Mary Tate Engels - Romance Writer
  • Home
  • My Books
  • My View
  • My Bio

MY VIEW

Giving Power to my words

2/28/2016

Comments

 
Picture
INNOVATION… now there's a power word!
Innovation is something I strive for in my writing, creativity, even my life. To me it's a word that means creating something out of nothing, thinking outside the box, inventing something unique and different. Something people can use or enjoy or information to change something that needs changing. 
 
From Synonym Finder: Rare. New wrinkle. Transformation. What about you? Is innovation a power word for you?

I live in a newly formed small town where someone cleverly named a street Innovation Park Drive. My dentist moved his office there so I go to Innovation Dentistry. I get my nails done at Innovative Nails. And an ad from our local desert park promises to teach us to grow an Innovator's Garden. What's this? Everybody is using my power word… or maybe I think it's a power word because I see it everywhere.
 
Sometimes, when a word is overused or used incorrectly (something we Americans do a lot), it loses its impact, its innovation. Take 'like' (please!). I taught Writing 101 during the great rise of Valley Girl speak – agony to read those essays! Guess what? Young girls still over-use 'like' – even combining it with wrecking ball, which has taken on a whole new meaning and gives us a visual, too. Same with firework. Then there's hot mess. Oh yes, we know that.
 
A writer friend recently invented a new word, out of complete frustration I suppose. Sucktastic. Now that's innovative!

Picture
In EMBRACEABLE YOU Sierra's life is all that and more. Like a wrecking ball, she is a hot mess. She has to be innovative to turn it around and create the life she wants. Then she becomes a Firework, unstoppable in her zeal.
 
What is your best power word that keeps you going and helps you overcome anything? Do you strive to be Innovative? Or a Firework? Are you unstoppable… hey, there's another power word!


Comments
Mary Tate Engels is a best-selling novelist, author, editor, and teacher.
  • Home
  • My Books
  • My View
  • My Bio