Writing, Reading, Travel, Eating
The Fruit Pages say the plum is “a soft round smooth-skinned sweet fruit with sweet flesh and a flattish pointed stone.” Perfectly adequate description, but a poet can do so much more.
In honor of National Poetry Month, an ode to one of my favorite fruits from one of my favorite poets …
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
William Carlos Williams
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Creative Commons image by Michael.Matuzak on Flickr. Some rights reserved.
A Thousand Words is a photo prompt posted every Sunday. Maybe the image will inspire you to write a short story, a poem, or a blog post. Whatever your response, I hope the picture inspires you to some sort of creative zen.
If you write something based on the image, feel free to share a link in the comments section. Also feel free to use the photo on your blog, just be sure to give proper credit, which I will always include in the post or the caption.
… I’m tired and taking a break today. See you tomorrow.
Creative Commons image by oddsock on Flickr. Some rights reserved.
A Thousand Words is a photo prompt posted every Sunday. Maybe the image will inspire you to write a short story, a poem, or a blog post. Whatever your response, I hope the picture inspires you to some sort of creative zen.
If you write something based on the image, feel free to share a link in the comments section. Also feel free to use the photo on your blog, just be sure to give proper credit, which I will always include in the post or the caption.
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The Monday Motivator is a quote posted each week to encourage, inspire, and motivate writers of all skill levels and across genres. If you have a favorite quote you’d like to share, let me know and I’ll post it here. Click here to see past Monday Motivators.
Literature and travel. They’re as good together as chocolate and peanut butter. Thanks, Reese’s! One of my favorite things to do while traveling, is visit an author’s home. I find it inspiring and motivating to be in the presence of greatness, and I often leave a visit with a renewed commitment to my writing.
I’ve seen many homes already and plan to keep going, but one of the challenges in planning a visit like this, is that there’s no clearing house of information on these homes. They’re not exactly Disney (to some), so tourism guides often overlook them.
A.N. Devers, a writer with an obsession similar to mine (the literary/travel one, not the chocolate/peanut butter one), found the same thing. In response, she created Writers’ Houses, an online travel guide to writers’ homes in the U.S., with a sprinkling of homes around the world. The homes are searchable by author, city, state, or country. Each listing includes links, photos, hours, addresses, and other details to help make trip planning easier.
The website, launched in July 2010, is a work-in-progress, and Ms. Devers hopes to expand it with contributions from other literary travelers.
If armchair travel is more your speed, Writers’ Houses is a fun place to visit. Just point and click to visit Walt Whitman’s birthplace, Flannery O’Connor’s childhood home, or the F. Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald Museum.
To get your trip started, here are a few of the literary landmarks I’ve visited:
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Creative Commons image by Josh Frank on Flickr. Some rights reserved.
A Thousand Words is a photo prompt posted every Sunday. Maybe the image will inspire you to write a short story, a poem, or a blog post. Whatever your response, I hope the picture inspires you to some sort of creative zen.
If you write something based on the image, feel free to share a link in the comments section. Also feel free to use the photo on your blog, just be sure to give proper credit, which I will always include in the post or the caption.
Waterfalls are among the most beautiful, peaceful, and powerful of nature’s phenomena. What constitutes a waterfall varies depending on whom you ask, but what is certain is that it is water flowing over an area, falling over the edge, and dropping onto the surface below.
That’s a pretty dry (pardon the pun) description of a waterfall, and while pictures bring them to life a little bit more, they don’t begin to do them justice. I’m often disappointed when I look through my pictures after a waterfall hunting trip because I have yet to take a photo that translates the experience strongly enough.
Still … they’re fun to look at.
Photos © Olivia Tejeda. All rights reserved.
To hunt down a few waterfalls of your own, check out the U.S. Waterfall Map from geology.com.
Image courtesy of Clairspics on Flickr. Some rights reserved.
A Thousand Words is a photo prompt posted every Sunday. Maybe the image will inspire you to write a journal entry, a short story, a poem, or a blog post. Maybe it will inspire you to go running joyfully in a field of flowers. For those in the still chilly regions, maybe you’ll go buy a bouquet to sniff and enjoy. Whatever your response, I hope the picture inspires you to some sort of creative zen.
If you write something based on the image, feel free to share a link in the comments section. Also feel free to use the photo on your blog, just be sure to give proper credit, which I will always include in the post or the caption.
As a kid, I spent just about every summer vacation at the beach on the southern coast of Maine. My family rented a house in the tiny hamlet of Pine Point and every August, we’d indulge in as much sand, sun, lobster, and relaxation as we could possibly take in.
As years passed, the summer trips grew less frequent, but my love of the aptly nicknamed Vacationland kept growing. I’ve gone back to visit every time I had the chance, which hasn’t been nearly often enough. When I yearn to “get away,” it’s Maine I want.
Here’s part of the reason why:
Away with Words