Winter landscape Jurgen Sieber Pixabay I hate winter! I can never get comfortable in the cold. I cannot stand being wrapped in too many garments. My usual winter clothing consists of a minimum of FOUR layers. The first layer is a thin short-sleeved vest, the undergarment, not the waistcoat or sleeveless jacket of which the Americans and Australians speak. The next layer is a thick long-sleeved vest. Over these two layers I usually add a jersey, a word coined in the late 16th century denoting woollen worsted fabric made on the (English) Channel Island of Jersey. Then I add what in England is called a cardigan, named after James Thomas Brudenel, 7th Earl of Cardigan who led the ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War, whose troops first wore such garments.
Words and their origins are quite fascinating and are what keep any language alive and well.
Many words, like cardigan, have been coined after people, some famous, others infamous.
One infamous name which comes to mind is Quisling which now means traitor. Major Vidkun Quisling (1887-1945), was the Norwegian army officer and diplomat who ruled Norway on behalf of the German occupying forces (1940-1945). He was executed on 24 October 1945, only 6 months after the end of the war in Europe.
Technology, which always innovates new words, of course today moves at a rate not imagined at the end of the Second World War, but much of today's technology was conceived during those turbulent times.
One fact of which I was only recently made aware is that Hedy Lamarr, the film star, was not just a pretty face and sexy body, but also a very sexy brain. There is nothing quite so sexy as a clever woman - it is a cliche to think that men prefer dumb blondes. Even if a man is only interested in bedding a woman, sex is more fun with someone who has an imagination.
Hedy Lamarr brought us the means to make the Internet a reality. I won't go into details, because I don't think I understand them fully myself.
So, I've digressed somewhat from my original theme of winter, but that is the nature of writing.
When I'm writing, whether it be a novel or a short story, my path is unknown at the outset and is very often dictated by my characters as I go along. Ask any author and they'll tell you that their fictional characters often dictate the direction of the story. To anyone who has never written a story, whether short or long or a novel, it sounds ludicrous to say that the author has been guided by a fictional person, but authors become their protagonists.
I've never been in contact with J.K. Rowling, but I'm sure she became as bewitched by her own characters as was Harry Potter.
An author lives the lives he/she creates.
If I've rambled too much, please forgive me because my blog allows the freedom not given to me when writing short stories and novels. Writing requires discipline.
If you live in the northern hemisphere I hope your winter will not be too cold. If you live in the southern hemisphere please spare a thought for those of us heading into cold weather.
Hedy Lamarr in a scene from one of her films. Biography.com
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