What is Biggest? A Wordle Lesson

Several months ago, someone (don't ask me who, because I haven't a clue) introduced me to a neat website that can give you a visual representation of the words in a document, blog, or whatever. All you do is paste the words into a box, and Wordle will make a VERY cool "word cloud" of your writing. The larger the word in the picture, the more times that word is used in your document.

Here's a link to one example - a wordle of all the words on my blog. (I know there's a way to post a wordle on a blog, but I cannot figure it out) Get it?

ANYhow, somehow (possibly by my own unique idea, or more likely one I heard from one of my smart friends), I decided that this would be an extremely clever way to wheedle out repetition in my non-fiction WIP. It is highly recommended that you do not repeat the same words over and over and over and over in close proximity to each other. It can make your writing dull.

So I started wordling (LOL I say it's a word, so it is one!) each chapter of Ailing Body, Nourished Soul and going through and trying to reduce the instance of the really big words. Naturally, I started with my introduction.

So what did I discover? There were a few words I used a WHOLE lot in that particular section of my book. That is one of them. So were often and make. I went through and deleted and or changed several instances of each, and not only was that chapter's word variety expanded, but the text was "tightened."

There was one other word, however, that was even more prevalent than the ones I fixed. Yet, it was one I was wary of "fixing." The word?

God. Check it out here.

It got me thinking about why I am writing my book in the first place, and my whole purpose for being on earth. I am here to glorify God. I am here to be His hands and feet among the inhabitants of this planet. He should be at the center. His presence should be the largest, most noticeable, aspect of absolutely everything I do.

So, as you look at your life, is there any one thing larger than God? Is there anything that might even be approaching that same size? Do what I did. Change it.

Heavenly Father, thank You for reminding me, through a website, of where my priorities need to be. Help me to keep You at the central, and largest, aspect of my life. Nudge me when things of this world are getting too big, and lead me to change them so my focus can be exactly where You want it to be. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen

 
Paving Rough Roads With God's Presence