Witty Sayings about Writing

JENNIFER ROVA 

 

  

 

Writing The Italian Way?

Writing North Idaho is sad to announce that Kathy Cooney Dobbs is retiring her position as a permanent contributor to this blog. Kathy is a woman of not only many writing talents, but also a woman whose interests keep her days jam packed with fun activities. She has a list of "BFFs" that would circle the world. With a keen, critical eye, records Kathy's many adventures via her camera, and her writing, including many nature pictures from around northern Idaho. We wish Kathy the best in her adventures. Please follow Kathy at her blog: 2lanehighway.blogspot.com. Kathy always closes as shall we, "Toodle loo for now."

Lucca, Italy beginning of tour of Tuscany

JENNIFER ROVA

My husband and I travel a lot both in the United States and abroad. I began traveling as a child on family vacations that took us all over the Western, Midwest and many Eastern states. Bob and I continued the tradition by taking driving vacations with our children each year. At this time I have logged all fifty states and 32 foreign countries. This is not meant to be bragging but a set up for the paragraphs to follow.

People who know I am a writer think I have vaults of travel diaries, journals, stories based on actual experiences or fictionalized accounts of events that took place on any one of these trips. They think I have summarized salient points of traveling and have handouts ready to give people who want to know hiking trails in the highlands of Scotland, what to do in Vienna, how to avoid long lines at the Louvre or how to make lefsa the true Norwegian way.

I have none of these, unfortunately, but for plausible reasons. I never have been a diary person. I do not like to put down my personal thoughts about my life for others read 10 years or a century later. I remember what I want to remember and that is good enough. I travel to see landscapes with views different from Hayden Lake outside my door with the Bitterroot section of the Rocky Mountains in the background.

 I travel to smell different things like lavender growing in the fields of Provence, France. I want to observe people and how they go about their every day business of life and what clothes they wear when they work and play. Are they the same as what I would see in the United States? Standing where Michelangelo stood in Carrara, Italy selecting the marble for his statue of David, looking at the Avon River near Shakespeare’s home or standing where the Bastille ended Marie Antoinette’s life brings a thrill to me. I am actually standing in front of the cathedral Monet painted dozens of times and where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. Walking the battlefield of Custer's Last Stand helps me picture what happened that day. I walk in history’s footsteps and thus understand it better!

I do not travel to shop. I do not need to say, “Oh, this old thing? Why I bought this wool, hand made, embroidered Hungarian jacket on one our trips to Budapest. By they way, darhling, that’s pronounced Buda Pesht.” I don’t travel to race through the Hermitage in St. Petersburg in order to find a bar and have several drinks with my newest friends. I want to walk slowly in the Montmartre section of Paris where Van Gogh, Manet and Lautrec walked and talked together. I revel in seeing the room where the Continental Congress formed our United States of America.

San Gimignano, Italy (Tuscany region)

We travel to see people, places and things and learn from them. We go hard all day long, eat dinner and collapse in bed early at night, exhausted but eager for tomorrow’s sights and learning situations.

THE tower in Pisa

HOWEVER, saying all this, yes, I wish I had kept some personal notes about many of the cities and regions I have seen. It would make for great reference for writing today. I could fictionalize a story based on learning about farming the steep hillsides overlooking fjords in Norway, what kept George Washington “down on the farm after he’d seen Paree” so to speak. I wished I had paid more attention when learning about the cultures of Maori and aboriginals of New Zealand and Australia so I could write my own Rabbit Fence.

Travel writing does not have to be a daily diary of what you saw and ate. It needn’t be adventure turned moralistic stories like Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.

It could be explorative adventure, writing about nature, outdoor sports (what a soccer stadium in Liverpool feels, smells and sounds like, or a story on how difficult is it to blow a vuvuzela, that annoyingly loud horn heard at African soccer games, or an Australian didgeridoo). It could take form from a picture of my ancestors’ stave house of worship near Lillehammer, Norway, or how the state park in South Dakota has changed over the years from my childhood in the 50’s to the modern buildings but both with the same views of Mt. Rushmore and its four presidents.

