Writing isn't the only way to play with words. Take them down a peg, look at them as just letters, forms on a page and you can make a different art with them. This isn't writing, its a whole new creation.

ASCII art is my personal favourite so the links included with this newsletter are mostly ASCII art. But, there are other ways to get into the game of playing with your words. Typography is playing with fonts. What others have you found? Email me, I'd like to hear about them.

There is the whole riddle, puzzle, Scrabble issue. But, I'm looking at making plain ordinary everyday text into art.

Does anyone make ASCII art or am I the only retro geek? Someday, that ever illusive day, I want to make a whole website in just ASCII and ASCII art as illustrations/ graphics. I've seen one done in this way. It was very unique looking now. Back in the old days of dinosaur computers it would have been normal, if not cutting edge.

Anyway, this week take a break from fiddling with words and try something new. Play around and look at them in a whole new way. You and your keyboard will never be the same again.

Words are great. They come in a variety of styles, sizes and shapes. They don't need to be fed and clothed or taken for walks. They won't beg for food at your table and they never pee on the carpet. They have other ways of nagging at you, digging into your soul and making you lose sleep and even your sanity along with it. Words really are mightier than the sword. Just ask any writer staring at a blank sheet of paper or word processor screen.

Do you have a muse? I don't. What I do seem to have is a being that takes over my body and my mind and lets me watch while she/ he creates wonderful things with words. I'm not suffering a split personality or psychic interbody takeover, or whatever. It just seems at times that I am not the one doing the writing at all. I don't know where it comes from but I can see my fingers busily tapping away at the keyboard. I don't think that is what a muse is.

To me a muse is an inspiration that you hope you can continue to rely on for as long as you pull words out of the air and put them neatly (or messily) in some form of print.

If I have a muse it is the words themselves. I have long had a love affair with words. I could sleep with them, roll in them and live my life learning all of them by name. My favourite words are the kind that sound like their meaning or those old English type words like bewitching, beguile and serendipity. On a college exam I used the word persnickety as a word that sounded like what it meant. It was not accepted, not that I failed but she insisted persnickety was not a word. I still don't know. Some dictionaries have it and some don't.

But, to me any word that more than half a dozen people know about, is a word. Its up to us to figure it out.

The Names and Naming Webring. There really is a webring for everything. :)

This ring is dedicated to all things pertaining to all kinds of names. If you have a site about baby names, surnames, nicknames, pet names, funny names, place names, brand names, your own name, meanings of names, origins of names, choosing names, names in literature, or any other aspect of naming, then this is the webring for you!

Laura's Webring for Lauras Page. We even have our own webring. What does your name mean? I have this on a mug I bought awhile ago. I haven't looked at the mug in ages, I've just got it out when I needed more mugs today for my parents visit.

Laura "The Winner" - In 1327 Petrarch's sonnets to Laura inspired some of the finest love poetry ever written and immortalized the name Laura forever. In the fifties a popular song was titled "Laura" and sang the praises of a mysterious and beautiful lady. "Lara's Theme" from Dr. Zhivago is a popular song today.

Onomastics is the study of proper names: origins, meanings, and uses. Branches include the study of personal names (anthroponymy) and place names (toponymy).