Friday, January 7, 2011

Yep, I'm a Word Whore: What About You?


Why am I a word whore? Very good question. The answer, quite simply, is this: I can't help it. I am what I am. There have been days, weeks, even years when I fought the compulsion to spend my life in bondage to words, but I now regret every lost story, every stillborn idea that slipped away during those dead times.

Never the less, when Jeffe and Allison asked me if I would be interested in being part of the Word Whore blog, my initial reaction was mixed. On one hand, there was the thrill of excitement at being connected with this stellar group of writers. On the other hand, there was that word. The W word. The one that is either pronounced sort of under your breath - whore – or in all caps, like this – WHORE – depending on the circumstances and the company.

What would people think if I started calling myself a whore?

My carefully protected childhood and all of the religious training thereof, kept tightly chained these days in the cellar of my subconscious, lifted up its voice and howled.

In my circle back then, we didn't speak of whores, unless we were reading Revelation and then it became the all caps whore, WHORE, she of Babylon who was going to meet an unspeakably dreadful fate due to the extent of her evil. My introduction to this word being strictly biblical, I find it still resonates differently with me than its more pedestrian synonyms: hooker, ho, prostitute, street walker. A woman might fall into these traps out of desperation and still be eligible for salvation. Not so with the WHORE, who is wanton through and through.

What would my mother say, should she suddenly become internet savvy and discover me taking part in this blog? What about my high school friends – and enemies? My extended family? Even my employer came to mind. After all, we of the mental health profession have an image and a standard to uphold.

I mentioned these fears to my resident Viking, and he laughed at me, as he often does. But then, he gave me wise advice, as he also often does. "If you can't have a little fun," he said, "something is very wrong somewhere."

Whatever the internal battle, you'll notice that I am here, proudly proclaiming myself today to be a Word Whore. Let me be honest. There was no way in hell, or in any of the many alternate realities that I can imagine, where I would have turned down an opportunity to hang out with other writers of this caliber and display my wares to a wider audience.

If somebody out there should happen to think less of me for being a whore – so be it. It's not the first time I've compromised a belief, or traded something of value in order to pursue my passion for words. Money, career development, further education, time with family and friends, fun, music, art - at some point in my life I have without question chosen words over all of these things.

Let's face it - we all have a selling point. Either one special thing that we will sell out for, or a particular price. Which brings us to YOU, the blog reader. Are you a Word Whore? Or some other kind of Whore? What is your selling point?

We've had a wonderful first week here at Word Whore Headquarters, with posts that explored multiple facets of this question. Now it's your turn. Leave a comment about why you are a Word Whore, or any other kind of Whore, and your name will be entered into a drawing. The lucky winner gets to choose from the following:

ARC of Brush of Darkness, by Allison Pang
Petals & Thorns, by Jennifer Paris, aka Jeffe Kennedy
Arcane Circle, by Linda Robertson
Embers, by Laura Bickle
Sparks, by Laura Bickle
Dark Oracle, by Alayna Williams, aka Laura Bickle
Enemy Within, Marcella Burnard

Good luck! And may the best Whore win.

32 comments:

  1. I love your Viking. He's absolutely right - have fun, enjoy this time. It's been a great week and I'm looking forward to more!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello, my names D. (Hello D) And I'm a Word Whore...whew, that felt really good to admit. Like all of you, I've had inhibitions about the "Whore" part of that phrase, but after reading all these great blogs, I'll be a little more inclined to lift my head at the word. My selling point (I hope) is my sense of humor. But then again, who get's sarcasm these days? Heroines are always gush, fluff, and titter..right? Anyways, thanks fellow Whores (or as we call them in my child-filled house "Who Rays") for writing these blogs!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi D - nice to meet you, and welcome to Word Whore Headquarters. I think a sense of humor is pretty much mandatory. I'd like to believe that heroines can be anything they want to be, actually.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yay, Kerry! Word whoredom just wouldn't be the same without you. :D And welcome, D! The more the merrier.

    ReplyDelete
  5. What can I say, I need wordwhores so I can be a bookwhore. While most of my books are naked, the rest like to show off there author tats. Thank you for making a great blog to enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ooh, Book Whores are our favorite people! We live to - ahem- serve.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi, D! Welcome to the whoring. :-)

    Kerry, I was thinking about what you said about the "sell out point." I agree - we all have one. There's almost as much stigma attached to the word "sell out" as there is the word "whore."

    ReplyDelete
  8. Im not really a word whores, as I can hardly write in a journal, or email back. However, I am a bookwhore, I canter enough of them, and I think I freak people out with how many I read.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hooray, Kerry! You're always pushing boundaries and I love you for it. So if you're a word whore, I'm in too. It's all about the company we keep. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'll be honest, I'm a little confused by the word "whore" in this context. Whenever someone has a talent that they exchange for money, it's seldom considered whorish. For example, Salvador Dali and Peter Max are among my favorite artists, and both were more than happy to exchange their talents for stacks and stacks of cash. Hell, Dali would basically sell his image to anyone willing to pay for it. But I've never heard of either referred to as a whore.

    To me, the word "whore" has a special quality because of its association with our warped views of sex. If you're a talented writer, and you sell an article on collecting antique clown statues to pay the bills, you're generally not considered a less-than-wholesome individual. But if you're a talented fucker...ah, there's the difference.

    So, in short:

    selling non-sex-related skill: artist
    selling sex: whore

    But perhaps there's something I'm missing.

