Writing from the Senses
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Exercise: Write about the wind.

1/31/2016

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Picture
It was a blustery afternoon at our writing workshop in Petaluma. Looking out the window, I gave the prompt "Write about the wind." Writer Tommie Whitener wrote about The Caine Mutiny and went on from there.
The wind described as a typhoon in The Caine Mutiny was a dastardly devil; a thriving thing trying to destroy all in its path.
I prefer to think of a soft, gentle wind on a tropical beach, probably much like the Hawaiian beaches the Caine sailors enjoyed after the typhoon.  Such a wind would be loving, caressing.

Why don’t we have two different words to describe two different winds? Probably because we are not in touch with nature as much as we should be. When word nuance is important to a culture, the culture comes up with different words to describe each nuance.  For example, I have heard that where the quality of ice and snow is a matter of life and death, indigenous peoples there have descriptive words which categorize each by quality. So it should be with wind.
 
 

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Exercise: Describe a Place in Nature

1/1/2015

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Picture
The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen, is a brilliant combination of writing from the senses, adventure, and a spiritual journey. Notice the sound of the river, the colors of the leaves and birds, his use of similes and fresh images. Here’s one of his journal entries:
From deep in the earth, the roar of the river rises. The rhododendron leaves along the precipice are burnished silver, but night still fills the steep ravines where southbound migrants descend by day to feed and rest. The golden birds fall from the morning sun like blowing sparks that drop away and are extinguished in the dark.

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Exercise: Using Your Hands

9/5/2014

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Picture
After a demonstration of spinning fleece at our Green Gulch workshop, I gave the prompt "Using Your Hands."
Author
Elizabeth Shreeve is the author of The Adventures of Hector Fuller chapter book series from Aladdin/Simon & Schuster and Oliver at the Window, a picture book from Front Street/Boyd Mills Press.

Using Your Hands

Use your hands to be human.

Pull off the covers, pet the cat. Make the bed, boil the tea. Touch the loved one—gentle, strong.

Make the day happen with hands.

Feed yourself, swipe a sponge, drive the car, wave hello. Log on, swipe left, click right.

Fingertip or full grasp. Hold hand, handshake, hold tight.

Brake the bike, open the throttle, change gears, unlock, keep track. Notate, rotate, adjust, reassure.

Express yourself—wiggle those digits! Count up, point out, flip off, come hither. Tickle the ivories, grasp the racquet, hold the oars.

Go ahead, be human. Delicate painting, feather stroke, embroidery stitch, lover's touch, eyelash in eye.

Feed the family, dig in the dirt. Use your hands to be human.

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    Readers' Writing

    Readers’ Writing publishes short pieces about writing from the senses each month.

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