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.

 

 

 

http://www.hawaiimagazine.com/one_last_look_may_june_2014