Monday, March 16, 2015

A Talent I Don't Have

Words. I love them.

Pickle.

Asparagus.

Platypus.

Spigot.

Serendipity.

Calamity.

Simple words with fun sounds. And oh don't get me started on cognates and lexical gaps and all the fun things that amuse me because I'm a language geek. I LOVE WORDS! Let me shout it out from the rooftops!

So you'd think, given all that, that I'd be a fabulous cross-worder. You'd think.

Every now and then I dive into the foray of a puzzle because I'm certain this time will be different. Except it never is. <sigh> And I'm scratching out letters, and sneaking cheating peeks at the answers until I bang the magazine shut. Because who thought that was a good clue anyway?!? No one could have guessed that!

And so I move on in frustration, swearing them off forever. Or at least until the next time . . . When the glorious blank spaces call out to me and the need to find a pen (always a pen!) overcomes.

It's complicated.

And all this makes me think. Have you ever let a character struggle with something that by all rights should have come easy?

Hmmm . . . and now if you'll excuse me, I have some revising to do.

3 comments:

Susanna Leonard Hill said...

It's a great idea - making a character struggle with something that should come easy! Because there's that whole element of "why can't I do this - it should be so simple!" that isn't there with things there's no natural or expected talent for. Good luck with the revising :)

Melissa Sarno said...

Oh my gosh! I'm so glad you blogged about this. I'm also terrible at crossword puzzles. And Scrabble. As a writer, I've been so ashamed.

Beth said...

That's a good question - I don't think any of my characters have ever had this problem. Something for me to think about for my next manuscript.

I love crosswords, but ironically (given how I love to travel) I can't read a map to save my life.