W is for WILDBERRIES ATOP ICE CREAM IS . . . well . . . the Berries #AtoZ

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

My daily #AtoZ posts combine two concepts in under-300-words per day:

an appealing food choice along with thoughts that spring to mind.

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Children love berries: especially ones they can pick straight from the vine, whether blue- or rasp- or huckle-berry. Sprinkle a few over a scoop of honest-to-real Wisconsin ice cream, and even old folks act like kids.

Growing up in the country meant harvesting wildberries during June and July. Raiding the relatives’ backyard gardens wasn’t frowned upon, once they'd grown weary of berry-filled jam, syrup, muffins, and pancakes. I did learn early not to mishandle berries or they'd stain my clothes. And  thorns on blackberry branches always made me think twice before helping myself to a quick snack.

When writing a story, I sometimes compare choosing my words to picking berries. Each choice is made judiciously. Like sprinkling only a smattering of berries atop a scoop of ice cream, one learns to be frugal with colorful words sprinkled into a story, making sure every word has purpose.

Words are there for the picking, but a mishandled word can stain your entire story.

Repetition is another prickly point to watch for in writing. When people hear the same words over and over, they become weary like they feel after too many helpings of raspberry muffins and blueberry pancakes. Sometimes words used to often begin to feel like thorns in the reader's side, and that could get an author into an even worse jam.

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