On the schedule for later in the year is a trip through the hillside towns and city streets, museums and cathedrals of Tuscany. The last time I gazed at the statue of David in Florence was 45 years ago. I do not think he has changed or bought clothes since then but this time I will try to capture the awe of others viewing this magnificent marble monolith. While sipping a glass of red Chianti vino at a village center café in Siena, I will make use of a mini tape recorder to later be able to bring back the sounds of the Italians in every day life.

Thinking about how I could enrich any of my writing has led me to purchase a medium sized, easy to carry journal for this trip. It will be interesting to find out what a difference memories written down will tender to my future attempts at writing of any kind.

Ciao!

"The Incredible Depth of Green"

Transatlantic, by Colum McCann, is described as "masterful and profoundly moving," by Kirkus reviews. With skill that transcends life itself, McCann weaves together these threads:

Newfoundland: 1919

Two aviators, Jack Alcock and Arthur Brown set course for Ireland in a Vickers Vimy. Hoping that a transatlantic crossing would help to heal the wounds of the Great War, they fly into the cold and dark in a craft made with wood and linen.

Dublin 1845-46

Fredrick Douglas, visits Dublin while on an International Lecture Tour. He finds support for the Abolitionist cause among Irish Quakers. He sees poverty, starvation, filth and disease the likes of which shocks a former slave. He bears witness to the scourge of famine.

New York 1998

Senator George Mitchell departs for Belfast leaving a young wife and newborn son at home. The son of an Irish American father and a Lebanese mother, he is sent by the request of the President of the United States, to apply his capable hand to the tiller, and to steer the erratic, explosive and fragile peace process to a safe harbor.

How does Colum McCann whose considerable talents won him the National Book Award, for Let the Great World Spin, manage to connect these events? He employes the perspective of generations of women, all descendents of Lily Duggan, an Irish servant in the household hosting Frederick Douglas.

Transatlantic is a tale so beautifully written, it has an hypnotic quality. Here is one passage:

"The north below, is stunned with morning sunlight. Patches of bright yellow on the mud flats. The fields so wide and grassy. Lake and water meadow. A silver estuary and a huge lake. One small cloud, cast out by the herd, limps away to the west. The plane banks and the city of Belfast appears, always smaller than he expects it to be. The high cranes of the shipyards. The maze of the side streets. The soccer pitches. The flats. The fretful desolation. Then out over the fields again, the incredible depth of green. He has never quite seen the lans so bright before: a clear day through the morning clouds. He is used to its gray edges, its laneways, its high walls. They pull in over Lough Neagh. A vague sadness on touchdown, a tensing of the throat.

On the grass below, the shadow of the plane is squeezed down to its own size, then is gone. Welcome to Belfast Interntational. Contents in the overhead bin may have shifted during flight."   P.121

From an interview in NewStatesman, Colum says, "What could be worse than be called an historical novelist? It's the idea of becoming an alternative historian that really interests me: an historian of the smaller moments. It's a privileged position for the fiction writer, one that opens up a lot of pores- and sometimes wounds as well."

Ireland is a nation of story tellers, singers and poets. A scant few stand above all others: Colum McCann is one.

Curiosity: The Writer's Best Friend

When you were a child, did you drive the adults around you nuts with your questions, until someone said, “Curiosity killed the cat.”

I never liked that statement. I wanted to know how the cat was killed, what did it do, and why did people keep bringing that up.

We are all born with curiosity. If it wanes as we age, that has to be our fault entirely. If we think there is nothing left to learn, we should put ourselves in a challenging situation and find new ways to rekindle our curiosity.  Reviewers should not be telling us what film to see, or what book to read; we should be curious enough to find out for ourselves. We should travel slowly when we are in new places, so that the curiosity has a longer time to build. On long canoe trips, I used to love bending rivers because it gave us more time to wonder what lay around the next point.

Dorothy Parker said, “The cure for boredom is curiosity.”

Moms who are home with children all summer, know this beyond a shadow of a doubt. Babies fascinate us with their curiosity.The photograph at the the top of this page comes from what could be the lost city of Atlantis. Archeologists have discovered a dearth of statues and buildings, all submerged by time and the ocean, lost but not forgotten to those who have always been curious.

