Magic versus magick. Where do you stand on the word?

Magick isn't in the dictionary, so far. But I think it's a good addition to the language. It shows a difference in magic as done by a magician versus magick as done by a Witch, Wiccan or Pagan type person. We aren't doing card tricks to amuse kids at a birthday party. Our magick is not entertainment. As much as I appreciate and enjoy magic, I don't want to see magick called magic.

Confused? Then let's add to your confusion. What is a Witch compared to a Wiccan or a Traditional Witch?

In my opinion (notice the qualifier) a Wiccan is someone who follows the ideals set out by Gardener and friends in the last century. Traditional Witches are those who come from a family of Witches, thus they inherited the traditions. Meanwhile Witches are those who base their witchery on herbalists, wise women and men from ages ago and whatever else they can discover from the long ago past.

Does that help or do you want even more confusion to add to your confusion? Let's just add the words eclectic and solitary to the mix. Can you be a solitary eclectic? Of course. Solitary just means you choose to be alone, not a member of a coven or some such group. Can you be solitary and a coven member? No, that kind of defeats the whole solitary thing. Anyone can be eclectic. There are so many ideals, traditions and so much history that it's really hard to find someone who agrees with another person about everything. So, most of us could call ourselves eclectic. Does that mean you should? No, it's too confusing. Find something to describe your style of Wicca or Witchery and stick with it. You don't have to be a carbon copy of everyone else but you can make everything simpler to understand. Besides, in the end we are all part of the group of Pagans.

Confused?

Go find some answers. Don't be shy

Hitting their sweet spots has never been more important than for someone writing on the Net. What is a sweet spot? To take it out of writing context, think of yourself driving over a bumpy train track but steering your car to the side, to a spot where it's not bumpy. That, sweet spot, is the easy on your car and yourself.

In writing the sweet spot, as I think of it, is hitting just the right word or phrase. Something that your reader is looking for and has a personal 'thing' for. For instance, to appeal to women you can use words like 'diva, goddess, grrl'. Phrases like 'adventure living, backpacking, Earthy' appeal to nature lovers. There are better choices but those are the current pickings of my brain. Hope you get the idea.

Anyway, those catchy phrases and words are even more important online because people will be searching for them. Your article will be picked over by search spiders and those catchy, sweet spots will be caught in their web and added to a mind boggling list. You may not be first on the search list but you will appear somewhere. That's why those sweet spots should be considered, not just in titles, subtitles and descriptions but throughout the article or essay. Don't go crazy over it. Too much is not a good thing. But keep them in mind and don't think it's too cliche to use the odd cliche if it's an effective sweet spot.

Consider some of your own sweet spot words and phrases. Which appeal to you especially? Why?

One way to find sweet spots for a certain group of people is to join one of their online discussions, chats or boards and keep track of what comes up frequently. Let me know if you come up with more sneaky ideas.

I do not like cutesy words. "Peeps" "sumpin" and "wassup" make me cringe. Perhaps I'm just showing my age, or being too particular and unbending. Whatever the case, I don't like them and I can't see myself changing on this.

It's interesting to think, the way the English language evolves, some of these so called words could become standard English, over time. Hopefully a lot of time so that I'll be into my next life and never see it happen.

What do you think about the use of cutesy words? Is it acceptable to use them in an article? I guess it really depends on the editor who will be choosing to pay for the article or not. Of course, a big guideline to language is the publication itself. What do the other writers write like?

Still you have to think of the readers when you submit an article. It's the readers and the advertisers who make the style guides in the end. These days the advertisers probably have more sway than the readers even.

Anyway, you can be sure that if I ever type something cutesy like sumpin, I will have been taken over by aliens or something even worse.

Happy writing.

Vocabulary, there I typed it. I'm not afraid of a little thing like words. Usually I even like them. But, that word, it's kind of crafty. It's misleading too. How can one word really speak for all the words in a language?

How is your vocabulary? Getting rusty since school days where you had to look up all the words you didn't already know? We all get a bit lazy about that. You read a word and take for granted that it means what it seems to mean from the sentence around it. But, you're assuming the original writer really knew. What if they didn't brush up on their vocabulary either?

I'm not saying to get into that word a day deal. I don't think that's really useful. Be selective, learn words you will actually have a use for. Chances are you'll remember them better than some random word that just collects a lot of dust in your brain.

Now, if you had to look up vocabulary... maybe there is a night school course still open for you...

Don't get into those stuffy words whose only purpose is to blow hot air and make the writing seem full of itself. Don't confuse your readers but don't be afraid to pull out a good word every now and then. There are some really delicious old fashioned words out there as well as some trendy new words. Still, your first priority is communication and clarity is essential.

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Confused Ecumenical Offspring http://www.backwash.com/content.php?jouid=5920

Engaging in self publishing her own book. Read her column about making the decision and keep track of how things go for her.

What are your words? The ones you always have to look up and check spelling or meanings? Looking at a book with "the most common mistakes in English usage" I found a couple of my own.

Accept and except.

These even sound about the same. Do you know which is which? When do you accept and when do you except?

Lay and lie.

For me it's really the word lay. A chicken lays eggs. Do people lay down or lie down?

Then, there are common mistakes I see myself. Not my own mistakes but those of others.

They're and there.

They're going to the park on the way there.

Your and you're.

You're going too fast your speed is too high.

Where and were.

Where were you?

A lot and alot.

Alot is not a word. It should always be a lot.

Do you know which is the principle and which is the Principal?

When is it better to further your efforts to go farther?

No doubt those aren't glowing examples of grammar but sometimes knowing how words fit in helps you remember which one you need at the time.

Other confused words are anything with double "0's". Choose chose, too to, loose lose and so on.

But my personal worst mistake is its and it's. I still can not keep them straight. Sometimes I get lazy and just type 'its' regardless of correctness.

I can stick up for my laziness by saying that's how language is built, it evolves from laziness and a need for better understanding in communication. But, I know in the case of 'its' I'm just being lazy when I should, or at least could, be checking my handy dandy dictionary.