Writing matters

I know, I know: I've missed two opportunities to Celebrate the Small Things, and numerous other days when I should have had something to share with you all. I've just been snied out with work, as they say: or perhaps they don't say where you live. 'Snied out' - and that's probably not how it's written - is one of those phrases that my current husband brought with him. It means 'snowed under', and the audible connection is there, I think.

I do love a bit of well-placed dialect, so long as it doesn't muddy the waters of understanding. Where, for instance, do you stand on the word 'bint'? I've always understood it simply to mean a young girl, perhaps one who was rather naive, but not an especially offensive word. I used it this afternoon at Weaving Words and only one person agreed with me; the others thought it was at best derogatory and at worst downright insulting. The question is: do I replace it in my piece of writing?

We went round the circle today offering a piece of work each for supportive critiquing. My contribution was something I'd written for a competition (deadline looming) and I was grateful for the input of my fellow Weavers. It was a useful exercise, not least because the more we practise scrutinising the work of others, the better we get at self-editing. I'll let you know if their suggestions bear fruit, of course.

On the topic of competitions, my winning entry in the Association of Freelance Writers love poem comp has been published in the latest issue of the AFW newsletter, and I've written something for the association's blog here.