During the recent move, I decided to part company with our old set of encyclopedias. I was loathe to do so. It just pained me to no end because there were so many times we, as a family, would look something up, all curious to find the answer. I used to look up new destinations and read about their history. The whole reason we ended up in North Idaho has to do with curiosity. Thumbing through an atlas at my father-in-law's house, I saw a map of this region, saw the French names of the lakes and became curious. Who named them? When? Could they have possibly come from the voyageurs? Could you get to North Idaho by canoe from Montreal? When the answer came back yes, I wanted to see this region. As luck, or fate, would have it, we were offered two free nights in a time share condo and decided on taking a slight detour on our way to British Columbia from California. We had our children with us, and the first lake we came upon was none other than our beloved lake Coeur d' Alene. We were heading north on Highway 95. I saw a sign for a boat launch and asked my husband if we could just go down that road and take a peek. We did and it was as if my hair stood on end. Funnily enough, we now live down that same road and on my way home from shopping, or an event in town, I see, once again, the very spot where I caught my first glimpse of the lake. Motivation and reward are tied to curiosity. I remain eternally grateful.

As far as writing is concerned, I am drawn to subjects I am curious about. I read biographies because I want to know how certain people found their way. What were the deciding factors? Who were their mentors? I am curious about the places we have inhabited. How did we get there? How did it work out for my forefathers? What events transpired to either help or hinder their way?

What will I write next? I am curious to find out because at this point, I do not have a clue.

Chicken Soup for The Soul: Inspiration for Writers--a review

While traveling last week, we stopped at a grocery store in St George, UT.  Directly inside the store was a large table filled with books at 25% off retail price. It was manna for this woman. What I bought and am delighted with, is a first edition of Chicken Soup for The Soul: Inspiration for Writers 101 Motivational Stories for Writers-Budding or Bestselling-from Books to Blogs. It is edited by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Amy Newmark and Susan M. Heim, published by the 19 year old Chicken Soup for The Soup Publishing, LLC, Cos Cob, CT, 2013.

Following their tradition as in almost three hundred other Chicken Soup for The Soul books, this book contains 101 stories by published writers broken into eleven chapters. These vignettes are two to four pages about phases of writing and the authors' experiences. The chapter titled "Queries, Agents and Insomnia" starts with a quote by Charlotte Bronte; "A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow." Author, Beth Cato, told about years of writing, being terrified of querying until finally feeling she had written THE book worthy of an agent and editor's perusal. She had written it too many times to count and in the end slashed 80,000 words down to 20,000 and changed the plot completely. Her past rejections haunted her sleep and made her so anxious that she got sick. She received more rejections for this book until The Call came. Ms Cato continues telling about how surreal her life became working with an agent and getting published.

Another story deals with finding the time to write. As a busy mother with children on the go, she spends much time in the car. When home, she often has no more than 20 minutes before the next car trip. Usually she would work jigsaw puzzles on-line. After turning down a favor for a friend by lying (I have a deadline), she felt guilty. It forced her examine why she wasn't writing. Now "not enough time" did not seem a good enough excuse. When was she going to have time? In ten years? Fifteen? She decided that she had what some would called snippets of time, 20 minutes here, 35 minutes waiting for a child's lesson to be over and that those minutes were going to be her writing time.

"A work has to stand by itself,” said a college professor. This author told of her experiences of how cruel she thought her college classmates were regarding her writing. She was so upset that they did not like most parts of her writing that she forgot it was the writing they were criticizing not her. When she learned how to use their criticisms, her writing improved, as did their assessments of it. 

This book covers inspiration, how writing changes lives, persistence, writer’s block, and the power of writing. All the stories are interesting, read and digested quickly and sometimes memorably. It is the type of book, you can choose what to read knowing the story is short and then not coming back to it until you find you need some mental help. 

I am interested in reading books teaching me how to learn a new task or improve on a skill I am trying to learn. I do not care for the general "how to care for the mind" type books. I have prayer for that. Nevertheless, this book I found helpful and I think I will pull it out about as often as I iron (blue moon) just to tweak my writer's mind. The only criticism I have is that each story reads like a Reader's Digest Condensed Book rendition. They are edited so that each story sounds like the same author wrote it but under a different name; the personal identities of the writers have been edited out. For the price, it may be a good stocking stuffer or gift for friend.

