Word of the Week(s)!

*I started Word(s) of the Week ages ago so that I could share all the new, brilliant, crazy words I kept coming across in my readings of fiction, articles, blogs, etc.*

This week (month) I'm thanking two brilliant ladies for words.

From Casual Vacancy, by J.K. Rowling:

Obstreperous (pg 53):

1. Attended by, or making, a loud and tumultuous noise; boisterous.

"The obstreperous mirth swiftly turned into yells of dismay."

2. Noisily and stubbornly defiant.

I think my toddler can be obstreperous.... 

Prurience (pg 216):  The quality of being prurient.

Prurient: 

1. Uneasy with desire; itching; especially, having a lascivious anxiety or propensity; lustful.

2. Arousing or appealing to sexual desire.

3. Curious, especially inappropriately so.

From Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley:

Rembrant

Syndics (pg 31)

1. A government official, a magistrate, especially one of the Chief Magistrates of Geneva.

2. (law) An agent of a corporation, or of any body of people engaged in a business enterprise; an advocate or patron; an assignee.

Maybe I should turn this into "new words whenever I get time to share them"....?

What I've Been Working On... (Non-Fiction)

It's been a while since I posted some of my own writing.  It's been a busy, transition sort of time, these last two months.  I'm finally getting a sense of where my time is going to be needed...  I thought it was time I put the focus of my writing energy into the non-fiction project I started while I was unemployed. Here's a small sample...

My hubby (still boyfriend at the time) got a job about two hours north east of where we were living, so we moved.  It was time for me to move.  It wasn't just the job.  I was done living in that town.  It lacked a lot of the things I loved.  After what happened with Job #2, I couldn't help but feel this might be a problem I would face again.

I started to look for work.  Honestly, three and a half months is the longest it has ever taken for me to get a job.  During this time I “temped”.  Meaning, I found temporary employment with various employers for very short amounts of time, for very little pay.  But it was money.  I have to mention that the best job I had during this temp period was one with a book distribution company.  That’s right, books!  It was working in the packaging warehouse and it was labourous, but the people there were really nice… and I could buy books!  Cheap!  I’m talking seriously, I can’t believe how many books I bought with this five-dollar-bill cheap.  I probably spent half my money on books.

I worked there for three weeks.  There were two other temps.  After this three week period, they found they only needed to keep two for the next two months.  Because I needed a day off in that coming time period (for a family obligation), I was let go.  Which was fine.  It left me more time to go on interviews... and more writing time.