Margaret’s About Me Page

Hello, I’m Margaret. 

I’m a big game hunter. No, no, I don’t hunt animals. My game is words. I like to find and capture them and mount them on the walls of my mind. I like the way combinations of words conjure strong emotions and dreamy moods.

If you are a writer or strive to be one, I imagine you feel the same way. It's amazing what words can do. They are able to lift you completely out of the doldrums.

There is power in words!!!

The sound of a single word can cause a cavalcade of creative ideas to explode in the mind. When I stumbled across the word phantasmagorical, I thought: what the heck?

Dictionary.com gives the definition of phantasmagoric as: "Having a fantastic or deceptive appearance, as something in a dream or created by the imagination. Having the appearance of an optical illusion, especially one produced by a magic lantern. Changing or shifting, as a scene made up of many elements."

You must admit that even pronouncing the word phantasmagoric, seems to put you into another dimension even if only briefly. What images spring up in your mind?

I Think to Myself: Margaret, I’ve Got to Capture That Word!

Image: Dream by Wombo

And when I capture that word, I’ve got to tame it (thoroughly understand its meanings) and have it as a permanent resident in my lexicon.

It isn’t hard to do. I can make it mine through frequent use, starting by using it in a sentence.

Okay, here goes . . . 

The phantasmagorical creature floated up from the marsh, its disfigured face was shrouded in a swirling mist.

I started word hunting over twenty years ago. I was an avid book reader and collected many words from my readings, clutching them, and valuing them. I was as excited as a child on an Easter egg hunt. 

My writing career grew over the years, leading me to write a dozen short stories, a novel, screenplays, essays, and two how-to books.

In 2015, I was a presenter on a panel of six. The topic was, “How To Write, Sell, and Profit From Your Book.” Most of the attendees were aspiring writers of novels and memoirs.

I also served on a local anthology committee for eight years as an acquisitions editor and copy editor. Aspiring authors submitted their works of essays, short stories, rants, and poetry. At times, other members of the panel and I worked with authors to help them polish their work for submission into the anthology.

Taking several writing workshops to learn various types of writing, I traveled to several cities in California, including Los Angeles, Palm Springs, and San Diego. I took an extended weekend course in Maui, Hawaii, and spent a few days traveling to Alaska on a writing cruise.

I also attended film school in Burbank, California, which included insider tips on writing screenplays. My most recent trip was also in Burbank in February 2020, where I spent three intensive days, learning more about writing screenplays, marketing them, and pitching to producers.

It’s been a thrilling ride!!! 

My favorite things to do include reading and writing science fiction and psychological thrillers. I also enjoy creating this website on essay writing and other types of writing. I hope to inspire others who are so inclined to start or continue the wonderful journey of writing, step by step.

Image: Dream by Wombo

Listen up, one moment before you go . . .

I think writing itself can be a phantasmagoric experience. Even the most mundane subjects can be written to contain many elements that exemplify changes and shifts and at times dreaminess.

If nothing else, it provides a hook. This hook is necessary for giving your writing an extra spark. Writing should not be forgettable. It needs to stand out from the crowd. It needs to create questions that your reader will demand answers to.

Great writing possesses a hook. To do this, words will have to do some heavy lifting. It will need to capture a reader's attention. To find out more about the hook, read the article about it on this website.

The word phantasmagoric packs power, but so do other words, and even more so, how they enhance one another makes a huge difference. For instance, you wouldn't just want to write: An elephant bluff-charged a person. You would want to put a bit of creativity to it by writing: The bull elephant, missing a tusk. and crashing through a mud hut, trumpeted loudly as he charged toward the boy.  This puts more interest into the sentence. Your reader will have questions. 

While this may not meet the strict definition of phantasmagoric, it does provide a hook, an element that extends beyond the mundane. It does send the imagination into another dimension.

Whadaya think?