Nature That Inspires: Nature Therapy is a new poetry book about nature and ecology

 

On a recent walk, something caught my eye. I couldn’t tell what it was about this thing I saw on the ground which was tapping on my muse, but I knew I would use it in my writing in some way. I took a picture of it to save for when I could explore that notion and see how I could turn it into an idea for a story. Or a poem.

 

Sometimes I come across things which inspire me to write a poem. Like a flower.

 

My oldest works at a preschool, and there are dozens of varieties of plants and flowers on the premises. In the past, while I waited in the car to pick him up from work, I would often look at a plant, tree or flower I was usually parked in front of or next to and write a poem about it. Then there were the times we would go out to the River House, where he once volunteered, and just staring out at the river inspired me to write a poem. The same thing happened on country drives I went on with other people or hikes out in the hills.

 

My notebook soon filled up with a bunch of these poems, which made me realize: This could be a new collection of poetry!

 

I didn’t just write poems about the nature I was exposed to, though. I also wrote poems about ecological issues. I have seen and read many videos and articles about the destruction that continues to be inflicted on our planet. I have also taken note of various tweets, newsletters, articles and social media clips shining light on the continued destruction of threatened and endangered species such as bees, owls and wolves. All of this compelled me to write poems shedding light on how these species must be saved from extinction.

 

The result is my new poetry book, Nature Therapy. During the many years I wrote this book, it has seen different titles and appeared in different shapes. In fact, the total number of poems in this book are not the amount it had when I first tried to get it published.

 

The book is called Nature Therapy because I have found that just being out in nature has been extremely therapeutic. Romps through the woods, hikes on the hills, explorations along tree-lined roads and admiring rivers, lakes, ponds and creeks have all provided me with a sense of happiness and peace. Once out in nature, my troubles often fade away, and I can just bring myself back to baseline. I can sort through my thoughts, find comfort, and glean wisdom just from being outside in nature. Among flowers, fields, woods, hills and coastal areas.

 

Because I write a lot of horror fiction and poetry, some people may be surprised that I have written a book of nature poems. I actually write whatever inspires me, and nature is just one of them. Plus, I started writing all of those poems before I started writing a lot of horror fiction and poetry. I’m not the kind of writer who likes to let her work to collect dust and remain unpublished, so when I found a publisher interested in publishing my poetry books, I took the leap and submitted this one. Many more poetry books that were written years ago are waiting their turn.

 

This experience is a reminder that even if we write more of one thing at a certain time in life, that doesn’t mean there can’t be room for other things. Just because something may not be what you “normally” write, don’t push it aside and forget about it! Write it. You just might be able to find a use for later.

 

Here is  the blurb:

A gentle reminder of the solace and inspiration that nature offers, and a perfect escape from the noise.

In "Nature Therapy," Dawn Colclasure crafts a collection that's both raw and refreshingly earnest. Her poetry, like a breath of crisp morning air, taps into an almost primal connection to the natural world. Colclasure's verses offer a genuine experience of the seasons shifting and the earth's quiet, persistent rhythms.

Reading this collection feels like wandering through a serene, untouched landscape—each poem is a snapshot of the simple yet profound beauty that often goes unnoticed. Colclasure doesn't just write about nature; she invites you to feel it, to revel in its purity and to recognize its relentless resilience.

"Nature Therapy" is more than just a series of poems; it's an invitation to reconnect with the world outside our windows.

Here is the book's buy link

The Dream Forest: My new children's book that was worth the wait

 

Where do writers come up with ideas for things to write? For me, anything is fair game. I’ve gotten ideas for things to write from my dreams, life experiences, decorations and even other books I was working on.

 

With my latest children’s book, The Dream Forest, I got the idea for it from a poster. Specifically, a quote on a poster. However, it took several years before that idea turned into a full story.

 

One day, when I dropped my youngest off at preschool, I saw a poster hanging on the wall that said “The forest belongs to every living thing.” This quote resonated with me so strongly that I felt I had to put that into my writing somehow. It took some time for me to figure out a way to do it!

 

In fact, it took 11 years.

 

Meanwhile, I had bits and pieces of an idea of what kind of story it was going to be. I had a main character (although without a name!) and a general idea of what happens in the story. So, with those bits of ideas, I eventually got around to enlisting my young illustrator, Centauri, to draw pictures for this book. At this time, Centauri was 14 years old.

 

It would be some years until I finally actually wrote the story. In fact, it happened earlier this year. I just sat down one day and the story hit me out of the blue. I hurried to the computer to start typing the words that were running through my mind. I didn’t stop typing until the story was done.

 

That first draft went through several revisions and then a beta read. Then the day came when I felt it was ready for production.

 

The only problem was, I didn’t have a title! That’s right; all this time, I hadn’t figured out a title for this story. I had the illustrations and the manuscript, but no title. I realized that I also didn’t have a blurb for this book, which is what I was going to need. So I wrote the blurb and, in doing so, came up with a title for this book. Yay!

