Friday Five

1. First of all my writer's group was last night. I enjoy my group because it is very encouraging to just keep at it. We did an exercise where we wrote something to be read out loud, we were supposed to focus on the sounds of words and all of those marvelous tools. I could tell that my fellow writers were surprised by my piece. It was different from how I'm writing my novel. They liked it. It sounded pretty. I think I'm going to paste it below. But it is vastly different from the style of novel that I write. I think I'm overly afraid of purple prose, and so I tend to shy away from this type of writing in my novels. Anyway it was nice to show that I can do it if I want to. I described a scene that my two boys and I watched one afternoon.

Here it is:

It began as a soft murmur, a rustle of feathers and leaves. Slowly they came landing lightly on branches blending in, becoming invisible to the eye. But the rustling grew louder, causing those in the park to look up at the trees, searching for a sound they had never heard before. The rustle of feathers and dried leaves were occasionally punctuated by the caw of a bird. Watching you could see ten birds land on one tree five more on another. Still the sound grew louder.

Birds are generally quiet. Slipping unnoticed from tree to tree, the sound of flight is not heard. The movement of wings negligible in comparison to all other noises. Yet today the sound was present overriding all other sounds.

A bark echoed across the grounds sharp in its loudness. With a clatter of caws the birds rose en masse. The sky darkened as the trees unveiled their fugitives. The birds taking to the sky in a choreographed movement swooping one direction and then turning in an almost about face. The birds acting as one beat upward. The sound of their wings heard in a steady pulse whoosh, whoosh, whoosh pushing the air enough that you could almost feel the breeze of their yearly exodus.

2. I'm taking a big chunk of this weekend to write. It won't all be on my novel, but a good portion of it will be. I've got to make a little money this month. It's important to eat and pay the bills, right?

3. Homework is not a happy thing at my house. My morning involved driving my daughter to school instead of having the bus take her so she could squeeze in the extra assignment. This was after arguing with her about her homework all yesterday evening, and this morning early so she could get it done. She is only in second grade, and the power struggle has got to stop. Any suggestions you have would be so immensely appreciated.

4. We were having a discussion about names with writer's group yesterday, and how certain names fit together. In my first novel Isis and Dane are my main character's names. And I know a family who had a son named Dane, and yesterday I found out that they named their new baby daughter Iris. So close to my main characters. My jaw kind of dropped. Names are such fun things. I've enjoyed naming my characters a lot more than I did my children. I worried so much about picking the perfect name with meaning and significance with my kids, 'cause it follows them around for the rest of their life. I do the whole meaning thing with the names with characters too, but the pressure just isn't there.

5. Well that is all I can think of. I've got to run get my daughter from the bus stop I think it finally stopped raining, but it is so soggy after two days of straight cold rain. I am so sleepy on rainy days, I can't wait for the sun to come back out. Have a great weekend!