Lightning Bolt Wielders Gathering Wool

As writers, we should always be willing to grow in our craft, wherever we need to grow. Despite the form, every wordsmith can and will benefit from working on improving his vocabulary. Mark Twain once said that for writers, the difference between a word that suffices and a perfectly applied word is the difference between a lightning bug and a bolt of lighting. For this reason, I added the Definitions and New Words section to the blog. To start off, here is a word I learned recently.

Woolgathering

 

The dictionary defines woolgathering as engaging in behavior that is idle and purposeless; oftentimes daydreaming. Woolgathering is a fun word since it can be used as either a noun or a verb depending on the construction.

Example

The only thing that kept John from his promotion was his woolgathering.

Jenny didn't hear her mother call her for dinner because she was woolgathering at the time.

In the first sentence, woolgathering is a noun because it is the thing that keeps John from his promotion (I wonder what job John has that would allow him the time to gather wool?). In the second sentence, Jenny's woolgathering is the action that keeps her from hearing her mother.

I close with a word of caution. When I first started writing, I tried to squeeze every grown-up sounding word in my prose as I possibly could and I wound up sounding ridiculous. The point you should remember is that lightning bolt words are words that convey the meaning from the writer's head to the reader's with little confusion or misinterpretation. Just because you know sixty-five different words for the white blobs in the sky doesn't make the word clouds a lightning bug word. As with many other things in life, one should honestly evaluate what their word choice is doing for their piece: will the word microscopic instead of small give the idea that the newborn baby was not big? is small just fine?

When it comes to choosing the right word over the almost right word, do not be a wool-gatherer.