I didn’t manage to see the sunrise this morning, would you believe there were too many clouds in the way. Not that I am complaining because our predictable summer drought and heatwave (43.9 degs on Boxing Day I am told) have finally ended. I’m not sure what time last night it started raining but it is, thankfully, still going this morning.

These kind of days always remind me of the (McCains I think) Sweet Corn tv ad where the farmer yells, ‘Marge, the rains are here’. The ad itself is rather corny (no pun intended) and not one of my favourite but obviously the catch phrase works. Which I guess puts it up there with YellowPages (I’m not happy, Jan), Sussans (This goes with that), L’Oreal (Because you’re worth it) and of course the margarine one that is perhaps ETA 5 star (Who knows? Mum knows).

Funnily enough, I know the slogans but I don’t buy the products. I’m sure that’s not had ads are meant to work.

Writing Exercise

Look around where you are sitting at this moment. Pick something within arms reach (pen, notebook, envelopes, chocolate muffin) and write a slogan for it, maybe even the whole ad. Just remember to have fun with it and don’t try to make it too highbrow, most ads are just for everyday people who think the same way you do. Scary huh?

How often do you look at the clouds?

I always thought that if I hadn’t become a writer I would study the weather.  I love the look of clouds, what they predict, what they can tell and quite possibly the concept that the sky and world is so vast.

I don’t usually get the chance, but this morning I sat in the garden and watched the sunrise, it was probably due to it being the first week back at school and daylight saving. Either way it reminded me (as I watched the gilded pink clouds surf across the sky) that where as others can just notice the world and its moments of beauty, for writers it is part of the job description. How can we write if we don’t see the small things and memorise wonders? Because surely this is what puts the depth, senses and reality into our work. Without the visual descriptions how can we paint the pictures and create a fantasy?

So, when did you last look at the clouds?

Writing Exercise

Look around you and notice one of the small wonders of our world. Absorb the moment and then write an indepth description of it. I can guarantee it won’t be long before you find a piece of writing to include it in.

I came across this quote today and, since it made me stop and think, I thought I should share it.

‘It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by. How else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment? For the moment passes, it is forgotten; the mood is gone; life itself is gone. That is where the writer scores over his fellow: he catches the changes of his mind on the hop. Growth is exciting; growth is dynamic and alarming. Growth of the soul, growth of the mind.’

These words come from Vita Sackville-West (The Hon Lady Nicholson), the English poet, novelist and gardener who wrote from 1917 - 1960.

Writing Trigger

So the question is, what moment today are you going to clap the net over?