A lawyer once said, “Joan Livingston is a wordsmith, she knows how to use words.” It was during a deposition, and he said “wordsmith” in such an insinuating voice it sounded as if he was calling me a liar.

He clearly was trying to discredit me for a legal case, that maybe I was fabricating how I got hit from behind by a car while I was walking in a crosswalk. He was representing the insurance company that didn’t want to pay for my injuries.

Well, it didn’t work.

I laugh still how that lawyer tried to use my writing against me. I can hear his voice, pronouncing “wordsmith” like “arsonist” or “murderer.”

But truthfully, I was flattered to be called a wordsmith. It means I use words to create, like an artist or artisan who works in metal, wood, paint etc..

As a child, I learned to put one word after another, so people would understand what I was saying. Then, I learned what happens when I did that on paper. Here was something more lasting. In college I found a creative outlet with poetry, fancied myself a poet or poetess.

Later, as a journalist, I used words to write news and feature stories. Then, I forsake non-fiction for fiction and wrote novels instead. Without sounding like a total nut, my fingers are on the keyboard and the words just keep appearing on the screen one after the other until I reach the end.

Yes, I’m a wordsmith and darn proud of it. So there.

ABOUT THE IMAGE ABOVE:

I snapped that photo of those two posters in the window of Nancy L. Dole Books in my village of Shelburne Falls.

LINKS:

Curious about my books? Here’s the link to Amazon: Joan Livingston Books