Look it Up by Liz Flaherty

Every year, I relate my 30 Days of Gratitude on Facebook. I have no idea where the idea came from or how many people do it. Facebook is no longer people or friendship friendly, so I hardly ever see anything from people I know. I stay there, like a lot of others do, because of promotion and because I have friends and family there. Also, the fact that we live in the country and small town newspapers have very nearly disappeared, I depend on social media for news. Of course, that means cross-checking it all to try to get to the truth, but it is at least a resource. 

Oh, yes, resources. 

We know a lot about them, don't we? Those of us who've been around a while might still have our very big and thick dictionaries, thesauruses, synonym finders, and Writer's Markets. Also our romance writing how-to books, our baby name books, our etymology sources, and my favorite three--Stephen King's On Writing, Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, and Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird. 

Did I take the advice offered by the writers of these books? Did I always use the synonym that should have worked the best? Did I always use the right homophones? To this day, can I use effect and affect correctly without looking them up?

Er ... no. 

But that doesn't alter the fact that one of the primary things a writer need to do it Look It Up. If for no other reason, we need to do it because it's not outside the realm of possibility that our books might become resources for other writers. (Not AI companies--not even going there.) I know that the first time I ever used the term seasonal affective disorder, it was because I read about it in a Jackie Weger book. Not only did I use the term, I recognized it in myself and used it as a plot point in a story of my own. 

So what does this all have to do with 30 Days of Gratitude?

Unlike some writers, I am only moderately intelligent. I spell okay. I can add and subtract. I can spell science and algebra and trigonometry, but I can't do anything beyond that. What I can do, though is used either that stack of books or the vast internet (guess which one I use most often) and look up things I don't know. Things I shouldn't guess at. Lots and lots of them. 

Today and every day I'm grateful to be a writer. And I'm grateful for the resources that permit it. 

I haven't finished my Christmas story yet because of the kind of year this has been, so I'll just put one down here to share if you haven't read it. It's a favorite and I love its cover!

Wishing you a great November. 

When Ellie Griffith comes to Christmas Town, Maine, to sell socks, her overachieving family accuses her of running away and extending her lifelong habit of never finishing anything she starts. In her heart, broken by being left nearly at the altar, she thinks they’re probably right, but she has to try one more time. The last thing she wants to do is meet a man. Patrick Nolan, the seasick-prone, dyslexic son of a fisherman and a librarian, owns a Christmas tree farm outside of Christmas Town. He’s grown used to being the family disappointment and loves the direction his life has gone. He’d like to have a family of his own, but his history of rushing into relationships has left him gun-shy about love. But then the manager of the new sock store slips on the ice right in front of him. Maybe, just maybe, the stories of magic in Christmas Town are true.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G2HLKW17?plpRedirect=mhFallback&ref=clp_hp_h_pc