Contributed by Carol Baxter

Vinchristine – I have always thought this word sounds like a fancy title or the name of a ship. (Tis an alkaloid derived from periwinkles.) As a writer, I could take liberties with the spelling as well as the character, hmmmm…

Veracity – what we seek from our critique groups when they read our not-quite-final draft.

Validation – the support we get from belonging. Thank you, Writer Zen Garden!

Vicarious – one of the reasons we read, to live another life.

Vulnerable – an emotion we tap into to help make our characters real. Maybe an emotion we feel when looking at the blank page.

Veritas – Truth. Write yours. Vociferously!

Vivid Versatile Visualization – Waves crashed over the bow of The Vin Chrystine as she raced towards the setting of the planet’s largest moon. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ … but wait, should it be: The Vinchristene stared at the waters where she was to meet her demise as a sacrifice, or emerge winged and victorious. No one ever emerged winged and victorious. The tribe did not believe in infinite possibilities, but she did.

Vacillate – it did not work for Hamlet, so as the Greek Goddess Nike said in the late 80s, just do it. (And by do it, I mean write the story.)

I think “win” defined as “victory-lite” means that a bunch of wins (Tina Holland’s B is for Bravo) lead to VICTORY. Guess VICTORY of finishing a novel would not feel like such a win if it were as easy as writing a themed blog post about the letter V.

Now is the time for me to volti and get back to work on my novel.