Brick walls redux

If you paid a visit to my other blog today, you may think this is a cross-posting.  It’s not, really.  I’m leading with the same post title and image because I have brick walls on the brain today.

I thought writing small stones for a river of stones would become easier as the month wore on.  Practice makes perfect, as they say, although I certainly wasn’t aiming for perfection of any kind.  Just ease and flow.  Instead, it’s become more difficult and this morning I felt as though I’d hit a brick wall and would not be able to progress from there.

For me, writing is not as effortless as photography.  I step outside with my camera and I almost immediately start shooting.  The pond, the woods, the meadows, the paths, are all so familiar and yet they change constantly.  I am shooting what I know, capturing those moments before the next change.  Words, though, are slippery devils and I lack confidence in my ability to capture them in some way, to use them to create a different kind of image.

I’ve been occasionally using the prompts from the book A Writer’s Book of Days by Judy Reeves.  I’m following the prompts on my own schedule, slowly easing into it.  The prompt I used today (“Shapes like stars”) was actually for January 10th (or thereabouts).  Rather than skip prompts, I’ve decided to ignore the dates and carry on, one after the other.  I’ll eventually make my way through the book even though the 365 days will not be consecutive.

What I have found is that it’s true what the books I’ve read about writing allege:  Put pen to paper, start writing, and you’ll find yourself breaking through that wall.  They don’t guarantee it will be good, but at least you’ll be writing.

Mmmmm.... peanuts!

In other news…

We are going through another rainy, warm-up.  The snow and ice are melting quickly.

Today's view of the pond and the thaw.

It’s not a good day for picture-taking.  Too wet, too muddy, too slushy.  The heavy rains this morning brought the mud up through the snow and it’s looking pretty ugly.  The temperature is nice.  In the 50s.  The snow will be back tomorrow.  Rain again on Thursday.  What a contrary winter this has been.

The last snowfall (on 20 January). This is prettier than today's round of photos.

That’s it from the Bogs for now.  Thanks for visiting.  Hold on to your hat and umbrella!  We’re under a wind advisory today with sustained winds of 31 to 39 mph and gusts up to 45 mph expected.  The last time we had gusty winds, it blew the rowboat into the neighbor’s yard.  That was some wind.

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