Writing the Rodeo

Great writers have good word control; something beginner writers lack terribly.

Skilled writers' thoughts line up like orange trees in a Florida grove. The rows and columns are orderly and understandable. My thoughts burst like wild bulls through the gate, words flying everywhere in the dust of dangling participles, the chaos of inconsistent tenses, the gore of disagreeing pronouns.  (I blame my sub-level, 1970's California High School non-education).

Furiously,  I wind up my rope and heave a lasso to try to contain them; those unwieldy words, snorting, slobbering and bucking in mad resistance. After a fierce battle, they finally lay on their side, panting in rebellious defeat, until at last I have a paragraph someone can read.

Successful authors like Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and Marjory Stoneman Douglas seem to have it all together. They too have had their war of the words, but vetted at an early age have emerged the victors of verbiage. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings of (The Yearling) was published at age 11, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, (River of Grass) worked at her father's Miami newspaper.

For me, and unfortunately for you poor readers, my vetting ground is this blog. I apologize for dragging you through the muddy mess of my writing arena, for choking you with my excessive alliteration and making you endure the milieu of mixed metaphors. All writers must pay their dues and learn their craft. I'm sorry I must subject innocent readers to the bloody violence of taming my wily words. Thank you for being valiant and loyal spectators in this painful process.

Someday perhaps this venue will be more like playground than a bull ring. A happy place where phrases are playthings. Homonyms are tossed like bouncy balls, figures of speech delight like dolls. Then we'll play on words in a kinder, gentler read.