Tag Archives: synonyms

Cultivate

Cultivate. Grow, encourage, nurture, prune, trellis, teach, learn, train, manage, raise, propagate, prepare, tend, work, till, ripen, acquire, develop, form. There’s an agrarian undertone to be sure. But it is the engendering of a life that will benefit from tender, loving, self care, along with energies directed toward my fledgling company, and my most important relationships in my life. Cultivate is a transitive verb. It denotes action that is happening. to prepare or prepare and use for the raising of crops; :  to foster the Continue reading →

So You want to be a Writer

So you want to be a writer? This advice is from a letter C.S. Lewis wrote an American schoolgirl in 1959 who asked her for advice on developing as a writer. Writing is a craft and should be given the same amount of development effort as any other skill. More so, even, if this is part of your professional life. Turn off the radio. Read good books and avoid most magazines. Write with the ear, not the eye. Make every sentence sound good. Write only Continue reading →

Words that Work

My mother had a book I coveted. It was hard covered and had yellowed endpapers. It wasn’t particularly beautiful but it was the book I turned to most often for words that work. It was filled with synonyms and antonyms. It reminded me that words dance with each other, they define each other, they grow and change over time. The evidence for the definition of a word is best found in how it is used. Read that again: the definition of a word is not Continue reading →