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Observations on writing: Editor's Notes #422 July 31, 2024 |
| Hello, —John Maynard Keynes In this issue: 1. Observations on writing 2. Tickled my funny bone 3. Interesting Web site 4. Writing prompt 5. Letters to the editor 1.Observations on writing Thank you, Lesley Pinkett, for sending me the link that I’ve included below in Interesting Web site. As you see, I am using it for Editor’s Notes as you suggested I might. Although I do commend the article that Lesley suggested I read, what I am writing falls into a category illustrated by a quote from Dr. J. Vernon McGee that I heard as a teenager: You ought to graze on everybody’s pasture, but give your own milk. I read the article, ruminated on it, and here is my own milk. Vanessa Chakour loves wild nature and calls on writers to to write in order to reconnect with nature. I love nature. But like many people, I find myself in circumstances that make time in nature difficult, if not impossible. So, as I thought about Chakour’s suggestions, I wondered how they would stand up if I were to take the topic of nature out of the equation. Note that Chakour herself acknowledges that not everyone has unfettered access to wild nature and offers other options. But my mother is now largely housebound and through her, I have become aware of the large number of people we used to label shut-ins who may not have even a windowsill for a plant. Could such people build connections through writing? I believe so. Chakour tells writers to be close observers of nature. Remove the words of nature, and I can tell all writers to be close observers of whatever environment we find ourselves in. The manmade physical world is also worthy of close attention. Run your hands over surfaces. What do they feel like? What do they remind you of? Close your eyes and breathe in deeply. What can you smell? What sounds do you hear? What sounds can you make with the materials around you? Perhaps the emotional landscape around you is of more interest than the physical world. What does your exploration of the emotions you or others express (or try to hide) look and sound like? What about your own interior emotional landscape? Have you had a close look at that lately? What do you find when you sit quietly and allow your feelings to rise to the surface? On reflection, what triggers strong or even violent emotions? I have two points to make. First, close observation does not have to be only of wild nature to open us to connections. Second, as a writer, notice what pastures you graze on, and challenge yourself to turn what you graze on into your own unique milk. =========== 2.Tickled my funny bone He loves nature in spite of what it did to him. —Forrest Tucker with thanks to Albert Hall. =========== 3. Interesting Web site The link this time is to the page that inspired this issue of Editor’s Notes. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-to-reconnect-with-nature-through-writing =========== 4. Writing prompt The last subheading on the page linked to above in Interesting Web site, Shifting Perspective: Fostering Empathy, gives some writing exercises related to nature. Feel free to use the exercises when writing about nature and other things you choose to focus on. I would love to read what you write, so send along your result. =========== 5. Letters to the editor The following was in response to the writing prompt in issue 421. Author’s name is withheld by request. Hello Audrey When I read your list of six words: empty, leg, linger, soft, wasp, and zipper it made me laugh and think of a holiday we had in the early 1980s. We were on a narrow boat and had moored up and gone into Stratford on Avon for some shopping and sightseeing. Of course we had ice cream, which attracted the attention of a wasp. It decided to linger around to see if it could get a taste. It buzzed around my mother and my husband. Mother didn't like wasps too much so she took a swing at it with the shopping bag and hit hubby on the leg, just below the zipper of his trousers. If the bag had been empty it would have been fine. But it wasn't. It had half a dozen eggs along with miscellaneous other supplies. Several of the eggs broke and there was a bit of a sticky mess inside the bag. Needless to say, neither hubby nor the wasp were particularly happy. Mother couldn't stop laughing about it and it went into the family annals as one of those "Do you remember when..." stories. Thanks for the memory! =========== Join Writer's Helper Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/WritersHelperEditor Follow me on Twitter @AudreytheEditor Link on LinkedIn https://ca.linkedin.com/in/audreyowen (Email me first so I know how you know me.) =========== If you know a writer who would appreciate receiving Editor's Notes, forward this issue. If someone has passed this on to you, you can get your own free subscription by signing up at https://www.writershelper.com/newsletter.html |
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