by Naomi L. | November 6, 2017 | Blog, Word of the Week |
Word: epistemic
Pronunciation: e-pə-STE-mik / e-pə-STEE-mik
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: relating to knowledge or to the degree of its validation
Source: Oxford Dictionaries
So funny story: I originally had a different Word of the Week planned for today, but when I looked it up on Merriam-Webster for research, I noticed today’s vocabulary word ranked first among the trending words at the top of the page and knew I had to jump on it. According to the dictionary’s website, searches for this word rose over 16,000% following the publication of a Vox article that used it in its headline. After reading the article, I can see why this word would suddenly become so relevant today: America does in fact seem to be suffering an “epistemic” crisis!
Something described as “epistemic” is related to knowledge or to the degree of validation of that knowledge. The word arose in the 1920s and comes from the Greek noun epistēmē, meaning “science” or “knowledge”. This noun in turn derives from the verb epístamai, which means “to know”.
The word “epistemic” may sound familiar to those who know about “epistemology“, the branch of philosophy that studies the theory of knowledge and how it relates to concepts like truth, justification, and belief. Note that there’s a difference between “epistemic” and “epistemological”: the former refers specifically to knowledge itself while the latter refers to the study of knowledge. If your stories deal with themes of knowledge and the difference between truth and opinion, “epistemic” is a great word to add to your vocabulary!
What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?
by Naomi L. | November 3, 2017 | J.C. Wolfe's Writing, Poetry |
October twilight
Monsters rule the witching hour
Terrors in the dark
Hear their cries of “Trick or Treat!”
On this festive Halloween!
My response to the first of Colleen Chesebro‘s Weekly Poetry Challenges for November: Fright & Night. The twist for this month is to only use synonyms for the prompt words! For this challenge, I chose to write a Halloween-themed tanka. I hope you enjoy the poem! Thanks for the prompt, Colleen!
by Naomi L. | November 1, 2017 | Blog, Creative Writing |
Welcome to November, otherwise known to writers as National Novel Writing Month! It’s time once again to shift your writing into high gear by writing a 50,000-word novel in 30 days! Of course, it’s not so easy to take on this challenge without a fair amount of motivation to get you going, and one of my favorite sources of writing inspiration is collections of quotes by well-established writers. Over the past two years, I’ve started November by sharing NaNoWriMo motivation in the form of ten writing quotes from famous authors. Now let’s dive into another set of quotes for inspiration!
So to get you motivated for NaNoWriMo 2017, here are another ten inspirational quotes about writing from famous storytellers. Enjoy, and good luck in this year’s NaNoWriMo!
1) If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. – Stephen King
2) Stories may well be lies, but they are good lies that say true things, and which can sometimes pay the rent. – Neil Gaiman
3) After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world. – Philip Pullman
4) All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know. – Ernest Hemingway
5) A word after a word after a word is power. – Margaret Atwood
6) There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they’ll take you. – Beatrix Potter
7) A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people. ― Thomas Mann, Essays of Three Decades
8) I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I’m afraid of. – Joss Whedon
9) You can make anything by writing. – C.S. Lewis
10) Write the kind of story you would like to read. People will give you all sorts of advice about writing, but if you are not writing something you like, no one else will like it either. – Meg Cabot
What are your thoughts on these writing quotes? Any others you’d add to the list for NaNoWriMo?
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