So... I've been over and over the last few lines of this poem, and I still don't think it's right. But at the same time, it's given me a great subject to talk to you all about. That's right, word selection!
I'm currently reading Spunk & Bite by Arthur Plotnik. The subtitle is 'A writer's guide to punchier, more engaging language & style.' The chapter I finished today was about Writers' Words and how to find new ones that fit. I find this very apt considering my problem with the poem below. I was struggling with using 'sun' as it's pretty overused, but 'glowing orb' sounded to pretentious. So I wrote it with basic words, thinking I would go back and try to jazz up my word selection.
How do you deal with words in your writing? Do you use a thesaurus? Do you expand your vocabulary while writing? Or do you suffer the same problem I have, reusing words until they no longer are fresh?
This might become the next topic for my writer's group...
The glowing sun smiles down
on the growing grass,
encouraging rampant weeds
to frolic across the field.
Trees stretch their limbs,
leaves embracing the
golden light as a
friend welcomes
others to her home.
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