In morning’s light, finding inspiration in insomnia infused brains is incredibly challenging…
I am going to try to pay attention to the spring. I am going to look around at all the flowers, and look up at the hectic trees. I am going to close my eyes and listen. – Anne Lamott
One of my favorite books is by Anne – Bird by Bird. Whenever I feel touches of writer’s block, I think of Anne’s advice. And I pay attention to the ideas as they pop into my brain. Never discarding the randomness of how they appear. Taking a walk outside tends to help me. Or watching from the window works, too.
Since I don’t have flowers to look at yet, except for this plant that has tiny green sprouts popping up at the base of it. Flowers are out for inspiration, for now.
Our trees are hectic as they toss in the wind. Their tiny buds are cautious to initiate their spring fling with the warm weather. The barren branches invite bystanders and spark small ideas into my head as I look up to the sky for inspiration.
The birds, though, they don’t seem to be intimidated by the delay of greener grass. They blend in.
Or find a way to stand out.
Upon closer look, along with a good long sniff in the air, a dog always knows when the birds arrive and spring is near. Their heads spin in the direction of good ideas.
Unlike the rabbit. Oblivious to the plethora of chase worthy ideas just marching in and around to say, “Pay attention – Hi, there, don’t you notice us…?”
A rare one-liner moment of perfection – to write about, no doubt will come.
Yeah, I get it – that was a stretch…
A cute one at that…bet you wish you would’ve come up with it? Right?
At some point, a clear idea pops up and my mind pulls all the thoughts together to let my written words flow.
Heading my thoughts all in the same direction is a good thing.
Combining them together – it is an inspirational win, yet again. Bird by bird.
Post Inspiration – A-Z Blogging Challenge 2019 – I and Linda G. Hill’s One-Liner Wednesday
PS – Did you notice that in my first sentence every word had an “I” in it? What tricks do you do to get your insomnia infused brain working? Do you ever have writer’s block? Are you a morning writer or a night writer? The birds I thought were common grackles? I don’t know though, these birds have red feet? Do you know what kind of birds they are?
Clever bird by bird photos. I, too, love Anne Lamott! And I find mornings to be my best ‘thinking’ time. Although a long walk always gives me more ideas than I can keep up with. Spring is just so hopeful, even with some predicted snow on the way. It’s always short lived at this point, so no need to despair.
We have those same brown sedum plants with green shoots starting to peek out. Time to split them again…they really love the spot they’re in and will take over and flop early if I don’t pay attention. But I love the way they look in the snow all winter.
Thank you, Laurel! Yes, Anne is so clever – I love her sense of humor, I can see it in you, too! I think about bringing a notepad on my walks, but then I don’t so that I just spend time noticing. You’re right, thank goodness any snow we get now will be short-lived.
I need to move that plant some day – the retaining wall is falling apart. There are bees that live in it and snacks, so I’m scared to do it until we’re ready to take on the whole job in one week. They are fun plants to watch grow throughout the season. I really need to learn more about plants – you know a lot about them, I like it when you share tips that you’ve learned!
😂 My gardening knowledge is mostly trial and error. We bought a house with HUGE gardens…some years I think they’ll kill me. Ha! Over time I’ve tried to get rid of non-performers and split those who love it here to fill up more space. That sedum is a real performer, so I have to make sure I don’t just fill in the whole space with it and let it go.
FWIW, take care in digging where you see insects. I once dug into the ground and into an underground wasp nest. It was not a good day. Ouch!
Trial and error makes it interesting! I like how you politely call the sedum a real performer ;-)!!!
I’m scared of bees – we’ve also had biting ants in there too…maybe the wall will stand yet another year!? Glad you survived your wasp nest adventure. I can only imagine how painful it was.
Good advice. I miss too much of what I was looking forward to all winter.
Thank you, Frank. It is easy to miss things. Your one-liner and photo indicates you do notice beauty in the world!
I am a big fan of Anne Lamott too, but I have never read “Bird by Bird”. I need to remedy that. I get inspiration from my runs. I enjoyed reading about where you get yours from.
