Write Well Me

More Vacation Words, This Time From an Unexpected Source

Twice in the last week I've seen exhortations to read five new magazines, magazines you would normally never pick up, and that doing so will spark creativity.   I wholeheartedly believe it; I just haven't had the opportunity.

Today at my grandparents' house, without meaning to, I perused two different magazines and was pleasantly surprised at what I found.

First, the Scientific American Mind.  The August/September issue was lying around, and the main headline caught my eye:  "Shhh.  I'm Getting Smarter.  How the sleeping brain builds memories and solves problems."  I flipped through the magazine, and--no joke--every article was read-worthy.  I did have to skim the very scientific and medical parts, but other than some technical jargon and hard science, the articles were easy to read.  Here's a sample:

• "Call Me Sleepless" - how using a cell phone right before bed can cause up to 30 minutes of insomnia.  Evidently, the brain tries to block the electrical interference in brain circuits caused by the cell phones.
• "Ease Anxiety, Curb Cravings" - scientists at the National Institute of Health blocked a protein in mice, which curbed the mice's alcohol cravings.  I know it really shouldn't be funny, but the idea of mice getting drunk makes me laugh.
• "Mass Appeal" - incense as an anti-depressant.  Middle Eastern incense contains a resin, better known as frankincense, which reduces anxiety and depressive symptoms in mice.  (More poor mice.)
• "Down in the Dark" - this time it's rats.  Neuroscientists kept rats in the dark for six weeks.  They found that the rats suffered brain damage.  The scientists "observed neurons that produced norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin... in the process of dying."  What I took from this is that SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is like dying.  I liked that as a story idea. 
• "Depressingly Easy" - no mice or rats.  This time the author was inspired by reading Little House on the Prairie to her daughter.  (I'm loving this magazine more and more.)  Her theory is that we're inspired and motivated by creating something meaningful and tangible.  (Cross-stitch, here I come!)
• "The Hidden Power of Scent" - According to a 2005 study, people can determine appropriate partners of sexual orientation by smell.  The researchers asked heterosexual and homosexual men and women to wear cotton gauze pads under their arms for three days.  (Ewww.)  Then, they asked 80 volunteers, men and women of various sexual orientation, to smell the pads.  (Another ewwww.)  Evidently, heterosexual men and women and lesbians preferred the odor of heterosexual men and women to that of gay men.  Gay men favored the odor of other gay men.

Next up, Newsweek. 

• "Required Reading" - Review of How Fiction Works by critic James Wood.  Gee, I wonder why that caught my eye.
• "The Techie in Chief" - editorial on how John McCain says that he's a computer illiterate, and he's never gone on-line.  There was also an interesting juxtaposition about how Abraham Lincoln pushed for telegraph lines across the U.S., and how he used this new technology to communicate with his generals during the war.  Cool.

I don't know what I'll do with all that information (other than a possible story idea), but I certainly have plenty of food for thought.  And from a place I didn't expect.

Words and Grammar, Even on Vacation

We're on our way to Florida, and even on vacation certain things still capture my attention. 

First, we stopped for lunch somewhere in Virginia.  It wasn't a metropolitan area (we were twenty miles or so from some town called Troutville), but I was happy to see that a love for grammar (or at least properly spelled words) prevails everywhere.

We also came across the following license plates along on our drive:

BBISLIF - we're assuming that either baseball or basketball is life.  I wonder, purely from a semantic point of view, how we're supposed to infer which sport "BB" stands for.  Is it one over the other?  You sports nuts out there:  when you see "BB," do you think baseball or basketball?  And why?

TRUE FUN - appropriate for the convertible that was sporting it.  Also appropriate for us on vacation.

HIKN UPD - All right, I get that this is hiking up something, but hiking up "D"?  Help!  Is it supposed to be "hikin' up d' ____" as in "I'll hike up d' mountain, up d' trail, up d' anything"?

