Feature: Confessions of a Word Junkie

Do you frequently wake up fully dressed, reeking of coffee, with Post-it notes stuck to your face? Are you an information junkie, a detail fiend, or a wisdom addict? If so, you are probably suffering from being a writer; but don’t feel bad; I have it, too. In the interest of exploring the sphere of the person of letters, this column draws on articles, books and movies, writers real and fictional, and my own seriocomic writing adventures. With its finger ever on the verbal pulse, "Confessions of a Word Junkie" looks at the good, the bad and the ugly in the world of words.

Columnists

Caroline Hagood

Articles in this feature

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• A Writer's Misadventures in Writing

  A writer grapples with the ups and downs of her craft.

  Opinion by Caroline Hagood — on Mar 07, 2010

• What John Banville's The Infinities Teaches Us About Living and Dying

  The secret to living, Banville reveals, is to become aware of other dimensions and how to exist in them, to learn to inhabit the impossible.

  Opinion by Caroline Hagood — on Mar 04, 2010

• Jersey Shore's Brand of Feminism

  Men may be vainer and more sexualized, but women are still clearly second-rate.

  Opinion by Caroline Hagood — on Feb 11, 2010

• Confessions of a Word Junkie: The Writer as Liar

  The Childhood Liar as Budding Writer?

  Opinion by Caroline Hagood — on Jan 31, 2010

• Ten Signs That You Should Scrap That Piece of Writing

  A serio-comic checklist for the writer.

  Opinion by Caroline Hagood — on Nov 27, 2009

• The Woman Who Became Words: Sylvia Plath's Linguistic Transformation

  The linguistic alchemy that transforms the imagery and language of Sylvia Plath's poetry.

  Opinion by Caroline Hagood — on Nov 18, 2009

• The Roadtripper's Guide to the Galaxy

  Two roadtrippers find they share the same three levels of experience.

  Opinion by Caroline Hagood — on Nov 10, 2009

• Staging a Coup Against Writer's Block

  How to stage a coup on writer's block.

  Opinion by Caroline Hagood — on Nov 01, 2009

• William Faulkner's Magical "Maybe"

  A look at the way Faulkner positions his created people, through the “maybe” that leaves all possibilities open.

  Opinion by Caroline Hagood — on Oct 12, 2009

• The Outlaw Writer

  I favor the authors who get me worked up.

  Opinion by Caroline Hagood — on Oct 05, 2009

• Why You Should Write that First Novel

  Why you should persevere and finish that first novel, in spite of the naysayers

  Opinion by Caroline Hagood — on Sep 28, 2009

• What Sex and the City Taught Me About Writing

  I might be imbuing the show with doubtful cerebral qualities, but doggone it, I learned from Carrie Bradshaw.

  Opinion by Caroline Hagood — on Sep 23, 2009

• Letters to Myself: The Life of the Freelance Writer

  Musings, both comic and serious, on the life of the freelance writer.

  Opinion by Caroline Hagood — on Sep 15, 2009

• How Tennyson Teaches Us How to Read

  Alfred Lord Tennyson's Idylls of the King teaches us about the limitations of writing and the importance of close reading.

  Opinion by Caroline Hagood — on Sep 10, 2009

• Confessions of a Word Junkie

  A writer explores her verbomania.

  Opinion by Caroline Hagood — on Sep 03, 2009