Sue Young's Anti-Writer's-Block Book

I have a secret love affair with my mailbox. Every now and then when no one's around and it's late at night I'll wander over and start slowly rotating the lock over my little square of joy. Right three times, left twice, then gently, oh so gently I slide it back until that timeless, barely audible *click* sounds. I take a moment let go of the breath that's caught in my throat and whisper at the edge of the door, 'What have you got for me today beautiful?'

Well she didn't disappoint the other day, I'll tell you that. The rest is between us...

Admit it. You're jealous.

The Comprehensive American Rhyming Dictionary is a rather brilliantly designed piece of work that acts as a fine augmentation to the process of any poetic creation. Whenever I'm struggling to find a word that rhymes with another and requires thematic cohesion, this is where I go. Obviously, it's preferable to read a lot of good literature and pick things up that way because you learn more about context. Still, this is a nice, distant second in a pinch. Especially if you're pressed for time like I am more and more these days.

Sue has come a long way since her debut work, the "Comprehensive Middle-High English Rhyming Tome".

There are several people who have tried to capitalize on this concept. One might think this would be both an easily sell and execution in a world increasingly saturated by artists trying to become the next big thing through their poetry and prowess. And while I'd argue the former is true, most authors digging away at this niche have struggled with the the fundamentals of organizing a dictionary of this variety.

Damn technocrat hit the thermostat so I'd pass the hat to mah hobie cat and we'd tit for tat cuz that's where it's at, pullin' out from underneath him Sprat's welcome mat. NOW DROP THAT BEAT *bwaaaahh*

As you might have surmised, every author runs into the same problem with setting this type of dictionary in alphabetical order- that order does not account for rhyming whatsoever. Whatever word comes after 'umbilical cord' in Webster's isn't going to rhyme with umbilical cord. So you've got a lot of mashed up, garbled nonsense put together by a number of would-be authors who probably sniffed out what they thought would be an easy opportunity, got to the hard part and buckled under the pressure of actually trying to make something cohesive, intuitive.

Sue succeeds magnificently through a rather ingenious blending of onomatopoeia in alphabetical order, and then putting every conceivable word under that onomatopoeia in alphabetical order as well. It might seem tricky to navigate at first, because looking for words based on sounds, word-endings and beginnings rather than standard word structure isn't what any of us grew up doing. But trust me, a few weeks with this beauty and you'll be thinking in terms of prefixes and suffixes no problem, putting M&M to shame more than he already has himself.

Cheers!