Finally, when we crossed over into Alabama and soon after into the central time zone, I was watching my cell phone carefully.  I wanted to see if it would immediately go from 12:24 to 11:24.  I watched and watched, and it never happened.  Soon we stopped for lunch.  By the time we got back in the car, I remembered about the time.  I checked the phone, and sure enough, when I wasn't watching, it sneaked into central time.  Rats!

Sex and Money

It's coming at me from all directions, and the most eloquently-stated and thought-provoking message comes from Morgana Rae, money coach.  In this post, she talks about imagining money as a hot, amazing lover really changes the way one thinks about money.  Here's an excerpt:

The stakes are higher when sex is involved. It’s in our DNA. Grandma’s house or a slumber party with Angelina Jolie? You decide.

• The relationship is more equal: our lover wants reciprocation. Everybody thinks, “What has Money done for me lately?” Not many people ask, “How can I make Money happy.” It’s a world of difference and the key to dramatic results.

• A man will do ANYTHING to win the woman he loves. Just watch a guy drunk dial.

• Ditto for women.

Napoleon Hill, the author of “Think and Grow Rich,” figured this out. He wrote a chapter on the Mystery of Sex Transmutation. Most people don’t understand that chapter. I had Napoleon Hill when I created Financial Alchemy, but I believe this Sex Transmuation is the foundation of a truly profound change in your relationship with Money.

Napoleon rated the ten great motivators of human behavior from the “highest rates of vibration” to the lowest:

1. The desire for sex expression. (That’s us!)
2. Love.
3. A burning desire for fame, power, financial gain, money.
4. Music. (This one surprised me. When you think about it, music works on a deeper level than the conscious mind.)
5. Friendship.
6. A Master Mind alliance.
7. Mutual suffering.
8. Autosuggestion.
9. Fear.
10. Addiction.

I could quote the whole thing, but you should really read the rest yourself.

Add to this my daily affirmation from the amazing book, Wealthy Spirit by Chellie Campbell:  "I am a winner in the lottery of life," which fits in perfectly with another Morgana post: 

3. Make a Wish List. Make a list of 100 things you would be, do or have if money were no object. The length of the list stretches you out of scarcity thinking. The items on the list put what you want on your radar. Wish lists are magical. Through a mental process called Reticular Activation, your mind will start to discover opportunities to manifest the items on your list that may have been invisible to you before. Notice how things on your list will “show up” with the means to pay for them!

I'm looking forward to sitting down with Chris and making that list.  Some things that I know that are on the list are:

• Travel more.  I want to pick up and travel all over:  Dallas again (who knew?).  The Atlantis in Paradise Island.  Colorado to reconnect with Gail Richards, Lynn Cutts, and other amazing people. Europe, specifically the British Isles.
  
• My cabin.
• A Lexus hybrid.
• Clothes that fit.  Losing weight is great, but I'm getting tired of loose clothes.  I know.  Poor me.
• Regular massages and Reiki sessions.
• Regular pedicures.
• College tuition completely set aside.
• Home theater - with a big-ass screen, sound system, and comfy seating.
• Creating Virtual Angel, the non-profit.
• Being able to do the publicity and the marketing of my novel right.
• Tickets to Led Zeppelin.  Please do another concert.
• Have a personal trainer.
• Take kick-boxing lessons.
• Maui Writer's Conference.  Tingle.  Shudder.  :)

Add to this all the buzz from so many directions about David Neagle.  I can't go to his ERS seminar in Vegas next week because I'll be on vacation, but I plan on going in February. 

Information about manifesting money and success is all around me.  I'm excited about it.

What are your thoughts about creating a relationship with Money?

This Group Needs a New Title

A few weeks ago, I was approached to solve a word problem.  I can be creative at times, but nothing is coming to this poor, old brain.  I'm sure it has nothing to do with coming back from a conference and then getting ready to go on vacation at my grandparents'.

We were our own organization.  We had Fellows and Senior Fellows,  an honorary title for members who made significant contributions to the field. Just like the academic sense of the word on wikipedia.