Yes – read Bird by Bird, I’m positive you’ll enjoy it. Yes, running is a great way to find inspiration. Thank you for stopping by, I’m glad you enjoyed the post. xx
I like your rabbit photos. They do put me in the mind of spring. I’ve been busy this month and am missing the inspiration that comes from nature. thanks for reminding me.
Thank you, too – hope you get some time to walk about and enjoy moments of nature’s inspirations soon! xx
I first read Bird by Bird back in the 90’s and need to re-read it again, as I mentioned it in a blog I wrote recently on The Bestseller Code, but Bird by Bird was by far the better book. Nice captions for the bird pictures, and just how did you get those birds to cooperate!
It’s a timeless book for sure. I’ll have to check out your post!! Thanks on the bird pictures – they just did their own thing as I watched them from the window. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time, and happened to pay attention with my camera near by ready to shoot. 😉
Don’t know what kind of birds they are, but I like the way they lined up for that one picture…
Thanks, John. They did cooperate without even knowing. They march around the whole yard like that. They’re funny birds.
Great photos! Spring offers us so many inspiring moments. It’s just such a feel-good time of year.
Thanks, Dan! Yes it does/is. Unless you’re that guy in the bar you described on your post. 🙂
Such cute photos – esp love the bunny looking straight at the camera! And yes I noticed right away all the “i” words in the beginning. Nice work! 🙂
Writer’s block happens regularly. Sometimes listening to music works…or, like you, a walk outside. Or both at the same time!
Aw, thank you for noticing the photo and the “i” factor to the sentence! If you have writer’s block, it certainly isn’t noticeable! Your posts are always enjoyable to read!!!
Thanks 🙂
Good photos introducing spring, that’s a big bunny, and thanks for the book referral
Thank you, Alice! You’re welcome, hope you enjoy the book!
I got an error message on your actual site, so I’ll try again here. What I said was we must always be inspired and fascinated with nature … a pretty sunrise or sunset, a blue sky, bunnies, birds. Nature must keep us in awe – we as humans tend to get too big for our britches sometimes, so in nature, we find something bigger than we are.
Dang WordPress! I’m so sorry you have difficulties on my website. I wish I knew what it was that causes the problems so I could fix it!
That’s okay, I can just back arrow and do it on the WordPress site as opposed to your own site. I did two comments last night one a blogger’s site and they went to her SPAM filter and I said nothing spammy. 🙂
WordPress, I tell ya, (if I didn’t know it was just software) is a PITA! I’ve had people’s comments go to spam too for reasons I’m not aware!
I had two other bloggers this week say my comments went to their spam filter and I said nothing in my comments to warrant that happening. I spent some time this after weighing whether to try to dismantle the Gutenberg Editor or just go with the flow when it arrives. I’m on the fence about it, but if it will be changing eventually I’ll just go with it I guess.
I have resolved myself to not figure WP out until a problem arises that needs my immediate attention. I’m glad they haven’t done away with the classic editor yet!
After I read Hugh’s News and View’s post, I decided to just rethink it … I haven’t decided whether just to wait til the force it on us the end of the month or just launch it myself. Our server install is today, but I don’t have to venture into Windows 10 until Phase 2 when the desktops are configured, etc. – I did not get the new laptop yet either. I am just going to need to be more adaptable (she says stomping foot) … have a good day Shelley.
I need to read Hugh’s post! This morning I had updates for WP and Bluehost that caused my draft post freeze. After about 15 minutes, rebooting and figuring out how to run the update, I was back in business. It’s a pain. We definitely need patience and perseverence to write a blog. Hope you have a great day too!
Hi Shelley – I’m going to put Hugh’s post below and there are two links embedded in Hugh’s post which are additional guides (not by Hugh). I know I had seen a post by Hugh awhile back about disabling the Gutenberg Editor and I was going to search on his blog, but I noticed this post so read it.
