Writing challenge: Fall

Every month my writers group issues a writing challenge. For this coming meeting, we are to write about Fall. Hope you don't mind me sharing this with you!

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"It's fall time, Mommy!" my three-year-old son calls excitedly from the backseat of our small, four-door car.

We are in the middle of a lengthy road trip, and along the way my son has had the chance to notice many trees that are missing their leaves. When he first saw a leafless trees, he had called out in horror that the trees were dead. Like many three-year-old children, my little boy is a bit obsessed with understanding the difference between life and death. He notices dead bugs everywhere we walk, wilted flowers, brown leaves on the ground, and branches that have fallen from trees and dried. "It's a dead tree!" I had heard my son call time and time again when we first began our trip. Now that he is contenting himself with talking about "fall time" I am beginning to think he believes me when I promise him that the trees are not, in fact, dead.

As the miles continue, my inquisitive little boy shifts his attention to other items outside the car window. For a time he is fixated on hay bales of different sizes and shapes. One great thing about driving across Iowa and Nebraska with a child who notices everything is the plentiful presence of hay bales. Next we examine construction equipment, and I rehearse the various names of the trucks: cement mixer, steam roller, dump truck. I think I've learned more about trucks in the past month than I had learned in my my entire life leading up to this point. My son and I notice cattle grazing, horses running and foals following their mothers. We see streams and ponds, cloudless skies and overcast ones. But then, the dreaded preschool question comes and I flounder to give a sufficient answer.

"It's fall time, Mommy!" he begins. "Why is it fall time?"

Oh no. He's done it. He is asking me why, and the truth is I don't know.

After stumbling all over myself for a time, I manage to respond, "I don't know."

My lack of knowledge does nothing to diminish his excitement. "That's because it is, Mommy," he says as he answers his own question. Fortunately, that answer was good enough for him.

Creating a place to write

Up until this point I've been writing wherever I can find room in my house. I would haul my little netbook over to the couch, to the kitchen table, or even to a spot on the floor when I would want to write. That has not been working for me at all. So, I started rearranging my furniture.

I moved the diaper changing table since I don't use it anyway and put a small, simple desk in its place. After adding a couple of fabric embellishments, I think it is usable. I still plan to add a nice picture to the wall, or maybe a decorative bulletin board. Slowly but surely I am making a place for myself in this massive house.

So, that leads me to a few questions. Where do you write? Why do you write there? If you are not a writer, where do you go to do your creative work? Is the space in which you work important to you?

Here's a picture of my simple, small desk:

Breaking Unwritten Rules

I don't tend to read books that are popular. In fact, when a book becomes a sensation or hits a best-seller list, I am less likely to read it. It took me several years before I agreed to read Harry Potter because I knew how popular it had become. Once I read it, I was hooked and ended up reading all seven books in the series. I prefer classics most of the time - books that were considered sensational decades ago - or a book that someone I know is reading. For this reason, I was hesitant to pick up anything written by Jodi Picoult. I had heard too many good things about her work, read too many rave reviews about her intriguing style, heard too many people say they wait on tenterhoods for Picoult's newest book to come out. I did not want to read her work because I was certain that the high expectations I would have could not be met.

A week ago I walked into my public library and asked for a recommendation. I am waiting for the third book in The Hunger Games series and wanted something to pass the time. She asked me what kind of books I enjoy.

"Anything," I replied.

"Read this for me," she said slowly, "because I have a child with Asperger's and I am interested in this book, but it is long and I don't want to read it if it isn't as good as people tell me it is."

She handed me a copy of House Rules by Jodi Picoult. I grimaced and then agreed to read it.

The book began slowly, and I was sure I wouldn't enjoy it. Each section is written from a different character's perspective, and I found it a tad confusing at the beginning. By the end, however, I was sold. This novel is really good. It is over 530 pages, but I was not certain until 5 pages from the end how the mystery would turn out. To me, that is good writing, good plotting, and great suspense. The subject matter - an eighteen year old male with Asperger's and the way his "quirkiness" keeps him from feeling empathy, and reacting "normally" in given situations - is timely and a subject about which many people should take the time to learn. I recommend this book, but will give the disclaimer that it begins slowly. Plod on, and you will be glad you did.

*Writing tip: Don't be afraid to tackle tough subject matter, but if you do, do your homework. Picoult took the time to get to know young adults with Asperger's, and she spent time learning about crime scene investigation. Her material is accurate, and you can tell she knows it well. When you have a character with something like autism, you will have readers who know whether you have done your research or not. In fact, there may be people who pick up your book because they want someone who can identify with their own life stories. People will pick up House Rules because they have a child with autism or know someone who does, and they want to find comfort in a character who resembles them in some way. I applaud Picoult's willingness to broach a subject that is uncomfortable for many people, and I agree with what many say about her writing in this book. The suspensful story she weaves is masterful.

Catching Fire

Just a word about the second book in The Hunger Games series: AMAZING. I've not been that engrossed in a book in a very long time. I read 380 pages in a day. I had other things going on that day and still managed to do them even while reading!

Coffee, GERD and Writing

Apologies for taking more than a week before blogging again!

I asked my wonderful husband what I should blog about today, and he requested that I share with you some thoughts on coffee. Coffee is on his mind right now after the second coffee pot in three years bit the dust yesterday. He's back to using his old stand-by, but he seems to be grieving the loss of his trusty Mr. Coffee. I'll be honest that coffee is on my mind too, but definitely not for the same reason. I over did it on coffee last week and effectively worked my acid reflux (GERD) into a tizzy. I am reminded anew that what I put in my body actually matters. Next time you see me jittering around my house because of a third cup of coffee, please remind me of this blog post. Perhaps I will return to it, read of my misery, and be reminded that I cannot be a coffee drinker.

We consume coffee for a variety of reasons: for the warmth of something in our mugs, for the invigoration we feel when the caffeine stimulates our senses (and our vascular system), for the social outlet of having a sip of coffee with friends, and simply because we enjoy it. When we drink coffee, we are doing it because it meets some kind of deeper need, even if that need is merely a desire for more energy after a poor night of sleep. But, coffee also does something more. It transports the drinker into an altered state, a heightened state of awareness, almost like every sense has been awakened from sleep to experience a new reality. This is why coffee is sometimes likened to a drug. Once a person has experienced the new awareness, it is hard to go back to regular life. This is why many people become chronic coffee drinkers.

There is something similar in writing. When I sit down to write something new, I suddenly become aware of the enormity of the task. When I want to describe something, it is as though a thousand different adjectives come rushing at me, each with a meaning that could alter the reality I am painting with my words. Writing is like having one's senses heightened, or like having an emerging awareness that the world of description is at one's fingertips. It is exciting, transformative, and very real. The downside to writing is that editing must follow in order for the writing to be worth reading. And the downside to coffee is, for me, a painful fire in the pit of my stomach.

Well, I've done it. I finally found an analogy that works for me. Writing is like enjoying the awareness and warmth of a fresh-brewed cup of coffee. Editing is like the heartburn that follows. Only, with writing the editing is worth the pain. So, loving husband of mine, I will forego that cup of coffee. It isn't that I don't love you. I have just decided to stick with writing instead. :)