Three years ago we joined a larger, prestigious organization that already has Fellows. We can't use the title any more, but are allowed to rename ours.  The Board has debated and debated during 3 years of annual Board meetings, unable to come up with a word that makes everyone go "yes!" So the ones on the table are kind of "frumpy": Noted Member, Honored Member.

One debate point is the women want an inclusive word; they didn't like "Fellows."

So let's help them out.  What are some non-frumpy, cool, "YES!" titles?

(Author's note:  You gotta love someone who uses a semicolon!)

The True Meaning of Wonky

I've talked about "wonky" before, but I don't know that I've explained--here--what that looks like, for me.  As I was reading Laurell K. Hamilton's blog the other day, these words describing her struggle to finish her current book came pretty close:

I can feel the end, as if I have reached into a dark space, and am reaching as far as my finger tips can stretch. I feel something at the very limit of my reach. I know it is the end, but I cannot see it. I cannot feel all of it. I do not know it’s shape complete, but only in the few pieces I can touch. A corner here, a smooth edge there . . . It’s there, I can feel it, but it’s just out of reach, no matter how far I stretch my fingers, my hand, my arm, my shoulder. I shove myself against the hole, and try to grab a hand hold so I can drag it out of the dark and into the light. I am no longer worried about what shape it is, or what it may be, only that it is the end. I long for the end of this book. I beat against these last few pages like the bars of some cage. I want out!

For me, it's not so much reaching into a hole as it is that *I* am in the hole, and that hole is about 90 feet down.  And there's no one at the top to help me.  I'm reaching up, desperately, not sure if I'll ever get out.

Why do I use a word like "wonky" to describe this?  So that I can inject some levity into the situation.  So I don't take myself so seriously.  So I can climb out of the hole.

What Write Well Me Really Means

When I decided to write a blog over two years ago, I, of course, struggled a bit with what to name it.  I like words, and I like kitsch.  I was creating Write Well University at the time, and I loved the play on words between Write Well U and Write Well Me. 

Write Well Me it was.  Even though I got ribbed several times about the ungrammatical nature of the title.  Well, it was one person doing the ribbing several times.  Thanks, Mike.  :)  Other people thought it was clever, and to this day I still love the title.  (And, hey, the domain name was available.  Who would have thunk it?)

So Write Well Me was just a clever word play with Write Well U.  There was also the idea that I (me) write well.  Decision made and not thought of since.

Until now.  I've had some medical issues come up, and I know, absolutely know, that they're related to writing my novel.  Yesterday I found out that we can rule out really serious causes, but the problems are still there. 

As I was driving to the doctor yesterday, all the worst case scenarios went through my head.  I told that voice to shut up, but one thing came out clear.  If worst case came about, the first thing I would do to make myself healthy would be to finish the book. 

Worst case scenario did not come about (as it rarely does), but I still was left with the conviction to finish the book.  Not that I ever doubted it, but I haven't been working on it as religiously as I could have.  (Of course, things like BEA and eWomen Network Conference are really good excuses.)

I have to get this book done.  Writing it is causing mental and physical distress.  Now, I could choose to not write it, but that doesn't feel like an option either.  Not writing it would cause even more mental distress, and maybe more physical problems.  Writing this book will get me well.  So Write Well Me becomes write to get myself well.

eWomen Network Conference - Final Saga

Imagine that there's a woman who's been at the eWomen Network Conference for four days.  Imagine that this woman (oh heck, let's just call her, oh I don't know.... Dawn maybe) has made some great connections, talked to some incredible people, and is tired beyond belief.

Dawn packs up her table at 12:30 and meets some friends for a quick lunch before going to the airport.  By the time she gets to the airport to return her car, it's a tad bit later than she would normally be comfortable with, but she's happy that she won't have to spend too much time waiting at the airport.

