Wordle

Tuesday, February 01, 2022

_{(Moon phase is Waxing Crescent; February’s “Snow Moon” rises fullest on 16th.)}

Today I read that the New York Times has purchased Wordle, an online word game. That made me want to explore the game, unusual because I don’t play word games. I avoid crosswords and such, not from disliking them but for disliking to lose.

I’m an armchair writer. Years of composing daily blogs have improved my writing. Although pleasant it’s happened, it hasn’t increased my interest in word games. Wishing recently to boost my blogging skills, I subscribed to a program that can analyze writing and provide feedback.

Surprisingly, it ranks me in its upper category of communication and language skills. More surprisingly, it classifies my tone as somewhat unconfident. I give this much thought, puzzled that my writing may lack confidence.

Anyway, mostly the feedback is a “feel good.” Likely today, that encouraged me to explore and play the Wordle game.

Wordle issues one new five-letter word daily, giving players six opportunities to discover it. The program provides hints by identifying letters not in the target word, identifying those that count, and if positioned correctly or misplaced. Encouraged by my high ranking among word users, I became involved, followed hints, juggled letters, (and Hooray!) solved the puzzle.

That exercise stretched my mind and imagination. Playing Wordle was fun and I will continue daily.

My learning was about me, perhaps touching that unconfident part. Positive feedback about my word-usage strength encouraged this exploration of a word game for the first time in years. Now, I’m drinking the wine of success, and will move ahead by accepting the challenges of Wordle and other word games.

Dear Friends: Time after time, I find that self-discoveries are great learning. Diana