Look at this one, when you use Wordle, it will take the words of any text you give it and, based on your parameters, create a word cloud, based on frequency of usage. I took my work-in-progress, which is at nine thousand words and plugged it in. The results are, like, moderately funny. Like, totally.
(click on me to see a bigger one and to create your own)
I also plugged my blog's URL in and got the image to the upper left.
I also posted an exercise involving words and their sounds earlier this week.
Now, for exercising you fingers:
The Sound of Music: Puppet Show
Twenty reps of Bette Midler's menacing hand gesture from Hocus Pocus
Hand write a sixty thousand word novel
Writing out your one hundred favorite words (this one is harder than you think)
Don't feel too bad about "like." I've read that it's high-frequency for most writers due to its many uses and its appearance in almost every simile.
ReplyDeleteJon--Thanks for hanging out at my blog--I've been following you around the blogosphere--everywhere I go, there you are--;-) Somedays the (children's) writing blogosphere feels like a close-knit community, and other days, it feel like a vast void. (See--I used 'like' twice there. I bet my wordle would be similar to yours.)
ReplyDeleteI'm enjoying your blog! Keep the funny coming!
Thank you, it has been a pleasure meeting you and reading your comments all over. My queue is growing from your book recommendations. Looking forward to more!
ReplyDeletePMM - Thanks! I will try and not feel too bad, especially since the novel is only at nine thousand words and one of the most recent scenes I added is a three page IM session, involving several uses of "like". Even John Green utilizes the word passed what most consider appropriate, but I think adds to the feel of the book.
ReplyDeleteHK - I am glad to know that my nudging into everyone else'd business is appreciated by someone and not considered odd (haha), but like I care anyway, I have learned so much in one week, I may not do anything next week, but blog. Okay, I won't turn into that...yet. Thanks for the encouragements.
Tina - Wow, woman, you have become one of my favorite people to see every few hours when I log on here. Beside my blog and yours, I see you EVERYWHERE, and now on Goodreads (my main obsession), thanks for adding me there and thanks for having faith in my suggestions right of the bat, let me know when, and if, I lead you into a crappy book. But seriously, I have not stopped thinking about Swim the Fly all week, read it, my sides have been sore for just as long.
So, like, thanks guys!
Coffee really helps with writers block. Also, gum.
ReplyDeleteOoo, coffee. My thing with coffee is that I cannot have it after three in the afternoon. I get so hyper and I cannot fall asleep until one AM. My family also hates it when I have coffee too late.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in the gum chewing idea...how does this work for you, Anita? Does it spark something wonderful in your mind, or does the "chomp, chomp, chomp" help you to separate the ideas that you cannot otherwise grasp?
Hi, Jonathon
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting me at Book Dreaming! I LOVE Wordle. :-)
I love Wordle! And blog-hopping. Hope the dreaded "block" leaves you soon. :)
ReplyDeleteJenn's Blogdom :)
Hi, thank you for being my "blog buddy", I appreciate it and nice to meet you.
ReplyDeleteI found that it is critical to write your real mood, like when you are happy write happy, if you are sad, write sad because I noticed that my writings would not transpire correctly whenever I fake it.
But then writing a novel may take a different formula.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteI love wordle! It is fun and helpful to see those overused word, or to find a theme of a book!
ReplyDeleteShannon, Jenn, Ocean Girl, and Anita - And thank you for stopping by here. Glad to have made some great connections!
ReplyDeleteAngela - Simple, but brilliant, looking for a book's theme within the confines of a silly little cloud. Love it!