Have you done any ‘textual analysis’ lately?
Yup. That’s a big phrase for Word Cloud-making. Playing in the clouds…with words.
In my higher ed days, creating word clouds was fun and purposeful. Presentations, teaching, leading teams and groups. There’s something invitational about a word cloud.
Come closer, let’s peek.
Maybe it’s the connection I make to “Where’s Waldo” – curious about what I might find. Game-ifying the work of writing, editing, reviewing.
A good “tag-cloud generator” (another phrase for a Wordle, word cloud maker) will present words in varying sizes based on the frequency of a word’s appearance within analyzed text. The more frequent, the more present the words are within a document – or multiple documents – the larger the word will appear in the Wordle image.
Writers look for inspiration under every rock, even a Wordle rock.
I received a terrific question from a reader recently, asking if I ever wondered what a visual representation of “Surviving Sue” would look like if I created a Word Cloud from it.
(Side note: How lucky am I to have readers who champion the book, see its value and take a look at my consulting website, Atkinson Group Solutions and LinkedIn page to brainstorm content for me. Visual content, especially, to balance. You know. Alllll the words. So many words.)
So I began playing. As I tinkered, I Word-cloud wondered what would happen if I blended a chunk of my book with blog posts about “Surviving Sue”. Et Voila – the result was the wordle image you see snipped in above.
What do you see?
It’s hard to ignore the four words that jump out: Continue, Surviving, Wellness and Love. But I enjoyed also spying Books, Humor, Family and Gratitude….and Wynne if you take a peek…above “peek” in the upper left-hand corner.
Gazing at a Word Cloud is fun. And sure, sure. I can refine further to drill down and limit – or expand – what I place into the word cloud generator. For now, this little creation is satisfying.
Vicki 🥰
P.S. There are many online generators. Some are called “Wordles” – not to be confused with the popular game of the same name. The tool I used is free and pretty simple to use. I wonder if word clouds and tag clouds will become less appealing given all that Chat GPT, etc. can do? Free online word cloud generator and tag cloud creator – WordClouds.com
P.P.S. Click here for more “Peek Inside” content about “Surviving Sue”.
I’m grateful for the great reviews on Amazon and Goodreads…and the wonderful questions from thoughtful readers. I welcome more! If you’ve enjoyed the book and my story, please pass along your positivity to a fellow reader.
Victoria Ponders 
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