Somewhere in Time...

I recently came across some valuable advice regarding the writing of historical fiction. The cautionary note indicated that the writer should not get lost in the research.  Luckily for me, I am one of those people who like the process of creating something; the journey is fun and I do not really want to get to my destination. This may explain why I often sit in my car in the driveway when I am returning home from a trip to the market. History should never be top heavy in the story; it should be there, but not in the way. What we want to see is how the characters react to the changing times, not to read about every last parliamentary procedure, or tiresome debate in the Senate. We need to have a light hand with that ingredient, yet it is just as important as butter is to a good batch of shortbread cookies.One fantasizes about writing the definitive work, and the writer wants to know every single last significant detail about the time, but then it has to be as a thick, velvet curtain at the back of the stage.

When I set out to write a story set in 1630, I  wanted to capture, for myself most of all, what it would have been like to live in back in Boston when Europeans were new to the continent.  I read everything written on the subject and then some. Due to the fact that my characters traveled back to England in the midst of the civil war, I had to cover that as well. Once I began to grasp the enormity of losing every safeguard put in place, and seeing England fall into a military dictatorship, I did want to cover it in great detail. Too much history came the response from my first readers, and so I had to chop and chop. Still, the story of the struggle remains.

While I am not a big reader of the genre known as historical fiction, I do love reading a gripping tale when I feel as if I have been transported to another place and time. To me, that is the key.

Last evening, we set out in the boat from our dock here at the southern end of Lake Coeur d' Alene. Given that we were after hours to some degree, and needed to fill up on gas, we decided to try the town of Harrison. Having always been a fan of the place, I was happy to go over and take our chances. We were told to go up to the bar and find the man who could help us. It gave me time, while standing and holding the boat, to think.

 Harrison has all the makings of a place that time forgot. Handsome brick buildings suggest that it was a town on its way to becoming a small city back in 1890, when a branch of the O.R. And N. railroad put in a stop. A large sawmill, moved up from St.Maries, meant that a substantial operation had begun. However, a large fire broke out at the same mill, in 1917, and  destroyed most of the town. When the steamships discontinued service, they were all but cut off and the town ended up having a different future. It is one of those places, where when looking at it from the water, you sense that you knew what it was like to live there one hundred years ago. As I stood on the dock,  waiting for my husband to return from One Shot Charlies, the bar where the man who could pump the gas happened to be visiting, I thought of potential stories regarding the town and how I always feel that way when I am there.

An enchanted place can often spark the impetus to write historical fiction. Those wanting to know more about the era, will often be drawn to the story.

In the movie, Somewhere in Time, the late Christopher Reeve plays a man who being stumped in his efforts at writing, decides to take a small trip and travel to the famous Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan.  Once there, he becomes, captivated and obsessed regarding a photograph in the lobby. Desperate to know the hotel in its hey day and perhaps meet the person capturing his imagination, he accomplishes time travel and returns to 1917.  Of course, this is a metaphor for all writers and are we not lucky, that we have an imagination and picture what that may be like.

Time is running out to enter our contest here at writingnorthidaho. For details, read all about it in the sidebar.A picture can inspire 500 words.

Kudos, Goodbye, Earth Day and Writing

It is Writing North Idaho's honor to send kudos to our own Jennifer Lamont Leo for winning first place for her recently completed novel in the Inland Empire Christian Writers Conference. Congratulations, Jenny! We are so proud of you.





Writing North Idaho is sad to say a fond goodbye to one of our own. Nancy Owens Barnes is leaving WNI as a regular contributor to pursue other adventures in her full life. She hasn't left us permanently as she will return as a guest writer  and occasional technical guru. Her insights into our craft of writing will be missed but all her previous posts are available by clicking on her name at the lower left sidebar. We have all learned from her posts.

