Yes, dammit, I’m a wordsmith

My first post on Substack

A lawyer once said during a deposition, “Joan Livingston is a wordsmith. She knows how to use words.” He said ‘wordsmith’ in such an insinuating voice, it sounded as if he was calling me a liar.

He clearly was trying to discredit me, that maybe I was fabricating how I got hit from behind by a car while I was walking in a crosswalk. Naturally, he was representing the insurance company that didn’t want to pay for my injuries.

Well, it didn’t work.

I laugh still how that lawyer attempted to use my writing against me. I can hear his voice, pronouncing ‘wordsmith’ like ‘arsonist’ or ‘murderer.’

But truthfully, I was flattered. Being a wordsmith means I use words to create, like an artist who works in metal, wood, paint, etc.

As a child, I learned to put one word after another, so people could understand what I wanted to say. Then, I discovered what happens when I did it on paper, that it was a more lasting form of expression.

In college I found a creative outlet through poetry. Years later, as a journalist, I used words to write news, columns, and feature stories.

Then, I forsook non-fiction and wrote novels instead. Without sounding like a total nut, my fingers remain on a computer’s keyboard and the words from inside my brain keep appearing on the screen until eventually I reach the end of the book I’m writing.

Of course, I use words on social media to reach readers. And, now, I’m on Substack. Look for posts about the books I write — fourteen published so far, including seven of my Isabel Long Mystery Series — and what I observe.

Yes, dammit, I’m a wordsmith and darn proud of it. So there.

Curious about my books? Here’s the link to Amazon: Joan Livingston Books

Here I am at a recent reading.