The Scarlet Oak is one of my favorite trees. The fall color on this thing is brilliant, lens-shateringly colorful, and long-lasting. For a couple weeks a year this is the absolute focus of my landscape.
But look!
We get a hint of that color in the spring! It’s not a lot, but as these leaves unfurl after a long, brutal winter, they grace us with just a little bit of color. That red will disappear as they grow, but for a while, there they are.
A lot of nature is like that. In landscaping we hear a lot about flowers and fall color, but some of the best displays make use of the more subtle properties of texture or shape.
As a writer I often find myself paying attention to subtleties. Yeah, the gun fires and it’s loud, but what does it smell like? What does it feel like? It’s the kind of thing that brings life into writing and getting my camera out and finding those details helps me focus on them.
In other news, Grit and Grace is super totally free this week. You can also enroll in the Goodreads Giveaway for Peace in an Age of Metal and Men. Lots of good book stuff going on leading up to the release of Peace in an Age of Metal and Men. (It’d be super cool if you preordered)
Are you excited? I sure am.
*explodes*