good things are coming to her.  That, my friends, is human elegance.

PROMPT OF THE DAY

A picture prompt today.  What does this picture say to you? Could you write 100 words on it for a little warm-up exercise?  Well then do it!

WRITER OF THE DAY

I’m going to give another shout out, but this time to a new writer who just started following me on HubPages.  I’m all about community among writers, and helping one another out, so I’m asking you to show some support for this writer.  Comment on her work and tell her how you heard about her.  Let her know that this community idea works if you work it.  Say hello to Iris Draak from Boise, Idaho.  You can find her here.

CONTESTS OF THE DAY

The Hollis Summer Poetry Prize Contest can be found here

The Aura Estrada Short Story Contest can be found here.

SITE OF THE DAY

I discovered a new blog from an old friend.  I invite you to visit…it says it is a website for women, but that didn’t stop me from signing up….say hello to Jo at her site, found here.

AND SOME SELF-PROMOTION

If interested, you can buy my latest novel, Resurrecting Tobias,  on my website at www.williamdhollandauthor.com.

And because my friend Sha asked about my ebooks, here is one of them available on Kindle.

THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY

Thanks for the visit. I hope you found something worthwhile.  I’ll see you again on Thursday.

Bill

“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”