Throw things together

My crime fiction novel is shaping up, but I’m tossing words back and forth, searching for appropriate synonyms. They evaded me, so I took a break from manuscript revisions.

I leafed through a California magazine filled with glossy photos of enticing pools surrounded by lush backyards—sinful in the current drought. I glanced at recipes that five-star chefs, not fledgling authors, favor. Trendy restaurants and tourist spots framed the page for readers without a backyard or a chef’s palate. Then my eyes fell on throw in a brief description beneath a potter’s photo.

I’ve used throw for everything from a baseball pitcher aiming for a strikeout to a neighbor sailing a Frisbee though the air with a dog in salivating chase. I’ve added throw to the dark side where it meant intentionally losing a competitive game, a race, or a contract. I’ve even described dropping trash into a dumpster as throwing…