LEXICON OF LUSH

I was given a note book. It has a pale turquoise, fabric cover printed with silver leaves and flowers. Fine quality cream pages were sewn inside with sliver thread. It was so special, and so beautiful, that it got to sit on my shelf for fourteen months. I couldn’t use a note book like this to write the weekly shopping lists for those fun trips to ASDA.

Today Twitter sent a link for Rebbie Mcintyre’s post on STET! : Writing well (McIntyre? Mac from NEAR EGWARE? So I had to read it.)

The post was about the power of words.

Rebbie had been reading The Writer’s Portable Mentor, A Guide to Art, Craft and the Writing Life by Priscilla Long.

Ms Long says all writers would benefit from collecting those juicy, hot morsels of words: the gourmet, 5-star Michelin vocabulary and recording them in a book.

A Lexicon of the lush.

Last week I read a post thinking about words we just love to read, write or say. 

Priscilla Long  says you should capture the special words, the ones that resonates with you. You should write them, not more than two words to a page. This collection should not be alphabetical like a dictionary, just a homage to the wonder of words. She spoils it for me when she says you should make time to look up and record the definition and the root of each word. But, I promise I will, in some alternate reality, when I have made more time.

Now, I have fifty words written with my fountain pen, in black ink, on the buttermilk pages in my notebook.

The first  five make a random read:

superficially

halcyon

intimidated

desire

academic

Do you have a few favourite words I could add to my Lexicon?