Heh... noticed this one because some peeps don't seem to like my original comment, but "wordsmithing" is an actual allegory for writing a story.
Since you need to work those words while they're still hot, and they generally need copious amounts of percussive encouragement to get them to do what you want to.
Not mine, honestly nicked from Isaac Asimov by R.A. Heinlein, and now horribly abused by me.