Thursday, May 21, 2009

Blah, Blah, Blah


I sit with my laptop in front of me this evening and I've no idea of what to write. I've read and commented to all the blogs on my bloglist I've read and responded to all of my e-mails. I finished my latest read yesterday and the American Idol season finale was last night. My life is momentarily at a standstill. Lon left a few minutes ago to go to Menard's for something he needed. My wine glass is empty and dinner has been served and eaten. (Please note that when I published this post, a few of my opening words traveled up to the left side of the photo of our marigolds. I seem to have little control over them at times. What can I say?)

I've learned that I don't need a writing idea in order to write. If I sit in front of my computer and confess that I don't have a strong motive for being there, words and thoughts will begin to trickle in. For instance, if I look to my right, I've a splendid view of the backyard. Splendid except for the fact that Lon dissembled our bird bath and its pretty setting so the septic tank can be pumped tomorrow. He had a nice two-tier log box filled with red stone as a base for the bird bath. The stones are now in a bucket and the box is lying upside down with mud caked to its underside and metal rods sticking up from the corners.

A wooden barrel sits about six feet from me on the wooden deck beyond the sliding glass door at my right. Lon planted orange and yellow marigolds in it on Sunday. He watered the little plants a little while ago so the dirt is black and the water that dripped from the hose onto the deck is beading up on the newly treated boards.

A soft breeze is disturbing the branches furthest from the trunk of our pin oak tree. We've lived here since 1972 and the trees we planted after the house was built have had 37 years of growth. From my stool, I can't begin to see to the top of the oak tree. The new leaves are a light, almost lime green color and the entire appearance of the pin oak tree always gives me a cool buoyant feeling when I look its way.

I just noticed a gray cat cutting through our yard on his way to places beyond, while birds are chirping from somewhere out of my sight. Some birds maintain a low-key chatter while others startle me with their high-pitched notes. I love to open the windows and hear the sounds of leaves responding to the wind and the chorus of insects and birds coming in from all the trees and shrubs surrounding the house.

See what I mean. I had no idea to go on when I sat down to write, but I have two eyes and two ears, ten fingers and a brain. I don't expect what I've written to be of much interest to anyone, yet I hope I've proven that there is always something to put into words. For me, writing is fun and full of surprises. The key to writing, initially, is to give yourself permission to write badly. Plan to throw everything you write into the wastebasket until you begin to see value in your words. With practice, improvement comes.
-
(It may seem inappropriate and unpleasant that I mentioned our septic tank in this post. Before I took any writing classes, I'd have avoided any reference to it. I've learned that "telling it like it is" proves to be more captivating to the reader.)

Alrighty, then. Like Forrest Gump, that's all I've got to say about that.

6 comments:

Annie said...

Tonight I opted to walk in the park and God did the writing. I saw 4 deer and an awesome purple sunset. I think both of us enjoyed the spring of the day :)

Walk said...

Sometimes we do our best writing when we writing about nothing at all. Your nothing was something very interesting. Hope you weekend will have as many "nothings" for you to enjoy.

Sarah said...

Ohhhhhh, I needed this post my dear. Desperately. Thank you for pointing these things out. I've been feeling some pressure to post something every day on the blogs and it's not every day that something comes to me. It's been frustrating this week especially.....by reading your post, I see I should try a little harder to not try so hard :) and just let it come to me naturally. You're so smart Shaddy girl.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Anonymous said...

Auntie Babe thinks that is the sign of a good writer who can make everyday things so interesting and visible in ones mind. Keep up the excellent blogs Shaddy.

Rob said...

I for one appreciate your "blah, blah, blah" style posts when you submit them. I'm learning as you've stated, that writing ideas sometimes do not come until you put pen to paper or in this case, fingers to keys. To put it a better way, jump, and the net will appear. :)

Cheryl Peters said...

Annie,Walk,Sarie,Babe and Rob,
Thank you for commenting. I do appreciate and look forward to hearing from my readers. You're the wind beneath my wings.