It’s Wednesday! So lets talk about words.

Let’s just get this out in the open. I love words.

When writing, I always try to keep my language fresh. Words are a writer’s craft, but words can’t get in the way of the story. In other words (pun intended), you shouldn’t use a fancy word just to use it. It has to have context and it has to seem natural for the character who is saying it. Substituting a fresh word for a tired word, while still keeping the reader in the story is hard work.

The word this week is ubiquitous. Which means being everywhere at the same time. Kind of like omnipresent (another pretty terrific word)

Which brings me to a confession. I’m fascinated with words that have the letter Q in them. Q being one of the neglected redheaded step-childs of the alphabet. Poor Q. It can’t go out un-chaperoned. That pesky U keeps following it wherever it goes.

Here’s a little scene I had a lot fun writing from my novel, A GIRL LIKE YOU. And I got to use a Q word!

I’ve been secretly in love with Ben Gallagher since the day he told me his favorite word was ubiquitous.

This is how it happened.

Ben had been working at Florida! for about a month. The two of us were alone in his office discussing an article, when out of the blue, I blurted, “What’s your favorite word in the whole world?”

Without blinking, skipping a beat, or even pausing to frown, he turned to me and said, “Ubiquitous.” He then continued talking about the article as if we’d never had the exchange. I know this might sound dumb, but put in that same scenario, 99.9 percent of the population would have looked at me and said, “What?” for going off subject like that. But not Ben, because he totally gets me.

Happy Wordy Wednesday, everyone!