Tuesday, August 9, 2011

My Favorite Writer-ly Thing

.
Here she is....my thesaurus.

My mom gave her to me when I was fifteen years old. That was twenty*cough*years ago.

Isn't she pretty?


Guess what? My word.doc thesaurus gives me 19 options for the word "remember".


This pretty little book gives me 86!


It is the only piece of writing gear I am sentimental about...

well, that and the chair I wrote With A Name Like Love in.


It was a looooong, arduous process and at the end this is what was left of my chair:












seriously.

Question: what are you sentimental about?

21 comments:

storyqueen said...

86 words for remember?? Man, I need your pretty little red book! I am the world's worst about over-using words and not being able to find a synonym I like.

Just a few more weeks, Tess! I am so excited for you and With a Name Like Love!!

Shelley

TerryLynnJohnson said...

I can't believe how close we are to your book birthday!! So exciting!

I have that EXACT Thesaurus! I also love mine!

I'm sentimental over the stack of journals I have from when I worked in the interior of a wilderness park. Twelve years of journals because one day I was going to write my memoirs.

One day...

Tess said...

thanks guys - I am getting excited!

and, I love the idea of old journals for a someday story TerryLynn ... those must be chock full of good stuff :)

Stephanie McGee said...

Writing longhand.

Oh, wait, still doing that. :D

I'm probably most sentimental about the notebooks I wrote my first fantasy novel in. That would have been my first book but it took too long and I shelved it for a while and wrote a different book then went back to it.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Tess .. my reference books too - especially a good dictionary, Thesaurus (like you) and especially my Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ...

Cheers .. Hilary

Wendy Paine Miller said...

I have one that looks just like that! I'm sentimental about the journals I take all my notes in for each book.
~ Wendy

Corey Schwartz said...

I spend my life on thesaurus.com. (and rhymezone.com) Not sentimental about it... just saying.

I do wish my mom had saved some of my old books. A Secret Garden, for example. I have a new copy for my daughter. but it's just not the same.

Tess said...

Stephanie: long hand? that's impressive!

Hilary: I've not heard of that Brewers dictionary...what is phrase and fable? how interesting.

Wendy: this must have been "the" thesaurus back in the day ;)...I like the notebook thing, that is special.

Corey: ah..those old books. We must save more of those things for our kiddos - I agree! I wish I had more of mine as well.

MG Higgins said...

Isn't the Word thesaurus lame? It's good in a pinch, but I've always got my paperback Roget's close at hand. I'm sentimental about the little doodads on and around my desk, like my cat buddha.

Cynthia Chapman Willis said...

Tess, that chair is hilarious! If it could talk, imagine the stories it would tell about your writing and editing journey! And now, With A Name Like Love is almost here!!! So exciting! With some thanks to your beloved thesaurus, I imagine. : )

Davin Malasarn said...

I don't have the thing I'm most sentimental about. It's the first piece of creative writing I did where I felt like I was sincere. I wrote it for a high school class and have since lost it. But I'd love to be able to read it again to remind myself of that first experience.

I think you should have your chair bronzed like baby shoes. :)

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Tess - the edition I have 'is the completely revised version marking the centenary of the publication in 1870 of what has now become a standard reference throughout the English-speaking world' - to quote their blurb!

Well I could go on .. but have a look at Wikipedia "Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable" - that'll give you an overview ..

A wonderful mine of information ...
I used "Beyond the Pale" in my post today .. beyond the bounds of civilisation .. or civilised behaviour (actually what's going on here in the UK now .. but that's not what I was referring to!) ---- have a look and look on Amazon too I guess .. or in a 2nd book shop for one .. if you can .. to look at an actual one ...

Cheers Hilary

Tess said...

MG: you made me giggle..and I want to see the cat buddha!

Cynthia: I am excited- thanks! and, the chair says it all, doesn't it?

Domey: aw, I wish you had it as well. I mostly love that you recall that specific moment and feeling. That is the true thing to be sentimental about...that precious recollection.

Hilary: thanks! I looked it up this morning at your suggestion ... very cool stuff!

Martin Willoughby said...

I'm snetimental about my chiar, but that's because it was the last thing my father bought me before he died. That and the mountain of books I have.

Melissa Cunningham said...

I love my ergonomically correct keyboard. Just LOVE it!

Mary Aalgaard said...

That chair is great! the thesaurus, too. Looks like they've been to battle and back.

A.L. Sonnichsen said...

Oh man, that's awesome. I need to get a thesaurus!! And a cool chair with duct tape.

I can't think of anything I'm really sentimental about that's writing related, which is so lame of me!!

Amy

dellgirl said...

Cool blog post, Tess. I can't think of what I'm sentimental about right now, but I will. Promise.

I have/had a thesaurus just like yours. It's stuck back in a shelf or drawer somewhere now that I've gotten used to thesaurus.com. This is going to make me go find it...tomorrow.

I’m just stopping in to say hello. I hope you had an awesome weekend. Have a great week!!

Susan R. Mills said...

I love my thesaurus too. But, I have to say what I'm most sentimental about are my countless notebooks. I jot down all kinds of interesting things for later use and I love going back and looking at them.

Lenny Lee said...

hi miss tess! i just got a cool thesaurus and a dictionary all my own last year and im thinking im keeping them for ever. mostly im sentimental bout cards i get and i dont never toss not even one out. and my most sentimental is my moms old poetry book. lots of the poems i dont understand so much but i love haveing her book for one way of remembering her. im keeping it forever too. :)
...hugs from lenny

Tess said...

Martin: oh, I love that.

Melissa: I need one of those!

Mary: it HAS been to battle and back...and then back again ;)

AL: that's okay...and others may laugh at my duct tape chair but we know it is cool :)

Lola: thanks for coming by!

dellgirl: I've read your writing...you have a thesaurus in your brain already.

Susan: a notebook girl are you?

Leeny: I think it's great you have your moms poetry book. those things are quite special.