Word Choice and the Writer

Yesterday I wrote in my journal that I was riddled with mosquito bites. I wondered if that was the right word. Usually when you hear the word riddled, the context is a body riddled with bullets or cancer. In contrast, a person is covered in mosquito bites.

I wondered if pondering correct word usage made me a writer. I decided no, that made me an editor.

Silencing the editor (or the censor) is a big part of writing. Editing is crucial but it has to be at the right time--the right time is NOT during the first draft. The first draft is about getting the words down, getting into the flow. You can--and should--always go back to fix things later.

Then I started thinking about blogging and writing. I loved this line from the movie, Contagion. I remembered conversations and this post.  I have questioned whether I am "really" a writer many times. I remember how psyched I was when my friend Annette said she always refers to me as a writer regardless of how I'm making a living.

I write. OK, so I'm a writer. Maybe not your kind of writer, but I'm my kind of sporadic, half-assed writer.

By the way, "riddled" is pierced with many holes. So riddled works with mosquito bites.

Happy Independence Day!

Lola commemorates Captain Henry Chichester of the Revolutionary War, buried in Historic Pine Island Cemetery.