I read some info on disabling Gutenberg in advance of the rollout, but that is for business sites – I have a premium site. Anyway, Hugh gives a ton of reasons why you should not stay with the Classic Editor. I hope we can still upload to Media and insert into our posts. Hugh mentions drag and drop – I’m lousy at drag and drop. I store my photos on Shutterfly and I have to upload because I lose half my pics doing drag and drop. I like to write in Word and cut-and-paste it over so I hope that is still an option. I blog on a hyperlocal paper so I use that Word document to load onto there as their format is quite different – straight copy and a gallery of photos. I think the option should be up to us and we would have a toggle button to opt out of Gutenberg. Grrr. I was angry they went to the new color combo a few months ago. 🙂
https://hughsviewsandnews.com/2019/03/04/have-you-used-the-new-gutenberg-editor/
Thank you, Linda. I read Hugh’s helpful post, and his words made me feel more interested in giving “G” a try. The gallery photos is something that isn’t as easy to do, which is something I’ll need to figure out. We’ll keep figuring it out, if we’ve gotten this far in WP, we can do most anything, IMHO! 🙂
Hugh is helpful Shelley – I’ve been following him about 6 months after a fellow blogger from the UK posted his site because he runs an annual event where every blogger who shares the link to their blog on his site (on this particular post), an organization regarding animals (like our Humane Society) makes a donation. I read his recent posts an liked them. I am going to decide today – we have a rainy, ugly day – so do I venture into “G” or do housework? Each don’t hold much allure to be honest. 🙂 The gallery photos are for the Patch.com site I blog on … they don’t often resize properly and I’ve mentioned it before and I can try to resize them for the gallery to no avail and I just them go like that and link to my WordPress site … I never get comments, though the Wyandotte Patch has my blog on their website as well as their Facebook site. Sometimes I think I’ll just abandon it altoge4ther. As to “G” I’d rather launch it then be taken by surprise. Hugh suggests having a practice post – I like that idea.
We have off-and-on ugly weather this week so I may not be posting much this week, so as good a time as any to be adventurous. I also have to decide whether I want to register for 2-3 more 5ks …given our rainy weekends already this year, I’ve wavering … at $40.00 to $50.00 a pop … well, I’ll dwell on that and ordering a rain suit and wet-weather walking shoes as well. I’m concernerd these seasons will be washouts like last year.
Yes, Hugh is very helpful! You are never bored, and always on an adventure – go for the “G” adventure if it is gloomy. I can’t wait to see what you think! Good for you if you want to walk in the rain. Not me…I just don’t dig the chilly effect and the rain on my glasses. I’m with you dreaming for nicer weather…………….! xx
Once I get through comments, I will try it … might as well try to go for it before I slink back into my corner again and let it just descend on me. The dust can wait and hopefully the computer guy doesn’t pick the next few days to deliver the laptop. 🙂
LOL – go for it! As you can see, the dusting I was doing is being delayed – I keep getting sidetracked with blogging fun………….!
Me too – comments and not even strayed to Reader which I’ll do tonight … I’ll get this “G” out of the way. I’m just worried now about it altering my site and will hope for the best. I just updated my photo gallery on my blog … I put my favorite photos in a gallery and had not updated it for a year. So, I did that the other night and will be made if it, or the theme gets messed up, but I’m thinking “G” is just an editor so should only affect content. BTW – I got Tostitos Scoops and salsa to have on hand for a bad day with all our new computer equipment … going to break it out today, then do “G”. 🙂
You’re right, it is just the editor, it only affects the post you use it on, not the rest of your posts. LOL! Yay for Tostitos and salsa…! I need to buy some salsa! I’ve been terrible since we returned from vacation… 🙁
That was the first thing I looked at – I came over in a different browser. I was pretty sure, but wanted to peer at it myself. I was bad – decided I needed some reward … it works for you, so why not for me too? Back to proofreading.
Fortified on Tostitos Scoops, salsa, a roast-beef sandwich (I don’t eat red meat and this was not on whole grain) AND two cookies … all food fun that I only permit myself once in a blue moon, I shall now embark on this “G” fun … hopefully my blog site does not blow up. 🙂
YAY! I’ll be watching for the post!
I’m proofing it now Shelley … what a long-involved process this is … just making it short and adding only one photo, but what the hey … I tried it and I have to preview it and see how it looks. I don’t like that you can’t see what you are doing some of the time … it is obliterated by the bar with the bold, italics in it … and I was all ready to look at the tips – three lousy tips … I’ll be more adventurous next time … I couldn’t see a size on the pictures … I always make my pics the same size – I saw the drag handle but no size … maybe it resized it to what it deems the proper size itself? I wanted to get past this hurdle … I am writing it in Opera which is my new browser. It is a wee bit different than Chrome.