She returns the car and jumps in the shuttle that is just leaving the rental car area for the terminal.  Such luck!  Now she doesn't have to wait for another shuttle!

Dawn's tired, and she's so happy to be going home to see her family.  She's been talking nonstop (the trick is getting her to shut up*) and not sleeping nearly as much as she should at a an energy drainer like a conference. 

She checks her baggage, and the AirTran customer service representative mentions something about Dawn's flight being delayed for three hours. 

Dawn's world sinks.  All she wanted to do was to get on the plane and get home as soon as possible.  All the boards show the flight being on time, so maybe there's hope.

She walks through security, trying to hold back tears.  While waiting at the gate to check the status of her flight, she overhears the other passengers talking about delays.  By the time Dawn gets to the flight representative at the gate, she's full blown crying.  Yes, storms in Atlanta have prevented the plane from getting to Dallas to take Dawn home to Baltimore.

After days of being on, energy and emotions riding on high, and little sleep, Dawn can't cope.  She sits in the hall and sobs.  A friendly fellow passenger checks on her, and all Dawn can say is "I just want to get home."

(Don't worry.  This story has a happy ending.)

After several calls to Chris and Stacy (did you know Stacy worked in the travel industry?), Dawn ventures back out of the secured area to talk to the counter representatives.  A very nice security guard checks on her as the tears are still flowing.  (No one can complain about the kindness of strangers in this story.)  Can they put her on another flight (American Airlines has three flights from Dallas to Baltimore leaving within a 45-minute period, and they all have empty seats)?

No.

Why not?

We can't control acts of God.  We have no control over the weather.

This act of God isn't affecting weather in Dallas or Baltimore.

Nothing we can do.

So you would rather me wait in an airport for 4-5 hours or more than put me on another airline?

Sorry.  We can't do that.  We'd go out of business.

Yeah, especially since I won't be using your airline again.  (Very sad since Dawn was so impressed on the way out.  It's not that she doesn't expect problems and delays to occur.  The mettle of a company--or person--is measured by how it handles problems.)

Dawn goes back through security and decides that a big-ass drink at TGI Friday's might help matters.  Well, a big-ass drink AND chocolate.  Cliff, the nice waiter, even cards her when she orders the drink.  What a sweet guy!  Liar, but sweet.

After the drink and the chocolate, Dawn looks around at the people in the restaurant around her and commiserates with the other passengers.  Gerry is also stuck waiting for the flight to Baltimore (and then she has to connect to Dayton.  Poor Gerry!).  Dawn moves to Gerry's table, and they have a nice conversation about the eWomen Network Conference, flying, and families.

As they leave, Dawn runs into Debbie, her managing director of the Montgomery County chapter of the eWomen Network, and finds out they're on the same flight.  After much hugs and yet more connections with two other women who were stranded in the airport, the plane shows up and everyone boards.

The flight lands (after a missed attempt).  It takes an hour to get her luggage.  Eventually, Dawn gets home (2:30 a.m.), and all is well.  Dawn had always known it would be; she just hadn't had the coping mechanisms to go with the flow.  Never once did she do a "poor Dawn" or "Why is this happening to me?"  As tired as she was, her self-awareness was still on high.  No negativity, just an inability to cope. 

What do you do when you absolutely can't cope?

(* Compliments of Shrek.  When the Princess Fiona first meets Shrek and Donkey, she's surprised that Donkey talks.  Shrek replies, "Yeah, it's getting him to shut up that's the trick.")

eWomen Network Conference - Part III

On my table at the eWomen Network Conference was a sign that said, "Ask me about my power words," cuz you know someone will see that sign and say, "Okay, I'll bite.  Tell me about your power words."

"I'd be happy to," I'd say, and I told them about how certain words resonate with me and that a list of these words can really define me.  (You can read all about it here.)

