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“You enter the extraordinary by way of the ordinary.” ~Frederick Buechner
“A
true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by his
fathers, but borrowed from his children.” John James Audubon
John
James Audubon was both a scientist and an artist. He dove into his passion and
has left an amazing legacy not only of his own work, but the inspiration he
passed on to others. What action from your journal last week has built up your
desire to combine your own practical and creative abilities into an ongoing
interaction?
Or,
where would you like to investigate more? What time can you carve out? Has
anything surprised you in your journal so far that is changing your
perspective? The possibilities are endless in nature so to interact means to
listen to your heartbeat for your passion.
Several
years ago Geary Mandrapilias shared her story in Nature’s Garden that she had
begun gardening as an outdoor activity while her children played in the yard.
“I was definitely collecting plants but…I certainly did not know I was making a
habitat.” Her passion grew and when a fellow Master Gardener suggested she
become a wildlife rehabilitator, another one of her interests blended in. She
built a chain of three small ponds into her yard that became a habitat for
turtles. Later an “assortment of birds, rabbits, squirrels, lizards, and other
wildlife” also came. (Nature’s
Garden Magazine Summer 2007)
Sometimes
taking our first step of interaction can begin a surprising journey.
In
a recent visit to Milwaukie, Oregon, I spotted a few Wildlife signs near
driveways during a walk. When I took a closer look I saw they were
certifications for backyard habitats. The Portland Audubon society has a
program to assist homeowners to interact and help preserve local habitats.
Their five program elements include: “removal of aggressive weeds, naturescaping with native
plants, pesticides reduction, stormwater management and wildlife stewardship.
Two of their concerns under wildlife stewardship include providing water and
shelter, and decreasing hazards to wildlife.
Journal ideas of how you would like to interact with nature.
Then write out other interests and daydream how they might merge—either in
concrete physical action and/or art.
Action
Steps:
1. Look up the
Audubon websites and resources in your own geographic home and see what
stewardship or habitat possibilities you might be able to incorporate, even if
in a crowded city.
2. What actions
will best combine your personal factual science and your art lean together?
3. Plan your
project.
Share: What is one
simple action you discovered for your location?
Read deep, marcy
Workshop: Six
Conversations for Writing Creative
Journals
“The
act of recording a life, in healthy solitude and active connection to loved
terrain, is also the act of creating a life.” Hannah
Hinchman
How
to find that creative interest? Begin from your own home habitat.
Like
any other journal, the nature journal also extends from the five minute quick
write such as ‘what did I see in nature today that affected me’ to a deep
detailed scientific analysis. Sometimes the more we connect the more we want to
explore. Our interest is not satisfied with a passing glance.
However
there are also so many possibilities to explore that we’re not always sure
exactly where we’d like to dig deep. Here are some suggestions to try out a day
at a time, or a week at a time, or for long-term studies a month. When you find
your journal responses producing more and more questions and ideas, then follow
that curiosity.
1.
Take a different route for a walk each time. Look for anything that surprises
you.
2.
Or look for a specific feature: type of tree, animals you see, smells and
shapes.
3.
Keep a log of the weather patterns or the sunrise, sunset for a month.
4.
Choose one spot and look at it morning noon and night. What stays the same?
What is different?
5.
Choose a particular study such as the moon, or tides, or seasons and watch the
changes over a long period of time.
6.
Or, on the same idea, watch a nest of birds for their entire cycle while taking
daily readings. Mark the day-by-day different changes.
7.
If you are keeping a more scientific study create a template page where you can
mark dates or time of day, notes pertinent to your study and sketches or
photos.
8.
Keep a sketch journal only. Or, if unable to draw, take photographs and make it
a visual journal.
9.
Collect leaves or seeds or stones if allowed. Draw or trace them.
Once,
when I first moved to a city that had a different skyline than any I had ever seen
I spent every Sunday evening over the next two months describing the colors in
the sky. Not one was a replica.
The
main idea is to enjoy the beauty and mystery and astounding creation that too
often we can take for granted in our busy lives.
Action
Steps:
1. Which of the above caught your interest or
led you to your own version? Why?
2. Design a study plan that fits your life so
you look forward to each week’s discovery.