 

The Dream Forest is the title I came up with. Those words from the blurb just seemed to stand out. (The actual blurb on the book does not have those words, however. I rewrote the blurb during production.) That’s what I called the book and that is the book I now have available in print.

 

It is quite unusual for me to take so long to figure out a story from an idea. My youngest has been out of preschool for years and my young illustrator is now a college student who is selling his very professional artwork. I think the story took so long just because life just got crazy. Or maybe I was meant to write it now and not then. Then, I was an alcoholic. Now, I am sober for over 4 years and I do believe that I am writing better because of it. So, basically, The Dream Forest is my first children’s book since becoming sober. That is significant! Maybe it came at the right time after all.

 

I really think my writing has improved now and perhaps that is why this story was able to reveal itself to me in all its glory. I had this idea for a project but I didn’t see it to completion at the time. That is what happened with some of my other WIPs; I was meant to finish and submit them years ago but … life just happened and I was a mess. I think the drinking contributed to me being so unorganized and just “touch and go” with everything. I am back to work on all of my books and WIPs now, seeing all of them to completion, and I am doing a lot better now. I am stronger, healthier, and my thinking is clearer. Now I am in a much better position to be a better writer and I am picking up unfinished projects where I left off on them.

 

I am just glad this is one of those projects that I can now count as “complete” on my list of books. I only hope it is a story young readers will enjoy.     

How a change of plans will help a little girl's dream come true

Earlier this year, I was inspired to write “12 ebooks in 12 months” – which would pretty much turn into 12 ACTUAL ebooks published each month next year. My friend and fellow author, Jenn Greenleaf, is the one who started this kinda thing, so when I heard about it, I jumped at that challenge!


So I got to work on the ebooks, figuring out which ones to write and when I'd work on each one. I’d write each ebook a month at a time, with the exception of one that was already written (which I found collecting dust on my hard drive!) and one that would be worked on a little here and there each month because it would be about a year-long experiment. My plan was to not only publish each ebook next year myself, but also to make each one available at 99 cents each.


Later on, however, I got into a discussion with a bunch of authors about ebooks being available for 99 cents, and ultimately decided that making the ebooks available at 99 cents each was not too much of a good idea. That part of my plan was dropped.


Another thing that changed was that one of the ebooks did not turn out very well. It was a year-long experimental ebook that ultimately failed, so it was crossed off my list.


However, one good thing did come out of all these changes to my plan: An ebook that I ended up collaborating with another writer on. And that will get published THIS year!


So how did that come about?


Well, in March, I started work on one of the ebooks, which is a short collection of poems about dogs (better known as a “chapbook” of poems). While I was writing it, I noticed my 10-year-old daughter, Jennifer, drawing pictures of dogs. Quite a few pictures of dogs, actually. On a whim, I proposed to Jennifer that we turn my ebook of dog poems into a project we work on together. In essence, I asked her if she wanted to co-write this ebook of dog poems with me. I already knew she was writing short stories and she'd written a poem here or there. So I wanted to know if this was something she was interested in doing with me. She said yes!


After that was decided, Jennifer got to work writing poems for this ebook. I enjoyed reading them with her and, after she was done writing the same number of poems I had, I put everything away and considered that project done for now.


Later, however, as I started working on the next ebook this month, Jennifer asked me about plans for the dog poems ebook. I told her that I wasn’t planning on doing anything with it until next year. That sad look on her face just crushed me. She looked so upset that this would not be a book for some time now. That look on her face made me rethink my plans. She told me that it was her dream to have her art published somewhere. And since this is the year that we are hoping to make dreams come true, I wanted to make this dream come true for my little girl. But how would I do it?


What would I do now?


I started to think of how we could turn this project of ours into the kind of book Jennifer had hoped for. For starters, it would have to be a print book, because she doesn’t read ebooks yet. Plus, a print book was something she could show to her teacher and friends at school. So, yes, it would definitely have to be print.


The next thing I thought about was how it would be nice to include her drawings of dogs in this book. Was there a way to make that happen?


And where would I send everything to make it all happen?


While I was going over this, a publishing company, Great Minds Think Aloud Publishing, released a new book that was a mother-daughter effort. Lee-Ann Graff Vinson, who is a fellow Gypsy Shadow Publishing author, published a book with GMTA, Queen Emily's Enchanted Kingdom, that her daughter, Emily, illustrated. I was fascinated by this and touched that the publisher, Kitty Bullard, had included the little girl’s drawing as the cover for this book. What a wonderful accomplishment for this little girl!


When this happened, I started to think, was it possible that Great Minds would do this for the dog poems book, as well? Could I make this book a reality for Jennifer?


