Weekly Photo Challenge: Eerie

Tree Picture Taken at Raleigh’s Raulston Arboretum — October 2013

One dreary evening under a spooky old tree,

a spirit seemed to beckon me.

What do you think you want to do with your life?

A profound question whispered eerily.

Dark and ominous it quite did appear,

but by capturing it in time,

I began to allay my fear.

THIS!  THIS!  This is what I want to do!

Weave words and pictures together.

What say you?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Foreshadow

A storm is coming.  Danger lurks around the corner, hiding, crouching,  like a lion ready to devour and pounce.  The warning clouds are hovering above.  Moreover your gut is acting up.  That’s because your intuition already knows what your mind keeps closing the curtains on.

  That’s the problem with intuition.  It blasts out alarm signals that only the intuitive–those with ears to hear and eyes to see can discern.  It sucks sometimes.  This foreshadowing, this incessant foreboding.

The best definition of foreshadowing is that you know before you know.  That is you know before it is confirmed.

In life, and in writing, how do you deal with impending storms?  Do you or your characters prepare?  Hope for the best?  Trust in God?  Pretend everything is just fine?

There is something magnificent about storms though.  If you persist, you will eventually reach the eye.  It’s deceptive, but the eye is where everything is calm.  It’s the place where you can get still;  grab clarity as a life preserver, and finish riding it out without panic.

Storms are always preceded by a foreshadowing.  They may pass quickly, or they may linger or destroy what’s around leaving a new landscape.

How do you show foreshadowing in your writing and all that comes after?  How do you respond to foreshadowing in your life?

 

“Joy weathers any storm: Happiness rides the waves.”   — Todd Stocker

“It takes a real storm in the average person’s life to make him realize how much worrying he has done over the squalls.”   — Bruce Barton

“You can dance in the storm. Don’t wait for the rain to be over before because it might take too long. You can can do it now. Wherever you are, right now, you can start, right now; this very moment.”  — Israelmore Ayivor

Weekly Photo Challenge: Renewal

 

“Every single cell in the human body replaces itself over a period of seven years. That means there’s not even the smallest part of you now that was part of you seven years ago.”
― Steven Hall, The Raw Shark Texts

Like this sweet little boy who is completely pooped after a big wedding, you may feel like this too after writing a long chapter or a challenging piece.  Your tired.  Spent.  Exhausted.

It’s okay.  It’s time for you to rest.  It’s good to give yourself  permission to stop sometimes, especially when life gets busy.

“I’m just a drinker with writing problems,” the Irish poet and playwright Brendan Behan one stated.   In that case, know when to say when!
It’s so easy to dither between unwarranted intoxication or absolute depression over the words we spill all over the page.    Don’t let writing make you feel wasted!  Translation:  There is still life out there that needs to be lived!

If you wrote something today then good for you!  Review then rejoice!

If you wrote poorly or didn’t have time at all, than tomorrow is a new day.  Take the time now to pause and take a breath.  Reflect a little.  Rest. Then you can come back tomorrow renewed and refreshed and ready to write.

Renewal:  A necessary part of the creative process!

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Geometry

PHOTO:  LIZ GRAY  — SONORA DESERT EXHIBIT — NC ZOO — ASHEBORO, NC

Perspective is everything isn’t it?   I find when I write,  especially when attempting to write a fiction story, it’s a bit like this photo above.  So many angles to everything!!  As a writer who is fascinated with architecture, I marvel at the science of geometry that goes into constructing a round dome completely out of triangles.

This desert environment at the NC Zoo in Asheboro is preserved from winter’s harshness by creating a completely controlled, dry and warm environment year round for the cacti to thrive.   Not only are sunlight and warmth  preserved, but it feels as if you exist in two places simultaneously:  inside and outside.

Writing coherently is like geometry.  You write a story with lots of angles, but in the end, you have to figure out how to tie all your plots and characters together.  Just like the dome above, you bring your readers full circle by the construction of angles.  You take your readers to another time, another place; you take them outside of themselves.   Then you take them deeper still.   You hold up a mirror, using paper and words, and force them to look inside and outside of themselves.

Geometry in architecture, in words, and in life–it’s a beautiful thing.

What dimension will you write about today?  How will you connect your characters across time and space to one another?

Enjoy your writing today as your play with the shape of your words!