Share: What would
you like to watch for in nature over the next week or month?
Read deep, marcy
Workshop:
Six Conversations for Writing Creative
Journals
“Journaling
from the events of daily life does not mean simply keeping a log or diary of
who we saw and what we did each day. It means, rather, writing down the
experiences that have affected our soul in a particular way.” Anne
Broyles
Identify what inspires you through nature.
Here is one
view—one day—one experience—that had the ability to capture a whole inspiration
as Rainer Maria Rilke offers up a prayer from the land that carries across the
centuries of time.
Autumn
“The leaves are falling, falling as if from
far off,
as
if in the distance heavens gardens withered;
they fall
with gestures that say, ‘no.’
And in the
nights the heavy earth falls
from all the
stars into aloneness.
We are all
falling. This hand is falling.
And look at
the others: it is in them all.
And yet
there is One who holds this falling
with
infinite softness in his hands.”
Just
as a reflective journal helps connect you to your daily life from a variety of
views, so too can a nature journal be approached either randomly, or while
trying to study a particular concept, and then go deeper into certain aspects.
One
creative writing exercise, often known as the index or table of contents, works
well with nature journals to grasp an initial overview to start from. The idea
is to make a list of about 20 to 30 ideas or subjects of your choice. A list of
potential titles works well too. Do it quickly under a timer to help keep your
critical thinking set aside. Try five or ten minutes. One time after I put
together a mock index of things I’d like to read/write/study I discovered to my
great surprise that 22 out of 25 topics were all nature related.
Below are some headings Hannah
Hinchman used in A Trail Through Leaves.
“Feeling It In Your Bones
The Power of
the Ordinary
The Flow Of
Attention
Seeing Order
Seeing Chaos
Unmeasureable
Phenomena”
Action
Steps:
1. Make a table of contents list from one
particular season and write down as many nature memories you can think of. It
can be in a specific season one year or a general overview of memories over the
years.
2. Then expand each one with concrete
details. For example: Did it rain one whole week? What did it sound like—list
all the other characteristics you remember as well.
3. Now go back to the description exercise
and choose five episodes from your list above that affected you either
positively or negatively. Now write them up in descriptive detail.
Share: Which season
most captured your heart?
Read deep, marcy
New Workbook Launch!
Wondering how to link your
stories to timeless connections?
In Twelve Basic Concepts to Influence Your Story, we’ll
learn how to strengthen our stories by digging deep into concepts and
definitions that enable us to examine timeless precepts. When we can make
connections to enduring and universal themes, plots, characters, and settings,
we stir emotional motifs that resonate with readers regardless of genre. We’ll
examine tools that enable us to write with impact, read with intent, and watch
with insight to nourish seeds of creative exploration and focused imagination.
Build Your Story: Where do you want to dig deeper?
Write with Impact workshops are a compilation of techniques,
exercises, and observations gleaned from mentors, students, authors, and
writing communities. It might be said that there is nothing new under the sun,
but the slant in which we perceive our writing can make a difference.
What exactly does it mean
to Write with Impact? When we go deeper into our stories with heart-to-heart
connections and associations, we can write with impact.
Workshop:
Six Conversations for Writing Creative
Journals
“But
ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will
tell you; ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of
the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of
the Lord had done this?” Job 12:7-9
Scripture often reminds us of the power of creation in our lives
and inspires us to see through a new lens, or another different perspective.
One summer I shared some inspiration I found after some investigation regarding
the unique characteristics of birds as a family devotional. Here’s an example.
“Bird
Struck! Woodpecker
Family
Devotional
“Thank
you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how
well I know it” Psalm 139:14.
Although
they differ in length, all woodpeckers have a straight chisel-like
self-sharpening bill and straight stiff tail feathers, which help them to lean
against tree trunks.
They
are like living electric drills similar to the jackhammers workers use to break
up sidewalks for repair. The woodpecker can pound up to twenty some blows a
second on a tree. That’s a lot of hard battering.
At
the back of their lower jaw is a muscular pad that acts as a shock absorber.
They are specially designed for the work they do.
Not
only do they drill into branches and trees to eat insects and grubs, but the
holes they excavate often become nests for other smaller birds such as
nuthatches, wrens, and elf owls.
