The words writers choose

Words are powerful.

Words can persuade, encourage, horrify, incense, inflame, enrage, amuse, entertain, pacify, sadden, inform, offend or hurt. Hey – that’s quite a list – and to think that I didn’t use a thesaurus. Actually, there are probably several hundred more words I could have used, but you get the picture.

As writers we need to choose our words carefully. The wrongly chosen words can nullify – even destroy – the message we are trying to convey to the reader. Never hesitate to change the words you first thought of during the editing stage. Your writing will be more understandable, powerful and enduring for this attention to precision.

Confusing Words

Some words can be confusing. Some words can be misleading, or misunderstood. Some words have no meaning to some people. Three words that cause a great deal of confusion, puzzlement and downright blank stares from the general population are blog, blogger and blogging. Even my computer spell check does not like them!

When you say you write a blog, or are a blogger, or you spend your day blogging, most people think you are either demented or speaking another language – or both. The fact is, most people still have not heard of blogging.

A new approach

After reading an article by Chris Cree on his site Success Creeations I am going to change tack. Instead of trying to explain what a blog is, and getting blank looks, I am going to tell people that I write articles and stories for the internet. I will tell them that I’ve had over a thousand articles and stories published on my three web sites in the last twelve months, and I have had over forty thousand visitors so far this year. And I am getting a pay increase every month!

It is worth reading all of the article written by Chris – it’s called The Words We Choose to Use Make a Difference. Don’t forget to read the comments too as these add value to the article.