Creative Thunder

It's raining, it's pouring...and thundering like crazy too! With flashes across the sky that illuminated the road and front yard and left shadows that were wonderfully eerie in the darkness of this stormy night.

These kind of storms are difficult for me to even rest during, let alone sleep through so as this loud disturbance was racking our neighborhood with its light show I headed into the kitchen and plopped down at our table with pen and pad in hand. Listening to the fan in the window as it slowed with each gust of wind I contemplated what do read, write or simply revel in the wonders that are a thunderstorm.

Before I could think of anything the wind and rain began to press against our half-closed windows sending curtains flying and me rushing about lowering the window panes down to a crack to keep the room dry. The humidity fell in through those small openings and that sticky wet air formed beads of sweat despite the 70 degree temperatures.

I usually love the rain storms that come in the night because of the sounds and smells that accompany them. But I also like them because it can be a time to revel in the magic that is an evening's weather event. The flashlight like affect of the lightening is a great companion for reading a book or an evening scratching my thoughts onto pages of a journal.

These evening escapes from the normal summer night entertainment have often made for good memories over the years. The best thing about these summer escapes are they're mine alone because while others remain in their beds under covers while the rolling echos of thunder reverberate through the house I am enjoying a bit of time to myself. Though my bed may be calling, my love of the storm keeps me here in the kitchen.

My kitchen in such a storm is a special place to be for me because it really is a haven in this light show that is extraordinarily beautiful. It always seems to become a place where I can watch the many rivers of rain push past clumps in the lawn and through the thundering lights to become the shadows of a ghost story that I just have to get down on the page before me.

Writing and More Writing!

What makes a blog important enough to make it to the best of the best, or the most evocative, or even the most interesting? Is it the content or how the author creates the string of words that complete the thought within what is written? Questions, questions, questions...as a writer I have had to look at what is interesting in what I read and what I write. I think on most blog pages it's how far can you go in anger or word use not in what is actually said. Does that mean that a theological treatise or anything else academic is better? Heavens NO! The other end of the scale can be just as frustrating as those that try to shock us. So what makes something a good piece of writing? In my opinion well thought out and developed ideas that take you from an idea to a conclusion of some kind. A piece that has an interesting way of grabbing attention at the beginning and holding it throughout with humor or using a different way of presenting ideas can capture and hold a reader's interest.

For me, someone who is well informed and not simply angry gives me a reason to continue to read on in any piece of writing. Some of the best writings that I've experienced have often been to persuade me to change an opinion or idea that I hold. It doesn't always make me change, but it does always make me re-examine what I believe and that is what a good persuasive piece of writing should do.

Without humor or something that catches you off guard most writing has little to peak my interest. An example for me is a very well know writer of literature who has a good way of taking you in circles with her descriptions but leaves you hanging as to a purpose for the piece, or simply a story line that will take the reader into a piece. Though wonderful at taking a reader into the character the author seems to be going in circles as to what they are saying or why. Every author has a purpose; a reason for writing. Many of us do it to blow off steam or tell of wrongs done in our world. How many of us write to tell of someone or something that has touched us in our days?

A good writer is not always grammatically correct, but they are always true to the characters, or ideas that hold their own interest. I'm a writer because I love to see where my ideas are going on a page, and always they grow like children on my page. That's like life. Each day they grow, and change with each telling. Not because we're changing them, but often because as we contemplate what happened from our own perspectives more information comes to light. We each have our own truths and they become what we believe. That occurs through what happens in our lives. As for me...I may not be a Hemmingway, or Faulkner but I too must write. It is for me simply a way of thinking and communicating.

A Lost Art

Remembering is a regular "trip" for many people. Some dip into those past experiences daily. But what if memories, our childhood or other memories aren't accessible?

What are memories, but the records of events that we can repeat over and over again. Often they are the positive things we've accomplished or experienced, but not always. Sometimes they are the nightmares that haunt us. But whatever they are they are what make up who we are every day of our lives from how we treat people to how hard a worker we are.

Memories are also how we know much of our history. If we look back at Queen Elizabeth I much of what we know about the happenings of her court come from the diaries and ledger from the period. What we know of the early European settlements in America come from the writings and records that have come down through the years to us. Some of it comes from letters that were written, or journals and diaries that were kept.

But today we have little to pass down to future generations because we all have progressively written less and less. Today the normal person does not journal or write long snail mail letters that might get saved, but instead create short emails that give little real information about our everyday lives. Some of our best information about even the Viet Nam War come from the letters home written by service people. It seems that no one really even wants to write anymore. There are writers like J.K. Rowling who inspire young readers, but few seem to want to emulate her.

The English teacher in me wants to rattle a cage or two to get people to somehow realize that we are losing something precious - Good writers who care about the written word. But the main question is how do I do it? How do we, as a nation refocus on writing as well as math and science?