JUST A WRITING EXERCISE
A cold fog has settled over us this morning, damp, chilly, and unforgiving, the bane of drivers, the bane of anyone who dreams of Florida vacations in the winter, a reminder that I’m just a bit off-center, for I love fog.
I have always loved the fog, like a favorite comforter lovingly sewed by a loving grandmother, it wraps itself around me, shrouds me, and provides nourishment for my muse.
The fog delivers fodder for the imagination. Colors are muted. Sight is veiled, the obvious becoming mystical, the safe becoming foreboding, each step during walks more measured, each curve in a path providing doubt where once there was assuredness. It is a primal thing, this fog, snatching us from our comfort zone and delivering us to the unknown, to the inexperienced, and to the unexpected. Confidence is scrubbed clean of its luster, replaced by rusty coats of indecision, and thoughts of Freddie Kruger and Michael Myers flash through our minds, uninvited and unwanted.
Scraggly pines tower above us, monoliths from ancient times, or prehistoric monsters, or reminders of twin towers which once stood back east, now stripped of their leaves, stripped of their skin, stripped of their gleaming glass. Scrub maple six feet in height could be anything, awaiting vivid imaginations or the not-so-vivid practicality, danger lurking, mystery shivering as a breeze picks up, the fog swirling now, dispersing, transporting, confusing, and yet oddly comforting.
THAT’S ENOUGH OF THAT FOR NOW
Do you do little exercises like the one above? What do you do to improve your writing? I’m curious…asking….maybe I can incorporate something you do, learn from you…so if you feel like sharing, please do.
I have so much I want to write. I actually have another blog idea I might do. I also want to get into podcasting. And of course the next two novels once I finish my memoirs….sheez, does anyone have some extra time to loan me?
Anyway, thanks for being here. I’m toying with the idea of writing a poem. Maybe I’ll write the first line today, and then the second line in a month or so. No need to rush into it, right? LOL
Bill
“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”
Billybuc
Artistry With Words 
Your description of fog is amazing. I too love the fog.
Many ideas for my haikus come from pictures I’ve taken, pictures I see on the net and articles such as yours here. You’ve made me want to write a haiku about fog. 🙂 I’ll see what I can come up with.
P.S. May I use your picture for my haiku? I’ll credit it back to you.
Thank you for your kind words and of course you can use that photo…no credit necessary, Susan, a small gift from me to you.
Thanks, Bill!
Bill, what can I say, but I felt like I was seeing and experiencing the fog here. So, you truly do have a gift (not that I didn’t know that already)! That said, thank you for sharing and Happy Thursday now 🙂
I appreciate that, Janine. Thank you very much, my friend. I hope you and your family are well.
Fog is always so evocative! I have been thinking a lot about my creative process lately. I used to just pluck words out of the air–and I still do a lot of the time when the mood is right, but I have found that to be unpredictable and susceptible to writer’s block–so I am in a phase right now where I am just writing without a filter–so my notebooks look like a mess right now, but some good things are starting to percolate out of that I think–for a long time, I thought I had to be poetic–that is finally starting to leave me, and I am glad–it just felt like too much of a burden to meet everyday–
Good for you Audrey! I write without filter quite often, and it really gets my creative juices flowing. I much prefer it as a matter of fact, and wish I had done it a long time ago.
So much crafting was here in this small piece of writing, Bill. I’m impressed with your description of the fog. I love mist, being lost. I do reading and writing when I have some spare time. Working on my another novel too. Hopefully, I would finish till the end of spring 2020.
I also write my own blog post on http://www.nikkikhan.net. I can lend some time for writing if you need to. You can ask any time.
I would say reading and reading makes you perfect in writing.
Keep on reading and applying it on the manuscript.
Blessings to you and Bev always!
So much crafting was here in this small piece of writing, Bill. I’m impressed with your description of the fog. I love mist, being lost. I do reading and writing when I have some spare time. Working on my another novel too. Hopefully, I would finish till the end of spring 2020.
I also write my own blog post on http://www.nikkikhan.net. I can lend some time for writing if you need to. You can ask any time.
I would say reading and reading makes you perfect in writing.
Keep on reading and applying it on the manuscript.
Blessings to you and Bev always!
Thank you for the visit, Nikki! It’s always a pleasure hearing from you. I hope you have a brilliant weekend.
