Journal Entry: Is “undescriptive” a word?

by Cindy Green, Age 15, Canada

This journal entry was submitted for a recent LTC Insider Plus+ Weekly Writing Challenge.

Written on June 26, 2015

Is “undescriptive” a word?

Spellchecker has very decidedly told me it isn’t. Well, it didn’t exactly tell me, because it hasn’t the foggiest idea of what it’s supposed to be instead. But I think I got a pretty good impression of what it wanted to say with that ugly, intolerant red line underneath the offending word.

I’m working on my submission for the 8th Annual Junior Authors Short Story Contest, and I need to find a suitable replacement for the apparently non-existent word “undescriptive” before the deadline. It’s four days away!

Someone who isn’t a writer can never know the anguish of creating a masterpiece in your head and then writing it down, only to discover that you can’t assign the task of turning the idea from concept to language to mere words. The most literal mastermind couldn’t perform such a duty.

That’s how I feel about my short story. It’s about stars, those magical lights that dance on the stage of the sky. I can’t describe how I feel about stars–it’s an understatement to say that I love them–so how am I going to turn the idea from concept to language? I’m not a literal mastermind. I’m very far from it.

But I love the challenge. I love coming up with metaphors for heaven’s twinkling figure skaters. I have been brought to tears while writing my story because I simply can’t fathom the beauty of stars. When I look up at night, I am unable to speak. The complexity of those stage performers shouldn’t be trusted to words, it’s madness to think it can be done.

But isn’t that what a writer loves? Madness? The thrill of taking an indescribable part of the world and describing it? The feeling in your chest of a spark bursting into flame? The incessant flitter of butterflies in your stomach? It excites me! It enlivens me! Ecstatic tears are sprinkling the paper as I write. I must go finish my story now.

I love madness. I write for it. The more I feel like it can’t be done, the more I want to try.

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Cindy says, “I’ve spent my whole life trying to put into words the things I feel passionate about, and I usually don’t succeed, but I won’t give up. You don’t give up on the things that are important to you.”