Writing Blue - aka Creating Fuckshia.

Have you ever had one of those writing days where you are patently unsure of how to spell a particular word, however you cannot get Google to cooperate in determining the correct spelling of said word nor can you find the bloody word in the good old fashioned dictionary?

I have.

I'm currently involved in a collaborative writing project (which I'll be talking more about in the coming months) and am working hard, putting together a reflective short story piece - which I am finding quite a challenge, given that I am not used to working to a required word limit, nor do I consider short story writing one of my strengths.

The project has, however, piqued my enthusiasm and I am really enjoying the challenge. The piece is close to completion and the early feedback I have had is really encouraging.

Writing in the bowels of the night, as I often do, I tend to make rods for my own back - hash-tag: unnecessary sleep deprivation leading to cabin fever - and I'll invariably get myself twisted up in knots.

In the course of writing this piece, one word emerged out of the mists that has  totally maddened me, causing me into a sort of David and Goliath battled where neither of us I have given each other any quarter.

I could not, for the life of me, nail the correct spelling of this particular word.

The word is fuchsia.

Now, I can confirm that is the correct spelling of the word, having just read an article in which that word appears. But whilst writing, I could not nail it down - and, honestly, I don't know why. My Open Office spell check wasn't happy with the word - nor was Scrivener for that matter. Google - for some lunatic reason wasn't playing ball with it ...

It drove me, fricken crazy.

In the absence of verifiable etymology (roughly translated - I was too pissed off to find the correct spelling), I did what all good authors do when challenged to the point of having a tantrum.

I snarkily made up my own spelling.

"fuckshia"

So pissed off was I, in fact, that I forced spell check to add my creation to the dictionary with only the barely rational part of my mind thinking that "we'll fix it in post".

I am quite proud of my little bastard child of a creation.

What can I say ... I am a child.

DFA.