Jesus
tells us that God knows when each sparrow falls and how many hairs are on his
head. We are each unique to Him—a one-of-a-kind design that has specific
abilities for special tasks.
Sometimes
He has a very special job He asks us to do. If another bird tried to imitate
the woodpecker, he would be badly hurt without the shock absorber. So it’s
important not to imitate other people but be our unique selves.
When
we follow Jesus, He Himself protects us and becomes our shock absorber. Then we
can freely live our lives in His protection doing the work he asks us to do.
Action
What are some special things you know how to
do? How can you help someone else with your abilities?”
What
have you been reading, or seeing, recently in nature in your investigations that
inspires you to see through a new lens and a fresh perspective whether land or
sea or sky or animals. What insight have you discovered to share and how do you
want to share it?
Action
Steps:
1. Take a walk in
a familiar setting such as a walk around a few blocks or a nearby park, or a
trail you jog or walk whenever possible.
2. Deliberately choose
a characteristic to look for or listen for: foliage, or animal, or wind and
concentrate on that specific detail.
3. What do you
notice that you have not noticed before?
Share: What is your
fresh insight that inspires you?
Read deep, marcy
Workshop:
Six Conversations for Writing Creative
Journals
“Material
objects are used to express spiritual truths and reveal that nature is more
than it seems. Nature is book of symbols…….’This empty world which we do see is
an exact picture and pattern of the spiritual and heavenly world which we do not see.’”
Herbert Lockyer
With an expanded language to push us out of our
comfort zone consider what symbols are the most representative to your habitat.
Begin with the familiar ones that speak across languages and cultures. For
example, we all can relate to symbols we see daily such as the sun, moon, and
stars.
And yet at the same time we may see each from a
different perspective depending on where we live. Extended summer sun may be
experienced as a joy of longer days, or, for those for whom the sun lasts long hours
in the summer, it can mean sleep deprivation. For example, in Fairbanks, Alaska,
the summer sun means twenty-two hours of daylight.
Once you have your list of symbols investigate
their meanings. Which are positive or negative to you specifically. Are they
different from what others might perceive them? Why? Which sensory connections
have the most impact for you physically, mentally, or spiritually?
When you have investigated the top few symbols
that you relate to write up a brief letter to yourself as to why they capture
you. Then consider how you would like to share in some form of art, whether or
not you have the skills to do so.
Why would that symbol in that presentation best
express a truth you have discovered?
Action
Steps:
“In
a parable, there is nothing contrary to the truth of Nature.” Herbert Lockyer
1. Now make a list of potential symbols that
fit your spiritual truth you recognize in your habitat.
2. What truths do they best represent—both
positive and negative?
3. Which one do you think best fits a
parable? How can you share it in a creative format, whether as a short story or
a song or another form of visible art?
Share: What symbol best
fits your perspective truth?
Read deep, marcy
Six Core Essentials for Ongoing Creative
Inspiration
Tried-and-true techniques help you to stay on target creatively.
In Six Core
Essentials for Ongoing Creative
Inspiration, we’ll examine basic tools such as: intent, brainstorming,
research, organization, perspective, and feedback in order to stay focused and creative throughout all the varying stages of
our projects. The tools you use for one novel might not be what you need for
another. The point is to focus on each central purpose and discover how to get
there within your particular time frame. The ideas and approaches help find the
particular code for each particular story without getting stuck.
These tried-and-true techniques help you to stay on target,
enjoy the process, and go deeper into a heart connection with your reader in
both fiction and non-fiction. At whatever stage you are, from first draft to
final, these techniques will help unblock barriers that might surface.
Build Your Story: What story bridge do you want to connect to
your reader with words, thoughts, and feelings that go beyond superficial to
relational? Where do you need extra focus to stay on track?
Write with Impact
workshops are a compilation of techniques, exercises, and observations gleaned
from mentors, students, authors, and writing communities. It might be said that
there is nothing new under the sun, but the slant in which we perceive our
writing can make a difference.
What exactly does it mean to Write with Impact? When we go
deeper into our stories with heart-to-heart connections and associations, we
can write with impact.
Read deep, Marcy
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