I’m surrounded by word tools as I go through the copyedited manuscript of the next book. I have a dictionary, a thesaurus, a synonym finder, and a new old treasure called “The Comprehensive Word Guide,” based on the interlocking and overlapping of meaning, or so it says. I discovered a copy while I was in Taos in the library of the Wurlitzer Foundation and ordered one for myself. As I read myself again (yawn, growl, mutter, mutter), I have to often stop and search for better words, either at the copyeditor’s suggestion or at my own. What richness there is in these books, particularly the word guide. My character can “say” or she can affirm, deliver, give voice, utter, admit, announce, avouch, avow, bawl, counter, insinuate….there are some 124 choices, and then this old, tattered word guide carries any word even further, taking definitions to intricate levels. When I hit thesaurus on the computer, I have choices, but not with this depth. Maybe I just don’t know what to hit…..
But right now, I’m surrounded by the richness of the English language the old-fashioned way, and it’s so vast and beautiful….pleasing, attractive, bonny, comely, ethereal, gorgeous, lovely, ravishing….
Does the computer offer this richness? What program? I question….inquire, grill, interrogate, pry, pump, query……
Karleen Koen — writing life 