I’ve read about WHEN, during the day, you are most productive on the computer, and I’ve learned which ones of you listen to music while you work, but I’ve don’t know what you SEE while you're on the computer. I’ll tell you about my VIEW, then you tell me yours.
For three hours in the morning, I write,
sitting at my desk facing a window into my fruit orchard (ten trees). I look directly at a big orange tree and a
struggling grapefruit; plum and apricot trees to my right. I stock two bird feeders with sunflower
seeds, which brings the finches, twenty at a time. Towhees, Oregon juncos, swallows and pigeons root
around on the ground for food, and a troop of thirty quail march through at
around 8:30 a.m., snacking on leftovers. A
brown bunny with a white tail, has joined this morning crew; favorite food:
fallen apricot tree leaves. A devoted
pair of white doves show up, to forage and flirt. Hummingbirds hover over the purple flowers of
my Mexican Sage bush, pulling nectar from the blossoms. These birds and bunnies
coexist; quarrels about position and power occur within species but not across
species. The bunny is as big as the
quail, but they ignore each other.
Exceptions: when the scrub jay muscles in, other birds move aside to let
the jay have access to both bird feeders, even if he’s too big to stand on the
structures for long. A bigger kerfuffle
occurs when a red tail hawk swoops down. Every
bird and bunny disappears, hiding until both the hawk and his shadow are gone.
You may wonder, with all this activity, how I
get any writing done. Oddly enough, I
enjoy writing and observing at the same time.
In fact as the birds fly in and out, fighting for position on the bird
feeders, their activity energizes me to keep writing. When I see how busy they are at the job of
finding food, I get busy putting words on the page. The conflict and one-upmanship in the orchard
reminds me of the tension I must include in every single scene. Once in a while, all the animals disappear
for minutes at a time…that relief of tension exists in nature as well as in my
books. Where did they all go for no
apparent reason? On occasion, a
distracted bird will hit my window, scaring me and the bird. My heart skips a beat as does the poor finch’s. He’ll stand on the concrete sidewalk, waiting
for his head to clear and I’ll hold my breath, in sympathy. When he flies away, I'm relieved. And yes, once, before my
eyes, a scrub jay downed a finch and pierced the finch’s belly with his beak, killing him. The surprise.
The horror! The stuff of my novels.
So I ask you.
What do you watch when you work at your desk, and how does what you see affect your
work?
By the way, birds play a big part in my
soon-to-be-released novel, FEAR LAND.
While you wait for that story, here’s LIE CATCHERS, a double mystery,
spiked with romance: http://amzn.com/B00HJDS1LG
My Website: http://rolynnanderson.com/
9 comments:
Lovely post, Rolynn. Unfortunately, when I sit at my dining table typing away and look up and see wildlife, I get rather distracted: deer grazing on my hydrangeas, I have to go chase away. Next door's geese or fighting hens (very beautiful multi-colored chickens) browsing around my yard where they're not supposed to be. Another neighbor's cat come for a visit and whinging to be let in. And a chipmunk, settled and happy, peeling nuts and munching away---leaving the shells for me to clear up! I do like the wild turkeys, however--they eat ticks and other undesirables...
Since we moved across country from California to Wisconsin I am in heaven when I sit at my desk. There is a huge picture window that overlooks a huge law that is bordered by first a row of pine, birch, maples and various shrubs. At this time of the year, the fall colors just about hypnotize me. The best part of this picture is the Tomahawk River that runs the length of our property and on the other side of our variety of trees. I sent a photo to my bosses and they now expect it to be a great inspiration to my muse. It does and I know how truly blessed I am. The river is never ending in changes and hosts a lot of different kinds of birds and wildlife. My favorite so far was seeing eagles circling the water. How could a writer not be inspired with such a view. :)
I live in the city, but I have a long window on my left side that faces my back patio. From the window I can see our tree. Birds and squirrels are always in and around it. And beyond our driveway is our local dog park. Groups of dogs often frolic in my line of sight. And there's a lot of greenery beyond until the leaves fall.
I'm afraid my view from my desk is pretty uninspiring - I get to look at the wall of my office. But I make up for it by having pictures of my family, my favorite books, and all my writing paraphernalia in my sight line.
Andi, I can see why your novels are full of tension...when you write you see trouble :-)
Paisley, your view is amazing! Seems worthy of a watercolor!
Susan, your patio view sounds wonderful...busy setting, like mine.
Jana, you've got 'people' cheering you on. Great!
Enjoyed your post! Thanks for the word picture -
Rolynn,
Enjoyed your post. I actually sit in two places--at the dining room table where I can see the backyard and wildlife and in a small office in the basement where I can stare at my new nineteen-inch computer screen without any distractions... and wish I were upstairs on the laptop. :-)
Thanks, Ashantay!
Judy Ann, I can see you like activity as you write, as well!
Great post, Rolynn. When I sit on my computer in my office on the 22nd floor, I have a gorgeous view of Fort Lauderdale, the blue of the canals, the red of the houses' roofs, the green of the palm trees. A soothing and inspiring view.
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