Friday, June 26, 2009

Writing Detours


Today on my running route, a Black Phoebe teased me to the tidepools. I followed, camera ready to capture its image flying ahead then landing in a 'photo op' pose. Crabs skittered into crevasses while minnows evaded focus. I felt like the butterfly chaser in Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim. Butterflies elude him until he relents and sits on a rock. Then he hears the flutter and the butterfly alights on his shoulder.

Nothing stood still long enough regardless of my search for a "find." Scampering among rocks never explored before, I breathed in the salt air, noticed and relented to the experience.


Too often writers chase words. How slippery they become when we focus on their containment. If writers move with awareness, observe and let the moments unfold, words will arrange in unexpected imagery. The landscape will fill with new adventures for our pens to capture. We need the detour from ordinary and appreciation of the moments in movement.


Creative Write:
Take a detour today and write about it.

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