Aside from writing exercises themselves, I’ve always loved fog. I remember walking to school alone a lot in elementary school. Foggy days were my favorite. I was enshrouded into the center of a mystery world no one else was privy to. “Haha, you don’t know where I am or what I’m doing. The Creator of the Universe has honored me with VIP status and given me a private invitation into his ethereal realm. You, on the other hand, are in the nose bleed seats where you haven’t a clue what is going on. We share private jokes and secrets in a language only he and I know.” I’d love to say a lot more but I’m headed out to a Christimas concert. Great post.
A private pipeline to God, Lori? Not a bad connection to have. Many a time I’ve sat in the nosebleed sections. Terrible view from there. 🙂
This was a brilliant description of the fog. I write three line nature haiku. Yet to write one as superb as that. Wish I could see the place in your pic. Thanks and happy weekend.
Thanks so much, Nightlake! If you ever find yourself in Olympia, I will take you to that place. 🙂 Blessings to you on this Friday.
I don’t usually do writing exercises like these. If I do a writing exercise, it is related to one of my larger projects.
Thanks for your sharing,, Donna! Whatever works for you is the correct approach.
Exactly!
Why do you need to write a poem, when much of the above is sheer poetry? I’m getting really worried here. I mean, you stole a couple of leaves from my manuscript. Lol.
You can call your poetry A Cold Fog, A Misty Morning or something like that and just re-arrange 14 lines. Cool, eh?
Note: I saw a girl last week who had written 900 poems. She wrote one a day and was showing off, a bit. After all, not many poets have that much. She proceeded to read a few and they were all either 3 lines, four lines, at most 5. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I could write perhaps 100 of these a day, let alone one. God has been good to me. Ha ha.
I understand exactly what you are saying, my friend. I think perhaps the world would be better off if I didn’t write poetry. LOL As for that girl…..we will leave her to her delusions. 🙂
Love your description of the fog. Honestly, I never thought of it that way.
Always helps to get insight of another ‘writer’ 🙂
Would love to read your poem too, Bill.
Keep those creative juices flowing.
Thank you Ruchira! I appreciate you taking the time to comment.
amazing description of the fog Bill really felt i was in it , what a way you have for bringing writting to life. You are incredible with your list of things to do podcasts, 2 more books, moving, downsizing . . . . . such an inspiration . Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving and here’s to Christmas and the New year xx
Thank you Irish. One day in the future, the words will fail me, so for now practice keeps them with me. 🙂 Wishing you and the MIckster a wonderful holiday season.
Intriguing and beautiful writing, Bill. Your thoughts about fog being like a favorite quilt your grandmother made would be perfect in a poem.
I, too, enjoy taking one word that captures my attention and writing in response to it. You never know where it will take you. Another exercise I do is to tap into tears; if something gives me goosebumps or makes me tear up, I open a new Word doc and write until whatever the Spirit is nudging me to notice gets noted.
Blessings ~ Wendy Mac
I like that suggestion, Wendy. Thank you for it. I’m going through it now…the tears..my best friend died yesterday. It is time to write about that tear.
Blessings to you!
I’m so sorry, Bill.
May writing about your dear friend be a journey of remembering, celebrating, and healing tears.
Thank you Wendy! You are a good human being and I appreciate you.
I do enjoy joining you on your flights of fancy. I never know where we’ll end up and that’s fine. It’s all about the journey.
At first, I thought you got this photo from one of those free websites. That’s how good it is. Funny, I never imagined Yellowstone as having fog. Live and learn.
So, what’s brought on this attempt at poetry? I thought you said you had no talent for it and was cool with that. I’m interested to see what you come up with.
Must dash, I’ve got to put the finishing touches on a present I’m making and a house to decorate. Have a great day.
Actually there is quite a bit of fog at Yellowstone in the spring and fall. As for poetry, Zulma, I’m always playing around and tinkering with my writing game. It might be fun to see what I come up with. Then again, it might be horrendous. LOL
Good luck with that present and the decorations. I appreciate you taking the time to stop by and reading my ramblings. Have a brilliant afternoon/evening.
I absolutely love fog – the mystery of the blurred landscape and the fog horn humming in the background – fabulous!
There was no doubt in my mind at all, Andrea, that you loved the fog. No doubt at all. 🙂 Thank you my friend.
Bill
Fog is often a good thing, it’s out of the ‘mists’ that heroes come! At least that’s my view and I’m sticking to it.
If we didn’t have a little uncertainty this life would be dull, we’d know everything we need to know, and know the results before we even started, that would be boring.
Give me some ‘mist’ anyday.
Come on over, Lawrence. The mist awaits you here on this very day. 🙂 Thanks always my friend.