Tired of Words? Almost, But Not Quite.

I feel as if all I’ve done is manage words for the last week. I’ve written a blue million of them (exaggeration) and edited the rest. I’m not finished yet, either, though I have to tell you, I’m about ready to … oh heck, I can’t even describe what I’m about ready to do, because I’ve run out of words.

Several years ago, a friend asked if I saw words when I spoke. It took me a few minutes to respond because I had to process on that one. Then I realized, that yes, I actually see the words in front of me (in my mind’s eye). I’m constantly spelling and sounding things out, no matter what I’m doing. I always have.

If you tell me that you are holding a blue pen, I don’t see the image of the blue pen, because there are still yet too many variables. But I see “b-l-u-e-p-e-n.” And I know what you’re describing. We can still have a conversation about the blue pen that you’re holding because I translate all of those letters and words into a common understanding.

When I was in college, I discovered that my perfect pitch was more of a hindrance than a blessing. I took my first music listening courses at the University of Iowa where there were five of us with perfect pitch in the classroom. The professor decided that rather than seeing this as a good thing, we needed to … well, I’ll just say it … be punished. So … he insisted that everything he played be written in a specific key. If he played it in the key of D, we had to write what we were hearing in the key of G. He insisted that he was teaching us how to hear relative pitch, but the truth was, all of us simply translated what we heard as a D to a G. I didn’t learn any more about relative pitch then than I had ever known. I simply learned that he was a jerk and couldn’t see the benefit of us having perfect pitch.

It’s kind of like knowing two languages and encountering someone who knows two completely different languages. However, if the two of you find someone who speaks one of your languages and one of that person’s languages, they can translate and help you have a conversation.

Wait. Maybe it’s nothing like that. It appears I got lost in the word ‘translate’ and everything has gone to a weird place.

I should probably go back to my editing.

In case you didn’t get the email newsletter this morning, I made us a cover with a title for Book 15! I’m so in love with this image and the title fits with the book perfectly. Do you realize it’s less than a month now? There is so much left to do, but I’m right on schedule. It’s gonna be fun.

Tomorrow is Friday! And then it’s the weekend! I’m still out of food and need to head into town tomorrow, but YAY!

Okay – here’s the cover and I’ll chat at you later. Back to work, Diane!