Guest Word: Stylus

Thank you to my friend Nissa Enos for writing a fantastic essay and poem about the word "stylus." Ms. Enos lives with her family in Manitowoc, Wis. She likes science, nature, and art.


These pieces are about aword and about a boat. I hope you enjoy her reflection as much as I do. I tried to write about "Stylus" before. You may read my take here.

About the Word Stylus
By Nissa Enos

A discussion opened up the other day; it centered on the meaning of the word stylus.

You might think that the word stylus only applies to a writing utensil that is used with a computer, however, stylus actually means any tool used for inscribing the written word. Is a quill pen a stylus? Yes. Is a Bic pen a stylus? Yes.

Although typically applied to a tool for writing, stylus can also mean any utensil used for inscribing non-language imprints on a surface. One example would be in sculpture. While the clay is still wet, the sculptor may use a stylus to imprint patterns or other detail on the surface.

In addition to writing and sculpture, there are many other uses of “stylus.” When we listen to vinyl, a diamond-carrying stylus receives signal from the bumps inside the grooves of the record. In geology, the seismograph detects vibrations within Earth and uses a stylus arm and ink to plot those vibrations on a scrolling paper tape. I wonder if you could set up a seismograph in your basement or yard and use it to track nearby road traffic. The occasional passing of a train would be cause for much excitement. A nearby, loud thunder clap shakes above-ground structures quite a bit. How much of that pressure wave translates into Earth vibration? A stylus (attached to, of course, a properly set-up seismograph) could reveal the answer.

The creator is at the handle end, and the viewer takes in what the creator has imprinted.

Oh, and there is one other definition of Stylus. She is a cool sailboat from Manitowoc, Wis. She is dark blue and has a natural wood sail holder. She is often on the Lake but sometimes she comes up the Manitowoc River.

What is the Stylus? The sail is the handle, guided by two creators, the wind and the captain. The hull on the water is the imprinting tip. The Stylus’s line, her word, her story, is the journey she traces over the waves. Who creates the record? Who will read it?

We are too small to read the record, and know what it means completely. Instead, we find ourselves poised at that active vantage point, riding the nib of the pen, watching the line being writ, seeing from water level, but only imagining the view from above, the course being charted, wondering what message we are part of tracing out.

Stylus
By Nissa Enos

Fast motion, sun on water.

We, not holders of the pen

but viewers,

riders on the nib.

Normally creators

but now

part of the tool.

As we fly on the waves

what is written

the sun can see.

What message we trace

the wind can write.

For once

we don't hold the pen.

Instead we ride at the nib

on the hull

over the waves.

Seeing but not issuing

the speed of the light,

the choppy water.

Wondering what

from the sun's vantage point

is the message we write.

Again, thank you Nissa Enos for this prose and verse. These words are a treasure. 

A Word on Wednesday: Unburdening

There is work to be done, new ideas to be learned, and for that the problems of yesterday and the fears for tomorrow must be put out of the way.

By unburdening, we do now allow burdens to continue. Unburdening sighs out the heavy. 

It is freeing to relieve one's mind or body of a burden. Unburdening can take the form of revealing, confessing, casting off, getting rid of, or disclosing something.




In all instances, unburdening makes room, makes lighter. Unburdening, at its heart, is an active verb.

A Word on Wednesday: Caesura

Caesura is the main pause of a poem. The word originates from 16th Century Latin, literally translating to a cutting, from caedere to cut.  

The stop or pause in a metrical line, is often marked by punctuation or by a grammatical boundary, such as a phrase or clause. A medial caesura splits the line in equal parts. When the pause occurs toward the beginning or end of the line, it is termed, respectively, initial or terminal.  

Outside of poetry, caesura can be any interruption or a break, especially in a sense of pause.  

If life, one can caesura in most instances to one's benefit. The meter is to go on, to continue. It is a pause, not an end. 

Word on Wednesday: Poet Laureate

April is National Poetry Month, so declared in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets. That organization claims the month of April has become the largest literary celebration in the world with schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and poets celebrating poetry's vital place in our culture. 

Here at Words, Crazy Words, I'll shed light on four poetry related terms. First, this week, a spotlight on Poet Laureate, as ambassador for bringing poetry to the people. Later, terms used to write and understand poetry will be explored including caesura, enjambment, and cacophonies. 

The United States created a largely ceremonial position of poet laureate in 1985. However, the British had its first in 1616. The term, itself, dates from Middle English, 1350-1400. 

Three current definitions of the noun poet laureate are 1. (in Great Britain) a poet appointed for life as an officer of the royal household, formerly expected to write poems in celebration of court and national events; 2. a poet recognized or acclaimed as the most eminent of representative of a country or locality; 3. (formerly) a poet whose efforts were officially recognized, as by a sovereign, university, etc. 