I contacted Kitty and told her about our project. I asked her if it was possible to have the book published complete with Jennifer’s drawings. I was aware that Great Minds had published a short book in the past, so I didn’t think the length of the manuscript would be a problem in getting it into print. After some emails with Kitty, she said that it was definitely possible this would happen.


After I got the all-clear, I got to work in putting the manuscript together. I typed up all poems and went over them for any typos. Next I had to work with Jennifer on fixing up her poems. They WERE good poems, no doubt, but some of them were not very clear. There were times I had to ask her “what do you mean here?” or “can you say this another way?” The big issue with her poems was clarity. I mean, I did get what she was trying to say, but what if a reader did not? As I told her, “The reader does not know what you know.” So, basically, the only revisions she had to do with her poems was rewording some of the lines to make clear what she was saying.


After that was done, I gave the manuscript a final read, formatted it per the submission guidelines then sent it off. Next, I had to scan all of the illustrations. I had never scanned anything before, so I was nervous about not getting it right. I did goof on one of the scans, but I got the rest of them scanned okay. Then I sent that off the following week, as well.


Soon after the scans were sent off, Kitty emailed me with good news: She wanted to publish the poetry book. HOORAY!!


I told Jennifer the good news and she was leaping for joy! She was soooo excited and very thrilled. She was going to be a published artist! She was going to be an illustrator! She was going to be an author!


And she is going to be a cover designer, as well. Kitty has given Jennifer the okay to create the cover for this book.


Her dream was going to come true!


And so, the poetry book, Dogs Forever: Poems for the Dog Person, is not going to be just an ebook after all. It is going to be a print book, too. And it’s going to be a book that my little girl, Jennifer Wilson, will have her drawings and poems published in.


Congratulations, Jennifer!


And thank you, Kitty Bullard, for helping to make my little girl’s dream come true.

Describing a dog to young readers

I recently tweeted this:

"Good thing I told a little girl the title of the MS I'm revising. She didn't know what an Irish Setter is!....Makes mental note to be sure and describe the dog in enough detail so kids (the book's audience) can "see" that kind of dog in their minds."

My friend and fellow author, Jennifer Greenleaf, happened to be on Twitter at the time. She replied:

“Ah yes, the fine line between the show and tell issues writers regularly face. Glad you're staying aware!!!”

After I read that, I was glad she noticed that my dilemma was a whole “show, don’t tell” type of thing. Writers are told “show, don’t tell” even though there are times when it is perfectly fine to tell instead of show. (We don’t really need to go through the motions of a character making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, do we? Unless he is pausing after each stroke of the knife to tell somebody off or dancing a jig after applying first the peanut butter and then again after applying the jelly. Then that’s different!)

In my case, I merely “told” my readers that a dog was an Irish Setter. I did not “show” it was an Irish Setter.

Actually, this is what I wrote:

“He sat up in bed and turned to look in the direction the whining came from. He took one look at what sat there and blinked, turning all the way around in his bed to get a better view of what he saw. There on his floor, sitting quite still, was an Irish Setter.”

I made the mistake of assuming that, since the Irish Setter is a popular breed of dog, anybody reading that (including a child, who is the audience this book is written for) would be able to perfectly picture an Irish Setter down to the last detail.

WRONG!

One thing a writer should never do is NEVER ASSUME.

I was reminded of this rule when I had shared that information with a 7-year-old girl who was visiting with my daughter one day. She was told the story’s title and I noticed the look of confusion on her face. I asked her if she knew what an Irish Setter was and she said no. Of course, I was surprised. It’s not like she lived in Africa and never saw this breed of dog, or something. But, the truth was that she didn’t know what an Irish Setter looks like. And that was a big wake-up call for me.

Not everyone knows what an Irish Setter looks like. Especially a child raised in Africa!

So why not describe it? Describe what this type of dog looks like in enough detail so that a child who has never seen such a dog before would be able to “see” it in their mind.

So I changed what I wrote to this:

"Jesse sat up in bed and turned to look in the direction the whining came from. He took one look at what he saw then blinked in surprise, turning all the way around in his bed to get a better look at it. The dog had red fur, with some of the fur fluffing out on his chest in a “V” shape. It also had an oval head, black nose and dark eyes. It look just like the pictures of an Irish Setter he’d seen in books at the library. The dog appeared to be young, but not a puppy, and it sat there on his floor with its tongue hanging out of its mouth."

Well, it’s not perfect, but I think it’s better. I actually studied several pictures of Irish Setters in order to work on describing it accurately, and even found one of an Irish Setter that looked exactly like the dog as I “saw” it in my own mind.

Still, I’m not done with that just yet. I’m planning to run that description by some of my daughter’s friends and see how they respond to it. If it “works” and helps them to get a good idea of what the dog looks like. And if not, then I’ll tweak it some more until I get it right.

I am just glad I even ran that by the little girl in the first place. It has reminded me to be a bit more detailed when it comes to something that may not be so popular after all. And that running things by potential readers is actually a good thing!