Another enigmatic note I made, without any context or explanation “he was a naturally gifted wordsmith“. I don’t know when I wrote it but in the last few weeks, nor can I remember where I was when someone said it, let alone who they were referring to. Being a reader I would love to know whether someone was recommending a writer to me, or whether it was something I heard on the radio, or something I overheard somewhere.
“A wordsmith is someone who expertly crafts beautiful sentences and uses language in ways that move and resonate with readers and listeners.” This is a definition from vocabulary.com, a site I’ve not come across before, but I think it offers a great explanation. I would love to describe myself as a wordsmith, but I don’t think I qualify in the terms of this explanation. I think I just write – I don’t “craft” as for example Laura Pashby does in her book “Fog” which I wrote about a couple of days ago. I’m also not sure that much of my writing “moves” my readers, although I would hope it engages and interests them. Does what I write “resonate“? Maybe some of my stories and ramblings here might resonate with kindly, sympathetic readers, maybe my reminiscences of different times and different places might have an echo for some people.
I might describe myself as a “jobbing writer”, meaning it’s what I do every day, day by day by day, but actually I think it means earning money by writing, day by day by day – which sadly I don’t. What I meant by it is that I work hard at writing, I try and press on even when inspiration eludes me, or I’m bored with editing, or lacking confidence in what I’m doing, or lose faith in my work. I write without really any hope of recognition – apart from dear, kind people who respond here, and sympathetic friends; I write in the hope that something will fall into place – that the stars will align, that a key turns in the lock, that some recognition will magically arrive from somewhere…
Maybe I tinker with words, I bodge words, I throw them in a mixing bowl, stir them around and hope that something interesting and engaging will result, something tasty and satisfying with an unusual and maybe intriguing flavour. Or maybe I’m just addicted to writing, creating my people and following their lives and intrigues, sorting out their puzzles, muddles and difficulties. Maybe I’m just a writer, maybe I just tell stories.
I think I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not a wordsmith.
I came across this:
https://www2.societyofauthors.org/download/the-jobbing-writer-roy-bainton-2008
Lois Elsden 