In Wisconsin, where I live, there has been a state Poet Laureate since 2000. The position is filled by a competitive process for a two-year term. The State's distinguished poet canvases the state sharing the value of poetry, creativity, and artistic expression through publication, performance, education, and digital and mass media. 

Individuals from the following organizations make up the Poet Laureate Commission: 

The Poet Laureate Commission is comprised of volunteers who represent the Wisconsin Academy, Wisconsin Center for the Book, Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets,  Wisconsin Humanities Council, and the Wisconsin Arts Board, as well as serve as several at-large members.

As April continues, I will examine additional words used to describe poetry.

A Word on Wednesday: Novel

Novel, noun: 

a fictitious prose narrative of considerable length and complexity, portraying 
characters and usually presenting a sequential organization of action and scenes.

Writing a novel has eluded me. And it's not for lack of want. It is, to be honest, for lack of wanting it enough. I am, you see, a real fine starter. I'm 36,000 words into to one book, 6,000 words into another, and outlines on half a dozen others.  

But alas there has been no novel completed from this desk. My reasons and excuses are many and uninteresting. I didn't dig deep enough. Commit long enough. Focus clearly enough. Sacrifice greatly enough. Pursue purposely enough. Imagine creatively enough. And on the story goes. 

Enter November 2017. Now. This very minute.  

NaNo, NaNo, NaNo ..... 

BATMAN! (This sounds really dumb and cliche and what does it even mean? But, I won't delete it, because if I delete every sentence I write I might not ever finish. AND, NaNo is all about finishing!)

NaNo, NaNo, NaNo .... National Novel Writing Month

Well, actually the full acronym is NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo just doesn't have the ring to it that NaNo does. This online writing challenge was founded in 1999. In short, writers all over the world take up the challenge to complete an entire novel in a month. You can read more about the nonprofit and register your story here.

NaNo defines a novel as 50,000, although that is far shy of a published book. NaNo considers the challenge to create first draft. Perfection is not stressed. This equates to roughly 1,600 words a day or more simply, 2,000 words daily if you take five days off -- Saturdays and Thanksgiving for example. For non word counters, approximately 8-10 pages each writing day.  

So cheers to NaNo. Raise a pen to word counts and habit forming. My nieces, ages eleven and nine, say, "You got this." or "Come on, you got this." 

To my fellow NaNo-ers, "You got this!  See you at the finish!" 

A Word on Wednesday: Because

The generation of Kyras and Kaylas use because as a proposition rather than as part of a clause because, you know, millennials.

And these now fully-employed adults are showing up in waves at fully-realized careers. I read the lead article in a recent issue of "The Writer" written by a 26-year-old woman who used because in this way. So, I wonder if I need to accept this use of because, because mainstream publishing has.

I mock like the snob I am. I think they use because this way because texting, or because attention span, or because entitlement. Seriously how hard is it to use the word "of."

I realize and love that language is organic, alive, dynamically moving with time. This challenges me as a writer to clearly and concisely use the contemporary most right word. Still, using because like this is jarring to me.

But, maybe that is because old school. At another look, it could just be shorthand and efficient. Using because in this way is grammatically correct, even though I find it flippant, lazy, and too casual.

Alas, I must conform to the rhythm of prose today, because they do.

A Word on Wednesday: Stylus

Stylus: noun. An instrument of metal, bone, or the like, used by the ancients for writing on waxed tablets, having one end pointed for incision the letters and the other end blunt for rubbing out writing and smoothing the tablet. Today, people picture a plastic pen-like tool for use with electronics. 

Stylus: proper noun. The name of our Sabre 38. 

Naming a boat is a tradition born of practicality. Modern practice seeps in poetic license. License to honor those loved, admire the greats, boast of success. Yacht names, in particular, often have a story and a cleverness to them. 

As a non sailor purchasing a cruising sailboat, I approached naming it with the seriousness of naming a child. The previous owner named the vessel "Twilight," which brought up images of after hours and YA vampires. Scrubbing it from the stern was a top priority. 

I forget the runners up, but it was a fairly quick conclusion that "Stylus" would make suitable moniker. I liked the idea of the boat being an instrument for my family to use to write our story on the Great Lakes. 

This season's stories have been washed away with the lapping waves, faded in the UV rays, and lost at sea. 

A Word on Wednesday: Discovery

A discovery is an act or instance of discovering. Discovery also refers to the thing, which has been discovered. The discovery does not need to be something new in order to be discovered. Only new to the seeker.

I hope to routinely discover glimmers of real.

Daily Discovery
Flicker of light
Patterns esoteric
Truth in plain sight

A Word on Wednesday: Optimism

Optimism is something to celebrate.

An optimist will remember the promise of spring on a blustery, winter day, believe in what's possible rather than dwell on the impossible, and live with more hope than worry. This glass-half-full mindset is shorthand for optimism.     