We wish Nancy all the best adventures possible in her expanded life of writing, book promotions, travel, sailing on the  lake in her father's restored boat and spending time with family and friends.  Please visit her web sites nancyowensbarners.com and southtoalaska.com.  Thanks, Nancy, for many jobs well done!       

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Today, April 22, and every April 22 for 43 years, people around the world have celebrated Earth Day. It is estimated that this year approximately one billion people will participate in some act that shows our love of and respect for planet Earth. ("If you are talking about the Earth as a proper noun, as a planet or celestial body, then you can capitalize Earth and use no article (the): How far is Earth from the Sun? But it is also fine to leave it as lowercase and use the with earth if you are talking about it as the planet we live on: The earth rotates on its axis. It is ok to do the same with the sun and the moon. When you are talking about the ground or soil as a surface or stratum, then you must lowercase the word: The archaeologists excavated the earth at the site. The word earth is derived from Greek era. Here is something interesting - we never hear people say the Mercury, the Pluto - but we do say the Earth, the Moon. Using the definite article "the" in front of an uncapitalized [sic] "earth" has its roots in the worldview that we are separate from and fundamentally different.") [http://dictionary.reference.com/help/faq/language/s05.html]

It is globally considered a day to plant a tree, pick up roadside trash, beautify a park, or any number of other activities that inspire awareness and appreciation of the earth’s environment. Some interest groups have used Earth Day as a podium for their belief that there is unprecedented climate change happening world-wide and use April 22 as a tool to draw people to their agendas.

What does that mean to us as writers? If you are a poet, today is the day to write a poem about the view out your front window, the lake where you kayak, your neighbor’s flower garden or the clouds on a spring day. If you garden, why not think about adding a place in your yard where you can sit in the summer shade and write or edit? What better place to do the onerous job of editing than in nature’s beauty? It makes the task much more palatable. Use Earth Day as a writing prompt and compose a story that comes to mind. It could be set in the past, the present or the future.

English Point National Recreation Trail and Park is near my house. There is a five mile groomed trail that meanders through north Idaho national forest land.  Wooden benches are placed along various points. One of my favorites is a place that gives a magnificent view of Hayden Lake. I think that is how I will spend my day: a five mile hike with a long stop to view the blue lake, evergreen trees, nature and to write another post for this week.

Hayden Lake, Idaho, U.S.A.

An interesting story is how Hayden Lake got its name. During the late 1870s, the first homesteaders, a Mr. Strahorn (first name unrecorded) and three soldiers from Fort Sherman (downtown Coeur d'Alene, ID on Lake Coeur d'Alene, 7.5 miles south of Hayden Lake), Matt Hayden, John Hager, and John Hickey, settled in the area. Legend has it that Hayden and Hager, whose homestead was on this lake played a game of seven-up to determine who should name the lake. Hayden won the card game.

Celebrate Earth Day in your own way and enjoy what Earth has to offer!

Photo's Inspire Storytelling (Part 2)

   For many of us, our first photo it taken    before we even  leave the hospital so proud parents can share a picture of their new little bundle of joy with grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors and friends. From that day on, it seems picture taking is part of our life  - we have pictures of our 1st birthday, first day of school, first dance; Family pictures, travel photos, wedding pictures, and pictures with our pals.

   Edora Welty wrote, " A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away".  I agree. Not only does it keep a moment from running away, but they can also be a good tool for writers to help them develop character, description  and plot.

   As a quick exercise take a look at this picture

  Almost immediately we can determine  it is from a different era . The picture shows a young woman alone. She is carrying a valise, and seems to be dressed for travel. We wonder where she's going, or is she just arriving ?  If going, why is she  leaving? We might ask ourselves if she has family, what kind of background does she come from? By her stance, does she appear confident, or apprehensive ?  I see a  kindly woman with a good sense of humor, who likes to laugh -  generous and loving, she will enjoy learning about people and places  her whole life long.   (My Grandma Vera Williams Cooney - after she graduated Council Bluffs High School in 1916,  just arriving Woodbine, Iowa to attend Secretarial school)

   Or this photo

                                                     

