Posted
June 19, 2013
I
don't know who came up with this holiday—some reports say that it
began at a hotel in Michigan in the 1970s—but it has a nice
message:
Slow
down.
Don't
rush through life.
Take
the time to enjoy the little things.
Don't
forget to stop and smell the roses.
To
saunter is to walk slowly, with a pleasant attitude of enjoying the
walk. It is to stroll, maybe even meander. One could saunter while
ambling about the countryside. Slower than sauntering would be
dallying or even loitering.
But
loitering to smell the roses just sounds wrong!
I
personally am a fan of “fast.” I love a screaming-fast roller
coaster, and I like to hurry from coaster to coaster at an amusement
park, too. I like to walk around the community for exercise at a
brisk pace, but I also like to clip along on a hike to see a waterfall,
say, or grove of butterfly trees.
But
I also love to stop and take in a gorgeous sight, or watch an
interesting bug, or look through binoculars at a bird. I like to look
up a lot—I look at the sky a lot, at amazing pile-ups of clouds and
at stars, checking out the ever-phasing moon, spying an occasional
meteor, gasping over lightning or a rainbow.
There
are definitely things worth slowing down for, and taking in, and
enjoying.
Happy
Sauntering Day!
Words
for “went.”
When
we write stories, we shouldn't rely on adverbs to tell how people say
things or dance or walk. I mean, sure, we can say, “She said
slowly,” or “He walked quickly” once in a while. But our
writing is stronger if we use more descriptive, just-right verbs
instead of adverbs. Words like (you guessed it) “saunter.”
Here
are some words you can use instead of “went”:
scuttled...
dragged... marched... lunged... boogied... hastened... trod...
strutted... darted... flitted... plodded... slithered... skipped...
moseyed... chugged... clambered... fled... scrambled... zipped...
waddled... veered... drifted... dove... pranced... gadded... slinked... dashed... galloped... hiked... hurtled... scampered...
scaled... rushed... roamed...
Of
course, sometimes we want to keep it simple. You don't want everyone
in your story constantly yelling, whispering, chortling, and
shouting. It's nice when people keep their voices at a nice, even
volume and simply “say,” “ask,” or “reply.”
But when you
find yourself using an adverb, stop and consider:
Rather
than this nondescript-verb-plus-adverb, could I use a better, more
colorful verb?
Also
on this date:
Anniversary
of the opening of the first movie theater
Plan
ahead:
Today
is another version of Midsummer celebration—this time bundled into
the feast day of John the Baptist. In Quebec, the observation of
Saint John-the-Baptist's Day took on a patriotic tone starting in the 1800s. Just
as Saint Patrick's Day has come to be a time to celebrate all things
Irish, the early promoters of Saint-Jean- Baptiste Day felt that the
holiday would rally French Canadians to gather in Quebec and take
pride in their language and culture.