Way to go!! I read you can just click and drag it to resize? I’ve never used Opera before…!
I did click and drag it smaller using the button, but before I used to resize them all the same size inside the post before launching the post…. I drafted this post right in WordPress, but normally I draft in Word and cut-and-paste it over, But I guess you’ll need to make a box for each new image and new paragraph that corresponds to the image. It will be very time consuming IMHO since we have a lot of narrative AND pics in our posts. When I have a lot of images, I just load them en masse and then insert a bunch into the draft, then move them around to fit the text (I use asterisks when I’m writing it so I know where i want them moved.) I’ll have to experiment with that and who knows if the new WP version they launch the end of the month will change anything from today’s version?
I didn’t play with the resizing of photos. I’ll have to try next time I give it a whirl. Yes, you need to do blocks for each change or you do a collection of photos at one time, then you can rearrange them before leaving the block. I’ve been writing right in WP for over a year now, I’ve only lost one post. It is definitely an experiment. But…way to go, you did it and you survived and your blog didn’t blow up either! YAY!
Yes, yay me! 🙂 But I didn’t experiment with any pictures except a header photo, so I need to try more the next time and I just realized I forgot to attribute to Pixabay for the header pic. I need to try drafting right into WP … I don’t because I save all my drafts in Microsoft Word and my pictures as well and archive them to a flash drive quarterly . At this point I couldn’t imagine putting my blog back together if WordPress went out of business … I’m not sure I’d start on another blogging platform and put each post and its pictures in once again from the beginning … very painstaking. Plus I use the Word document to create my blog post in Patch.com. I won’t post there today as they won’t know what I’m talking about. LOL. I will take Hugh’s advice and create a draft post so I can practice dragging things around. I dragged around gallery photos when I updated my gallery of favorite photos on my site; no problem moving them around, but here, I don’t know. I have to try dragging the boxes around before the real deal. I found myself wanting shorter paragraphs and copied what I moved as I thought it might get lost … as I went along, I made more boxes, cut-and-pasted and felt more comfortable, but the test will be adding images within the post. Baby steps.
My fledgling post will launch at 3:50 … it’s not got a ton of razzmatazz, but I bit the bullet. Thanks for your support Shelley and you and Hugh got me to try it.
YAY!! I’m looking forward to seeing it!
linda – that was really wonderful to read… well said
Thank you.
“the hectic trees” — what a terrific description!
You and your love for hectic – it always makes me smile :-)!
This was beautiful – and again, I like your slideshows
🙂
Aw, shucks, thank you!!
🙂
I like how you let the ideas flow into your mind n matter how random they are, Shelley. That sounds like a good start when you can think of nothing else. I get writer’s block all the time, be it for my blog or first book I am currently drafting. I’d get the desire to write, sit down at my laptop…and then, mind goes blank. Going through my ideas book helps sometimes, but other times I have to come back another day to write.
I am a night person, so writing in the early morning (e.g. 6am) doesn’t suit me. I like rising late, and have fun early afternoon is the best time for me to write, followed by night.
Really like your photos here. A sunny day and so all the animals came out 🙂
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and tips on what works for you, Mabel! Sounds like you’ve found the best time of day for you too! Happy Blogging to you!!
This is so clever. And it’s a beautiful site. You never know what will inspire you. 🙂 It’s also quite brave to put your past and present pictures together; I’m too chicken to do that. As for writing, I do most of mine in the morning, even though I’m a night owl. I’ve found I’m more focused in the morning before the busyness of the days clutters my brain.
Thank you, I appreciate your writing feedback! Congrats on taking a new writing path on your blog. Ah…brave or not? How about writing a character who does it and how she survived just fine – gray is cool in my books! I’m a morning writer too – can’t wait to get to my desk and start writing. Happy blogging/writing to you, thank you for stopping by to say “hi”!
All photos are awesome Nd nice advice
Thank you!!