Thanks to Gail (I miss you!), we put a portable easel up by my table to invite others to list their power words.  Here's what I got:

Passion

Love

Create, Inspire, Experiment

Synergy, Integrity, Authenticity

Focus

Believe

Maholo, Aloha

Resources, Transformation

"Money Talks"

Creativity, Being, Defining

"Authenticity in Action"

Embrace and Adore, Live, Loved Ones, Strangers

Blessed, Encouraged, Empower

"Pain is temporary; quitting lasts forever" - Lance Armstrong

Thank you to all who shared their power words with me.  What are your power words?

(In case you're not caught up, start with eWomen Network Conference - Part I and eWomen Network Conference - Part II.)

eWomen Network Conference - Part II

Best laid plans of mice and men.  I meant to write sooner than this.  The idea of blogging every day about a big experience is smart.  I just find that I need to decompress during a time when I'm on all the time.  So the updates are a little delayed.  I'm sure you've been on the edge of your seats waiting.

The eWomen Network Conference was amazing.  I was part of the Publishing Pavilion (with my name and picture in the program and everything!) with a table at the writing station.  I was pretty pleased with my table, especially since it all came together in about a week.  I had a beautiful banner due to Sam at Signs of Progress and amazing printed materials thanks to Harold at Germantown Copy Center. These guys rock!

I met some great people and made life-changing connections.  First, I got to connect with Jenifer Madson, the coolest money chick who will teach you the skills for the best "money talks" you've ever had.  She, like me, had been a presenter at the Virtual Publishing Conference, and her presentation was one of the best.  Now I know her!  How cool is that!  (I'll apologize now for all the exclamation points.  They're all heartfully meant.)

Walking down the hall one evening, I ran into Erin Blaskie.  I've seen her emerge as a serious player in the VA world, and I couldn't believe that I got see her in person, non-virtually.  The dork that I am, I immediately called Stacy and left this blithering voice mail about meeting Erin and how cute she was and how amazing, and on and on and on.

I also got to have drinks with Alecia Huck, one of the keynote speakers for the conference.  Not only is she an English major, but she used "dork" and "wonky" in the same conversation.  I love her!

Then, walking down the hall who do I see but Kim Duke, the Sales Diva.  God, was she gorgeous! Much bigger hair (appropriate for Texas) and an even bigger personality.  I was hoping to make it to her breakout session the next day, but I was making those amazing connections and couldn't get to it in time. 

One of those amazing connections came out of the blue.  A woman came up to me and started talking about how she's been offered a publishing contract, but she doesn't know what she would write about.  She goes on to say that she has a pretty successful blog and she's a musician.  The light bulb goes off, and I ask her what her name is.  She says, "Christine Kane."  What does Dawn do?  If you know me at all, you so know what's coming next.  Yep.  I cried.  I've loved Christine's blog for years, and she's incredibly inspirational.  And here she was talking to me!!! (Funny enough, the post I reference in the link to "dork" above talks about how Christine used "dork" in a post and how much I admired that.  A fellow dork to boot!)

So, Thursday and Friday were these great days, and then Saturday started out a little slow.  I thought it might just be that anyone who had wanted to visit the Publishing Pavilion would have already done it by Thursday or Friday and they had better things to do on Saturday.  I was talking to people, but it just didn't have the energy that it had the other two days.  Then, Kathleen Caldwell walked up and mentioned that she had been featured in Blueprint For Success, a book that a friend and former client, Rand Golletz, was also featured in.  Kathleen is a fabulous woman, and we connected immediately.  (And, yes, I cried again.  Whatever.)

As I drove to the airport on Sunday (with a sore throat from all the talking), I heard a song on the radio, "A Groovy Kind of Love" by Phil Collins.  I wondered if I had it on my iPod, and I made a mental note to check when I got home.  The first song I heard on my iPod on the plane when we were allowed to turn on our electronic devices was "A Groovy Kind of Love."

To everyone I connected and reconnected with while I was in Dallas, I send you "A Groovy Kind of Love."

(In case you're not caught up, start with eWomen Network Conference - Part I.)

