Sunday, April 17, 2016

O is for OWLS HOOTING and Frogs Croaking #AtoZChallenge

For this year's challenge, my theme is The Fun in Writing. Each of my 26 posts for April is aimed at
illustrating fun parts of an author's day. A writer doesn't only write.
Creating a story or an essay requires research, revision, editing, and lots and lots of coffee and chocolate.



O is for OWLS HOOTING and Frogs Croaking

Wisconsin Owl
 
A scene in my latest novel has a campground setting outside of a small Wisconsin town. Along with campfire discussions, S'mores consumption, and beer-drinking, I managed to actually write a romantic scene (not my forte as a mystery writer!)
 
What I most enjoyed writing about to set that scene were the night sounds in a quiet country atmosphere. You can almost hear the stars moving overhead in a sky that is coal-black with the absence of artificial lights. The noise of city traffic is left behind, honking horns cease to exist, the wail of a fire truck or an ambulance seldom shatters the silence.
 
What I always enjoyed hearing, when I still lived in Wisconsin, were the hooting of the owl and the croaking of the frogs. Writing about these night creatures underscored for me The Fun in Writing.
 
 
 
 
Photo by Jack Wolford appeared in the May/June 2014 issue of Hawai’i Magazine
 
The subject of the featured photograph by photographer Jack Wolford is actually a native pueo, the Hawaiian short-eared owl found on the main Hawaiian Islands. This owl, rare and elusive, is revered by some Hawaiian families as their aumakua, a family god or embodiment of an ancestral spirit.
 
 
 
 

11 comments:

  1. I grew up in Chicago and can remember a few nights spent in Wisconsin eating s'mores and drinking beer...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not sure how much fun you had if you remember those nights of beer drinking, John! Nice to hear you enjoyed s'mores also.

      Delete
  2. There's something about the hoot of the owl and the silence that is magical. In my neighborhood there are doves cooing among the trees and on rooftops. I love that sound.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Luana, I think cooing doves are as musical in the morning as hooting owls are in the dark of night. Thank you for visiting today.

      Delete
  3. My parents live in the middle of nowhere and I always like visiting and going outside at night and the quiet and night sky is amazing.

    ~Ninja Minion Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
    Story Dam
    Patricia Lynne, Indie Author

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree, Patricia, night skies in the countryside have so much more to offer than a sky dimmed by city lights.

      Delete
  4. Thank you for stopping by my blog and commenting. Love your A to Z topic.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you for stopping by my blog and commenting. Love your A to Z topic.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I hear nights every night when I walk-lots of hooting in my neighborhood. I hear frogs croaking, too. I love the photo and it is fun to read with sound entered into the equation~ Dylan Thomas did this so, well with his poetry~ Fun post

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for visiting, MZ and Ella. Rather than avoid the night hours, it is enjoyable to really listen to the sounds of darkness.

    ReplyDelete
  8. While hooting of the owls is a rarity in our town, we see and hear a lot of croaking frogs around us especially in the rainy seasons :)

    ReplyDelete

Aloha and thank you for visiting today! Feel free to tweet or share any posts of interest.