       What type of story might it tell ? The man is wearing a work uniform of some sort, there is a change guard  at his waist. In the background we can identify gasoline pumps dating back to the 1920's.  Is the man a drifter, a part time employee, just passing through town ? Or do we see a  hard worker, spending long hours pumping gas, a man of faith, devoted to his family ?   Perhaps he is the  owner of the station who recently signed an operating  agreement with Standard Oil    Company  of Indiana  on a cool spring day in March 1928, regarding commissions , and will become a familiar face, a man admired for his good deeds by   all in his community even after he retires  in the late 1960's.     (My Uncle Joe Norton taking a break from pumping gas at his station )

   Carrie Mumford, editor and website consultant living in Calgary, Alberta says  " since I discovered  my love of photos mixed with writing ,  I've been using photo search to help out when I get stuck. Photos can be especially useful if you're writing historical fiction since it's sometimes hard to imagine what something or someone might have looked like. Photos are also useful tools for writing about places you have never been before."

   "As I see it", says Mumford, "using photographs as writing prompts is an opportunity to 'run away' with the captured moments that Endora Welty speaks about. Take a captured moment in a photo and turn it into a story, or use it to help add depth to a story you're already working on. Perhaps the story will not end up like the photo at all but if it gets you writing , it will be well worth the effort!"

   For me, using old photos from family albums, like the two above, and these two pictured here

                                                   
               ( My maternal grandmother Vivian [ far left], playing with   cousin Vera Marie (center) and dollies                                                                      
                      at their Aunt Mary's house - Council Bluffs, Iowa)

                                               
                            ( Strike a Pose. My paternal grandparents,
                                 Vera and Cecil Cooney before they were married)

     help motivate, and inspire me to write poetry and memoir; To tell the story of my ancestors , the ones I knew up close and personal, and loved very much,  and those who died long before I was on this earth. Each photo  reminds me there is a story behind the picture, one  filled with  hope and dreams, love and tears and laughter.






    
                     

Nature & Writing

    Each season brings its own beauty:

Spring showers
Summer flowers
Autumn colors
and winter white

    For writers, the seasons provide a setting to contemplate, and describe nature's natural wonders.

    The great author, Henry David Thoreau  and  his Walden Pond most often comes to mind - You only need sit still long enough in some attractive spot in the woods that all its inhabitants may exhibit themselves to you by turns. 

     But there are others, too. According to Richard Norquist,  nature writing is a form of creative non-fiction in which the natural environment serves as the dominant subject.  The Writing Instructor, an on-line guide explains, Nature writing is perhaps the most American form of writing. It celebrates America's wilderness and open spaces.

     William Wordsworth wrote, Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher. Walt Whitman, A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than metaphysics of books; Ralph Waldo Emerson,  Earth laughs in flowers. 

     One of my favorites,  e.e. cummings, I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes, and Thomas Merton in one of his essay's  writes, By reading the scriptures I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed around me and with me. The sky seems to be a pure, cooler blue, the trees a deeper green. The whole world is charged with the glory of God and I feel fire and music under my feet.

     We often hear of an artists desire to travel to Paris  to paint - that their talent will blossom and bloom as the surroundings there  will give them inspiration, and deepen their appreciation of art. But where do writers choose to go ?  I suggest it's to nature - the quiet  solitude of wooded areas, where wildlife freely roams,  and in the distance,  deep blue  lake water glistens  in the sun.

    North Idaho is that kind of place. A place for writers to breathe in the beauty of the natural earthy environment,  and  be inspired to write.


*** For tips about nature writing visit  Henry Thoreau as a Model for Nature Writing by Ron Harton  http://thoreau.eserver.org/harton.html

    

    

     

     

    

     

Autumn - a Time for Writing

                                                       


I always liked my birthday is in late  October - a time of year when the heat of summer has cooled down, the air crisp and cool, and colors of the earth  change from shades of green to pumpkin orange, muted yellows and apple red..

There's something fresh, a feeling of  newness as we move from one season to another. For some it is  a time of renewal - a time to start a project, pursue a dream, or reflect on nature's autumn beauty. It can  also be  a perfect time for writers  to find the quiet in a   cozy, comfortable spot to write the story of their heart - a story of history, romance, mystery, memoir or biography.