Words of Wisdom from Ferris

If you need a feel-good movie or just a general pick-me-up, Ferris Bueller's Day Off is the movie for you.  With good writing, a great soundtrack (can you really not dance around during "Twist and Shout"?), complex characters, perfect timing, and some really good cinematography, it grabs you.

"Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

And another (and it's such a good quotation, that it fits many different situations, as evidenced by Sandra's posting it on my Facebook page):

"It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up."

And then there are the scenes where you don't really need any dialogue.  Rooney on the bus is priceless.

Author's Note:  Because I love movies AND good writing, I've taken to highlighting a great movie every couple of weeks on my voice mail outgoing message.  Call me sometime, and if I don't answer, listen in and see what I have to say about movies.

eWomen Network Conference - Part I

I'm in Dallas for the eWomen Network Conference.  I haven't talked much about it, mostly because I don't know what to expect, even more than I didn't know what to expect at BEA.  I don't know if the difference is that BEA was a very personal experience, and the eWomen Network Conference is all about Write Well U. 

It could also be because the conference is in Dallas, where I used to live, and BEA was in Los Angeles, where I had never spent any significant time.  Dallas isn't as scary as Los Angeles (from a known vs. unknown point of view). 

Anyway, part one of this trip concerns my experience flying on AirTran. I had never flown on this airline, and, honestly, I'd never even heard of them.  I chose them because they had the lowest fares AND they traveled nonstop from Baltimore to Dallas.

The flight left on time and arrived twenty minutes early--pretty unheard of.  In addition, they offered free XM radio at every seat, and they gave away headphones (you don't have to pay for them) if you didn't have any. 

Most importantly, they use words well.

Here's what's on the back of their pretzel bag:

Eating Instructions

1.  Think about our wonderful low fares at airtran.com as you open packet.
2.  Place a pretzel in mouth.  With each crunch, be reminded of our low fares.
3.  As you swallow, remember again just how low the fares are.
4.  Repeat until pretzel packet is empty.
5.  Keep empty packet to remind yourself to book at airtran.com, where you'll always find our lowest fares.

What do you know?  A sense of humor and a voice in writing on the back of a pretzel bag!

S.S.I.T.

A couple of weeks ago we went down to Washington, D.C. and rode our bikes around.  It was a great experience and one we hadn't ever done before.  It was a beautiful day and despite the ever-present tourists, it wasn't too difficult to navigate the crowds.  We didn't run over a single person.  Yay, Goldbergs!

Since we were on bikes, we were able to cover quite a lot of territory.  We also found that we needed to take frequent breaks, like this one at the little-known World War I Memorial dedicated to DC residents who fought in World War I.

One thing about DC that always fascinates us is the security.  When we first moved to Maryland and toured DC in 1995, we just walked right in to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.  It's pretty amazing to see missiles, space probes, and a test Hubble telescope.  Now, since 9-11, you have to go through security (but it's still free).

More security measures:  Pennsylvania Avenue is blocked off, so you can't drive anywhere close to the White House.  One of the pedestrian by-ways near the White House is no longer accessible.

The most covert security, though, comes in the form of Secret Squirrels.  Secret Squirrels guard the White House and are the perfect form of defense.  No one suspects them of being part of the president's Secret Service detail, and so bad people might let slip some crucial details to their bad plans as they hang out by the White House and plot.

And of course, when you have Secret Squirrels, you must also have Secret Squirrels In Training (SSITs).  See how well the one to the left is doing.  He's checking out Anastasia, just to make sure that she's not a threat to the safety of the United States.

Don't you feel more secure knowing that people and animals of all sorts are working to keep our country safe?

What's With You Guys? Wake Up!

I posted about Wordle the other day, and no one, not one person, said anything about it.  Not here at Write Well Me, not in a casual conversation with me ("Hey, Dawn, that Wordle thing you found the other day is the coolest thing in the world!"), not a thing.

Go play with Wordle and come back and report.

