#AtoZChallenge Theme Reveal for 2017 FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Compiling 30 blog posts for the 30 #AtoZChallenge days of April, 2017 takes stamina and a desire for serious goal-setting. Thanks to Arlee Bird and Alex J. Cavanaugh, I've been able to sustain my interest in maintaining a blog site over the years. The April boost gives me energy for the 12 months to follow.

The theme I chose for this year is "Food For Thought." This way I can mention food (a main pastime for me, not to eat but to think about!) and to work in a thought about writing when appropriate. As I eat very little meat, and never the red kind, my thoughts usually focus on fresh fruits, bean-based meals, and quick snacks. So posting in April will have the added challenge for me of choosing foods that generate interesting and thought-provoking topics. Whether I succeed or not, April will be fun-filled as I travel from blog to blog, enjoying the entertainment of every other blogger's theme choice.

 

I'll be relaxing in a corner of my lanai, with a refreshing drink,
as I compile my #AtoZ posts for April, 2017

Look forward to visiting your blog very soon, and often!

 

*****     *****     *****

 

 

 

Tuesday Thoughts at Dawn

Do you ever lie in bed, between sleep and wakefulness, and have these random thoughts running through your head? Nothing in particular and everything at once. Then you wake and can’t quite grasp any of it. But you know if you could write down those thoughts, you would have the most-fascinating invention, award-winning recipe, or best-selling novel of all time! 

My thoughts often rally around editing of a current WIP or planning upcoming activities. Often I am composing a reply to a question or the response to a letter. Yesterday, I received a postcard in the mail from a friend in Oregon. The card displays photographs of two Sultans on the front; is postmarked PORTLAND OR; and carries postage of the ALOHA Hawaiian shirt stamp. The postcard serves well as a metaphor for my eclectic morning thoughts: a potpourri of ideas, thoughts, and sights. 

Making use of these morning thoughts is a bit tricky because of their elusiveness. On sitting up, or opening my eyes, the bulk of a plan or the nucleus of an idea vanishes, never to return. Even now, having risen from bed to write this in hopes of capturing a recent sleep-wake thought, I draw a blank. I am left wondering if the thought was as utterly amazing as it appeared in my sleep state or if, like an alcohol-induced statement, was utter hogwash filtered through . . . well, through no filter at all. 

At dawn, the splendor of an idea is considered and dissected, warts and all. A beautiful opening line of a new novel suddenly takes on the amateurish (though brilliant) Snoopy-ness of “It was a dark and stormy night.” At that point the editing begins and any uniqueness is removed because it does not conform to the edicts of protocol. Spontaneity vanishes, along with the enticing invention, the mouthwatering meal, or the innovative novel. 

It isn’t always best to listen to your inner Archie Bunker and “stifle” your ideas. Do not edit the life out of your creations. Allow your ideas to flow in the brilliance of morning sunlight. Preserve the uniqueness you bring to a thought that is common around the world but, until now, has not received your personal and inimitable touch. 

Do you ever lie in bed, between sleep and wakefulness, with random thoughts running through your head?

Where Do Ideas Come From?



Interesting cemetery off a back road on Maui
that could conjure up an anthology of ideas.

The question most asked of writers is: “Where do you get your ideas?” 

Some authors say it is the most difficult interview question because they don’t have a satisfactory answer. During the course of the day, an idea pops up and a kernel of a story sprouts. Whatever triggered that idea is the source, or the WHERE. But the thought may be too fleeting for the conscious mind to grasp, and it is only the residual grain of sand left behind that begins to develop into a pearl. 

Triggers can be a song, a painting, an ocean breeze, the shape of a face, a 140-character tweet, a friend’s facebook post, or even the scent of a grilled cheese sandwich, chicken soup, or a root beer float. 

Once the idea begins to form, it is the fertile mind of a dedicated writer that designs, shapes, and accessorizes the story from opening line to climax and denouement. 

Ideas are a dime-a-dozen. Good ideas are worth a bit more. Maybe a better way to answer the question would be for the writer to tell what they do with the inspiration generated by an idea and how the author molds a seed of an idea into an intriguing story. 

Here is a blog post by author Kaye George giving her take on where ideas come from.

http://cindysamplebooks.com/2012/09/where-do-ideas-come-from/ Kaye George @KGeorgeMystery