    ReplyDelete
  11. @Faith - it's a mindset, really. We are writers - we love to write - we sell our writing. I'll admit it's also a bit tongue-in-cheek (and we did a lot of comparisons to books and writing and sex earlier this week to continue the analogy. We revel in writing, much like the fabled whore revels in sex. I say fabled here, because often an actual whore was forced to do it out of need. Although you could make the argument that word whores *need* to write. But I digress.)

    I consider the phrase a reclaiming of sorts, the redefinition of a word that is usually used in a negative context, particularly when referring to women in general. (And there are quite a few of those - slut, cunt, bitch, etc.)

    I daresay the artists you mention wouldn't ever be referred to as whores...because they're men.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Faith - as Allison says, we are having a little bit of fun with the word whore here - as writers, obviously we all love to play with analogies and ideas. The fascinating thing about the word whore is that it does have so many resonances. In today's culture, it often is used in a sense of pursuing something indiscriminately and with abandon. Think "media whore" or "attention whore." In that sense, the designation totally fits.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Faith! *waves*

    Thanks for coming by. :) How's your WIP?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Kerry, I can can only imagine the kind of fun your Viking has in mind. ~brow waggle~ I'm very happy you're joining us in the proud proclamation of being a Word Whore.

    D - Three cheers for the Whores of Humor! Welcome to the fold!

    Glitter & Danielle - Oh, thank gods for Book Whores, which sounds much better Book Johns, btw. That might lead us to call you BJs, which would lead to... ~cough~

    Faith - I'd take "talented fucker" as a compliment, unless we're digging into the various meanings of "fucker." Pretty sure there are one or two connotations having something to do with chickens, or was it elephants... ~shudder~

    Glad to see new names as well as familiar ones in the comments!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I daresay the artists you mention wouldn't ever be referred to as whores...because they're men.

    Excellent point. :) I, too, revere the whore, and love the concept of reclaiming. I'm personally trying to reclaim "fluffy bunny" in a pagan context.

    @Laura, hi! *waves back* WIP is going. I'm finishing up my synopsis as we speak (well, not literally; I need to get offline first!). Once I get some feedback on draft #3 and make my final revisions, it'll be ready to go out the door. I'm as nervous as a whore during Fleet Week! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks so much for the warm welcome! As for my little comment about heroines, that would be an example of my sarcasm! :) I'm not too keen on TSTL characters and I've noticed more and more witty and intelligent heroines have been dominating the scenes. Most pleased with this, I am!

    @Faith...Pagan? We must talk!

    ReplyDelete
  17. @Faith - I'll be interested in seeing how you do with "fluffy bunny" honestly - it's got a fairly negative connotation in its own right, particularly in the pagan world, as you noted. :)

    @DF - More witty heroines for the win!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Okay, gals...don't make me go to Urban Dictionary. I always learn something sexually terrifying there that makes me want to take a bath in bleach. What's a fluffy bunny?

    ReplyDelete
  19. I'm a word whore to be I hope. Still at that stage that I question if my wares are good enough to be publically displayed. But I'm getting closer and closer: all parts are there, they just need some 'plastic surgery' to look pleasing for the customers.
    But when that moment comes I'll be a proud word whore, because I'm sure my words will add something to the world and will entertain once they're ready to be send out into the world.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I'm definitely a word whore because of how much I read.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Sullivan, I know that you're going to be a most excellent word whore. I can't wait to read what you've written...I'm in your corner!

    Sara! Good to see you again! Your blog rocks - I'm so excited that you came by WW to post! :-D

    There's just something irresistable about words, though, reading and writing them...sigh. That's the only reason I wouldn't want to trade places with my cats: they can't read or write. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  22. @Laura, "fluffy bunny" is a derogatory term used by some pagans against anyone they consider a "fake" pagan. Such as, "OMG, he got that Beltane ritual straight out of 'Living Wicca'--what a fluffy bunny! LOLZ!!"

    ReplyDelete
  23. @D.F.: Indeed we should. I've found paganism is heavily represented among urban fantasy/sci fi writers and readers.

    ReplyDelete
  24. @KAK - about my Viking - you'd have to have a very good imagination. I'm never quite sure what to expect myself, lol.

    @Laura - I know what you mean about urban dictionary - I've had a few of those encounters myself. ~shudder~

    @Sullivan - I think we're all at the stage where we still question our wares. Even those who are high level courtesans and very well connected.

    @Sara - If nobody was reading, there would be no point in writing. Now that I think about it, that's where it all started for me - insatiable reading led to obsessive writing.

    @Faith - uh oh - now I shall live in fear of creating Fluffy Bunny characters. ~hides copy of Living Wicca behind back~

    ReplyDelete
  25. @Kerry, never fear! My point was that those sorts of arguments and comparisons are silly. I'm a Cunningham fan myself; Wicca: A Guide... was one of the first books I read on the subject. Some people will call you a fluffy bunny for reading Starhawk, not being initiated into a Gardnerian coven, etc. I choose to own the label, and let people say what they will. :)

    ReplyDelete
  26. All righty folks: I wrote everybody's names on bits of paper and scrunched them all up. The Viking drew the name of the winning commenter this morning: Sullivan McPig - choose your book! Email me with some contact info and your preferred book from the list: kschafer (at) wildblue.net and we will get that out to you.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Oh! ~wipes a little tear away~ I love it when the pig wins!

    ReplyDelete
  28. I've also heard the "fluffy bunny" phrase used to refer to 'mild' wiccans who focus solely on the white magic "good" stuff and ignore all other aspects of paganism seeing them as 'dark' or 'taboo.'

    ReplyDelete
  29. *faints* I won? Oh, now what? So many cool books to chose from. Thanks :-D
    I will send an email asap.

    ReplyDelete