How Do You Spell This Word? Part II

Thanks to all of you who weighed in on how to spell gāl'ə-vānt'. 

So, here's the story:  I wrote "galavanting," and Firefox didn't (and still doesn't) like it.  I happened to be on the phone with Stacy, so I ask her.  "Hey!  How do you spell 'galavant'?"  (I was so sure I was right.)  She comes up with the very same spelling.  Ha, Firefox!  Take that!

I'm a pretty good speller.  Stacy is a pretty good speller.  What are the odds that we'd both spell it wrong?  I right click on the red-underlined word, and Firefox gives me "gallivant" as a choice.  Hmmm.

Stacy (we really don't have anything better to do than to research the correct spelling of words - with attitude, I might add) looks up "gallivant" on Dictionary.com, and it shows up as correct.  On a whim, she checks on "galavant," and IT'S correct, too.  (Stupid Firefox.)

You all weigh in, and we get both spellings, plus a few more.  Here's the OED pronouncement:

"Galavant" is a variation of "gallivant."  "Gallivant" is "perhaps a humorous perversion of 'gallant,'" and has been around since 1823. "Galivant" is also an accepted spelling.  (And Firefox doesn't like that one, either.)

What I find interesting is that both Stacy and I reverted to the lesser known variation.  I wonder why that is?  Any ideas out there?

How Do You Spell This Word?

So I'm writing a word, and Firefox's dictionary doesn't like it.  I ask Stacy how she spells this word, and she comes up with the same (wrong) spelling as I do.

Of course, being the word dorks we are, Stacy looks it up, and we debate the spelling.  Turns out the (wrong) spelling we came up with is right.  Both are correct.

Here's the word:  it starts with "g," ends in "ant," and it means to "to wander about, seeking pleasure or diversion" (courtesy of Dictionary.com), proper pronunciation:  (gāl'ə-vānt'). I want you to weigh in on how YOU would spell it.  (And don't go look it up!)

I'll update with everyone's suggestions, as well as the fundamental OED's take. 

Wordle Me This

For those of you who like the word cloud feature on blogs, you're gonna love this.  For those of you who love words, you're gonna adore this.  And for those of you who like to look at the world with a different set of eyes, you're gonna have your socks knocked off.

What's this socks-knocking thing?  Just an application called Wordle.  In their words, it's a "toy for generating 'word clouds' from text you provide."  It's incredibly easy to use.  Within less than a minute, I created my first Wordle.

I created two different Wordles:  one using random words (a bit like Power Words) and another using this blog's feed.  I much prefer the second.  Probably because there were more words from which to choose on the entire blog rather than just whatever words I could come up with.

We even used this as a strategy in the last class of Ready, Set, Write. As a group, we came up with a list of words and created a Wordle.

A couple of notes that I've found just in the few minutes of playing with Wordle:

• Since it works on the word cloud basis, if you enter words individually, you have to enter some words more than once to get that big word look.
• It looks at individual words.  If you type in a phrase like "old partner," it doesn't recognize it as one unit.  It sees two words, "old" and "partner."
• If you don't have a blog or RSS feed, instead of entering random words, you can cut and paste from anything. 
• Once you create your Wordle, you can right click on words and remove them.  This was helpful when I created the Wordle above.  Since one of my recent posts was a funny look at how people use online communities using the example of light bulbs, "lightbulbs" and "bulbs" were very big in my Wordle.  I liked "light" being big, but I didn't think "lightbulbs" and "bulbs" were truly indicative of me and Write Well Me.  :) 
• You can randomize your Wordle layout by clicking the "Randomize."  (I went back to create a Wordle to make sure that the correct command was truly "Randomize," and I got caught up in making a new Wordle.  I forgot to check, and I had to go make another one.  It IS "randomize.")
• There are several options for Wordles.  I have no idea what all the different options are, but I'm having fun seeing the different colors and fonts.

After doing the Wordle above for Ready, Set, Write, I want to do Wordles for everything!