The noun, optimism, is primarily defined as a disposition or tendency to look on the more favorable side of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome. 

The word expect is key in looking at the definition. Optimists do not hope for or wish for, they expect. A true optimist will live without fear or doubt slowing them down. 

Further definitions of optimism are closer to its Latin and French Eighteenth Century roots. Optimism is a doctrine/teaching of a belief system:  

• that good ultimately predominates over evil in the world;

• that goodness pervades reality; or

• that the existing world is the best of all possible worlds.

In this way, optimism is faith. It is doctrine without contradiction, without hocus pocus, and without moral codes of conduct. Optimism also is a word without reference to a deity. It is simple, derived from Latin optimus best, superlative of bonus good. 

Optimism declares the world is good, a world where there is an ultimate triumph of good over evil. 

Optimists are not just looking to the bright side. Optimists are not just peering through rose-colored glasses. Optimists are more; they are believers. 

A Word on Wednesday: Poppycock

"Poppycock" can pack a punch. Once the shock of the hard sound passes, the perfectly acceptable word is amusing. The common noun simply means nonsense or, to put it another way, bosh. The Brits might say rubbish or, more daringly, balls. 

In the mid 1800s, Americans coined "poppycock" likely from the Dutch pappekak. As an amateur entomologist, I believe it translates from the Dutch pappe (soft food) and Dutch kak (derived from Latin for dung) to mean soft poop or, more bluntly, bullshit.  

Despite this comical, somewhat vulgar examination, "poppycock," passes as an innocent, playful word. It is as clean and refreshing as the tulip fields of the Netherlands.  

Senior Editor Nicki Porter used the word "poppycock" in the opening column of the August 2017 issue of The Writer. In the next sentence, she confessed how ridiculous the word looked on the page, but maintained no other word would have sufficed to make her point. 

 

I rarely come across the word "poppycock" in reading or in conversation. I was mildly delighted to see it in print. Porter's column defended memoir as a relevant genre despite rampant attacks of the art form.  She called "poppycock" on the critics.  

I agree with Porter, sometimes, "poppycock" is the best word to call out crap. "Poppycock" has just the right air of condescension. In other times, a quiet hogwash, a firm bunk, or, an equally ridiculous, balderdash might do. 

A Word on Wednesday: Passioneer

The noun passion is a strong emotion or feeling most often associated with lust and desire.
The suffix -eer originally occurred in loanwords from the French (buccaneer and pioneer) and productive in the formation of English nouns denoting persons who produce, handle, or are otherwise significantly associated with the referent of the base word (auctioneer; engineer.)

Passioneer is a word I concocted to describe people with an overzealous passion for seemingly innocuous objects.

Consider these hyperbole: 

- I am PASSIONATE about strawberries.

- I am PASSIONATE about breastfeeding.

- I am PASSIONATE about tennis.

- I am PASSIONATE about decorating.

Variations in career planning: 

- Helping people is my PASSION!

- Training horses are my PASSION!

- Food trucks are my PASSION! 

-Fitness is my PASSION!

I try to override my cynical side, but its familiar biting wit is hard to suppress. The word passioneer is my response to the overuse/misuse of the word passion. It's a joke I make with myself. 

The 1995 movie "French Kiss" was one of five VHS tapes I owned. My favorite line was stated by bad boy character "Luc" played by Kevin Kline, "People who say they are happy make my ass twitch." 

I find passioneers not quite ass-twitch worthy, but rather deserving of a smug eye roll. It makes more sense, for me, to find purpose over passion and to be tenacious rather than passionate. 

A Word on Wednesday: Stronger

Stronger is not second place in a race of three -- strong, stronger, strongest. Rather, it is a record of growth. Stronger is a superlative from the root word strong and can refer to physical and mental vigor.
 
When a comparative adjective is used, it requires one to consider, than what? One must supply the other side of the comparison. Consider the Nietzsche's observation, "what  doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

Does this, now common, aphorism mean stronger than dead or stronger than you were before you encountered the thing that almost killed you?

As a ranking adjective, stronger tempts one compete to become the strongest. However, the record of the strongest will be surpassed, just as best, fastest, and tallest. Stronger, then, is only for today. Stronger than yesterday, perhaps. Stronger than another, sometimes.

Stronger than thought possible is the attraction of trying to become so.

  

The 2017 Word: Crescendo

It is time for a crescendo! 

So ...

This is the year, I get loud. 

In music, a crescendo is a gradual steady increase in loudness or force. This is a controlled set of bars, increasing the volume of an arrangement. A crescendo can wake both an artist and audience. 

The internet is a buzz with picking a single word as a mantra for 2017 to replace the practice of setting goals and resolutions. 

I choose crescendo as a verb without an object, thereby, "to grow in force." 

