About Andrea, writing and reading.
And do I have a cool last name or what? Not that I had anything to do with the name, I was gifted with it at birth. Still....
As a writer the meaning and history behind a word can add richness and depth and heck it's just plain interesting.
Geist. Mind. Intellect. Spirit. Ghost. Essence.
From German word of the day:Geist.
Wikipedia: Geist. Check out the meaning of Weltgeist when you visit.
Zeitgeist. The spirit of the time. Merriam Webster defines Zeitgeist as the general intellectual, moral and cultural climate of the error.
My character in the short story Dreams of Summer is named Rayna Engel. If you know any German, Engel is easy = Angel. The origin and meaning of Rayna is varied. In Latin, from Regina, the name means Queen. In Yiddish the name is similar to Katherine, clean and pure. The website Thinkbabynames.com lists the origin as Scandinavian and Israeli meaning: counsel; song.
My heroine sings . She always gets the words wrong (great fun rewriting lyrics) and she is a pure soul. I didn't want to name my character Aria or Carol, too transparent. Rayna is the perfect name.
My website is a work in progress - I'm still plotting this one. Send me an email and let me know what you think.