There are times I feel a hunger deep in my gut. Not for pizza or a salad, but for better words. For the ability to string those words together with more power.
This week my daughter and I saw something on the ice-covered pond behind our house. We live in the city, but are blessed to back up against some wetlands, so we often enjoy spotting critters. Bunnies galore, muskrats, Canadian geese, mallards, turtles, an occasional heron that takes my breath away, and snowy egrets. They all inspire me as a writer - to invent metaphors for their beauty, or their unique ways of moving, or their noisiness.
But this time we saw a Bald Eagle tearing up his dinner out on the ice.
In Alaska I once saw a dozen Bald Eagles circling overhead. But this was my own, fairly urban backyard!
My chest ached with the knowledge that my use of words wasn't skilled enough to describe the experience.
I'm humbled to realize how far I still have to go in my writing skills. I often flounder to string together sentences that are adequate to share an insight, a moment, a tiny truth or experience. I'm also excited, because I know that for the rest of my life, I'll have fun trying.
Blessings,
Sharon
--Sharon's debut novel, The Secret Life of Becky Miller, is available to order now, and will hit stores the end of May.
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