Fred White, author of The Daily Writer 366 meditations to cultivate a productive and meaningful writing life sums it up best in  his mediation for October 25

Autumn Leaves

    Autumn speaks to writers. It is the season most associated with learning because of the beginning of the school year. It marks the "new season" for shows and concerts; it is also a time of fading, but a fading that is rich in paradox. Leaves are suddenly ablaze in color, as if celebrating their summer flourishing just before they fall and whither away.

    In a sense, autumn embodies the other seasons: it is a time of renewal, like spring; its "Indian summers" indeed  are filled with bright sunshine, although such moments diminish steadily; and its evenings and nights usher in the chill of winter, compounded by the winds that denude the trees.

For further refection White suggests:

    Autumn is the ideal season for study and contemplation, and for writing. Memories seem to heighten as the summer light weakens and the shadows lengthen. The intense color of autumn seem an ironic counterpoint to the tamer greens and blues of the summer months.

The  White writes, TRY THIS

     1. Maintain a list of autumnal images and associations. Descriptions of colorful leaves might top your list, but also include changes in weather, in clothes, in light and shadows, in foods, in the rhythm of daily life; perhaps certain changes in mood or personality as well.

      2. Compose a series of autumnal poems. 

After spending the afternoon walking trails on our wooded property, I found my quiet place to sit and reflect, and write about the beauty all about me. Here's what I came up with:

 I  walk through the woods
 as cool, crisp air brushes 
 against my face
I wear a bright  yellow jacket, 
and  fleece hat
to cover my ears and 
keep them warm
The color of the leaves
have changed from
summer green to autumn gold,
and the  smell of nature
is all around me -
those smells so good
this time of year.
I reach the rim and
gaze  at the lake;  dark 
and silent and calm.
Overhead, the  blue
of the sky isn't filtered
with smog or haze, but clear
and beautiful. It seems
close enough to reach
up and touch
Nearby, a  Red Shafted Flicker
rapidly raps  the trunk
of a tree with his pointy
yellow beak , and I'm
reminded it's time
to head for home




    

Gifts for Writers and Book Lovers

Every once in a while, we want a clever gift for a writer or for someone who loves books. There are always books about writing and Writing North Idaho has listed some of our favorites. What about beyond books?

Some suggestions for thoughtful gifts to a writer are.....

            Knit him or her a shawl or lap blanket to keep warm while working

            Gift certificate for a soothing massage

            Book of stamps

            Gift card for an e-book

            Noise canceling headphones

            Personalized book plates

            A gift basket filled with cocoa, coffee, mug, chocolates, nutrition bars, stickies

            Subscription to stock photo images site for a year if he uses pictures on his blog

            Tray for over the bathtub that holds a book and a glass

            Magazine subscription to “The New Yorker” magazine

            Blank books for ideas or a journal

            Gift certificate to a bookstore or an office supply store

            A sterling silver charm

            A bottle of her favorite wine and package of M&Ms

            Offer to walk the dog so he can write

            Offer child sitting services for several hours (at your house or the park)

            Bring over a cooked casserole or pot of homemade soup, rolls and a salad

            Deliver a bouquet of fresh flowers with wishes for good luck on his writing

Here are some links that sell unusual, charming, and fun items for writers or book lovers.

http://shop.cafepress.com

http://www.shakespearesden.com

http://www.trendhunter.com

http://www.writetowin.com

https://canoeonline.net/shop/inspect/book-darts

http://www.lfla.org/store/product-details/430/Gifts-for-Readers/

http://www/.amazon.com 

Los Angeles Public Library gift shop--librarystore@lfla.org 

refrigerator magnet $4 cafepress.com or amazon.com 

$16 willwriteforchocolate.com

Bumper sticker $190

Page markers L.A. Public Library

Digital voice recorder  $40

Poster L.A. Library gift store

place mats L.A. Library gift store $22

shop-cafepress.com or amazon.com

philosopher'sguild.com $16

temporary tattooshttp://www.juliarothman.com/

personalized paperweight shop-cafepress.com

shakespearesden.com

shop-cafepress.com

shop-cafepress and others

Amazon books