Rather than shout or burst, I slowly and gently summit to full capacity. With clarity, I deliberately turn up the volume in 2017. 

A Word on Wednesday: Chapbook

A few chapbooks in my collection by Wisconsin poets:
Jean Biegun, LaMoine MacLaughlin, and Stephen P. Mickey.  

The noun chapbook was coined in the early Nineteenth Century by combining the words chapman and book. This small paperback book, oftentimes just a mere pamphlet, is likely as old as print itself.

Historically, it contained tales, ballads, or tracts sold by peddlers or merchants. Later, its content was narrowed to selections of short fiction or poems. The publication and its distribution fell out of favor.

Today, few prose writers create chapbooks.

Poets, however, remain drawn to the form as a vehicle to publish. 

Typically, chapbooks are independently published. Although, there are imprints, such as Black Lawrence Press, that publish the peripheral collections.

The selection of poems is generally tied to a theme or a poetic form. Yet, there are no hard rules or guidelines. Some include illustrations; others don't. Length varies from as few as fifteen to as many as thirty. The process of creating a chapbook allows a poet to think about the organization and merit of her verse.

Most writers were first poets -- composing frenzied lines of free verse to purge an emotion or, more favorably, deliberately playing with language to capture a moment of truth.

Left raw, these drafts remain the practice of an amateur. Left alone, they lack context and purpose. Individual poems fall short of significance.

Working on a chapbook makes way for clarity by forcing discovery of a reason for the practice of writing at all. Each poem must be examined for precision and clarity. Tied with a unifying thread, chapbooks brand a poet's observations and construction of thought.

Chapbooks indulge the poet's audacity, allowing her to print her name on the cover and own the lines inside. These, inexpensive stapled sheets of paper, are bids for attention to a writer.

"See me. Notice me. Give my work a look."

The peddler, cloaked in the smug light of literary culture, whispers politely those desperate pleas.

Disclosure: My first chapbook, "A Stop Along the Way," will be released in early 2017.

A novel walk

I snapped the following pictures on the Ice Age Trail in Manitowoc, Wis. around 9 a.m. this morning. The scenery is inspiration for a fictional setting in my novel in progress. Enjoy the view, my friends. And, forgive my amateur photography skills.

Come write with me!

Have you ever thought about writing memoir? Not sure how to get started? As part of the amazing Lakefly Literary Conference, I will be presenting a Mining Memories breakout session to get you started. The conference is held May 8 and May 9, 2015 in Oshkosh, Wis. Come for Keynote Speaker Michael Perry, stay for the breakout sessions, book fair, and connect with like-minded people.

Learn more about the conference here: Lakefly Presenters


I have read a lot of books on memoir writing and my favorite was "Old Friend from Far Away" by Natalie Goldberg. For general writing inspiration, I recommend "On Writing" by Stephen King (direct and, at times, funny) or "Bird by Bird" by Ann Lamott (a more Zen approach to inspiring the craft).

Make the time for the possible!

Sometimes I read more than I write. Sometimes the opposite is true. I follow a blog about Manitowoc’s performing arts center: The Capitol Civic Centre, which is written by its executive Director Matt Schliesman. (http://capitoled.wordpress.com/) The blog provides promotion for upcoming shows and projects happening at the historic gem located in our community’s historic downtown; Mr. Schliesman also writes about creativity and its spirit. 

 “Opportunity has come to me in many terms, so has necessity,” Matt Schliesman wrote.

The above quote makes me think of how I often times have focused more on the necessities in life rather than the opportunities. I have long struggled to reconcile my need to write creatively with finding an avenue to provide for my necessities. The latter cannot be ignored. Yet, the concept of reconciliation is fitting. Hunger for the necessities can cure writer’s block — even if it can’t always allow for the pursuit of less saleable writing such as poetry and fiction. However, if we spend all our time focusing on acquiring necessities with a traditional “real job,” it leaves a deficit in the time we can devote to following opportunities. How does one live without necessities? How does one live while ignoring opportunities, especially the ones hidden in your own innate talents and passions?

With each year that slips by, minute by minute, we lose something. Time. Chances. Possibilities. We squander our limited resource on the should-dos rather than the could-dos. Sometimes, we fail to make progress on either resulting in anxiety, regret, and depression. Paralysis to action is fueled by fear and indecision. We settle. Settle for what comes our way. Robert Frost talks about creating our own path rather than following a paved road. The only problem is the paved road leads to a destination. The question is: is this place where you want to be? The problem with forging your way to the unknown is you, the traveler, knows not where it leads and there is no clue to when you have arrived.

The epiphany of arrival and contentedness is elusive. You cannot capture it and store it, but rather continue to seek it and recognize it.

Indecisiveness is crippling. Hesitation leads to missed opportunities. Courage may be the most important of all necessities. Without courage we have no mechanism for overcoming fear.