Write About Seasons and Timely Events

 

This blog post is more about things to write about than it is encouragement for writers. Perhaps in addition to some encouragement, the writers out there could use ideas for things to write about, as well as a little inspiration on where to find ideas.

 

I love the fall season. The cooler weather, the colored leaves, pumpkin everything, fall-scented candles and the promise of a fun day to dress up and eat candy. It is my first favorite season (winter is my second) and so, of course, I am often inspired to write poems, short stories, articles and essays just from indulging in favorite fall activities.

 

The new season can give you ideas for things to write, too. Even if you are not much of an “autumn person,” take the time to observe the changing season. Notice how nature changes and adapts to the change in weather. Watch people participating in Fall Festival activities and try some out yourself. Go for a walk and observe the changed landscape all around you. (I got an idea for a poem just from looking at a pine cone!) Take all of it in and see what kind of ideas for things to write this inspires in you.

 

Aside from seasonal writing, you can also write about current events. Today is the last day of Banned Books Week. I could remember very well my own experiences in reading banned books. Articles and essays about banned books have been everywhere. People have also posted pictures and memes about banned books on social media.

 

What does Banned Books Week mean for you? What sort of thoughts does it inspire? How does Banned Books Week contrast with the current flood of book banning going on in libraries and schools right now?

 

These are all ideas which can inspire you to write.

 

Of course, let’s not forget Halloween! I know that I mentioned it earlier, but Halloween is my favorite holiday. Halloween is a part of the fall season and it’s definitely the one day of the year that inspires writers everywhere. So many writers have written stories, poems and even movies based on their love for Halloween. It definitely can inspire many fiction ideas.

 

Not only does Halloween inspire Halloween-themed stories, but the day itself is a day for horror fanatics. I know some writers of horror who love Halloween and they spend months or all year planning for the big day. My forthcoming book of stories, Bad Girls: Five Tales of Twisted Teens, is YA horror. (Yes! Kids and teenagers alike love to read horror! When my older sister was a teenager, she was obsessed with reading Stephen King novels. I know he writes horror for adults, but there ARE teenagers out there who love to read horror. Thus why we have the YA horror genre. There is even middle grade horror and horror for kids. Goosebumps, anyone?)

 

Of course, with horror accompanying the Halloween season, there are calls for Halloween and horror stories popping up A LOT this time of year, as well as horror novels and horror story collections being published in October (when Bad Girls will come out).

 

If you like horror, why not write it? Especially now, when Halloween is fast approaching and editors want those kinds of stories for their October issues. (Note: This will work for online publications. Print publications plan issues several months in advance.) Take advantage of the season and write horror to your heart’s content.

 

Or write about Halloween.

 

Or the fall season.

 

Or about Banned Books Week.

 

No matter what you choose to write, the changing seasons, holidays and current events are all good material for finding something to write about. Take the time to observe, play around with ideas and see where your inspiration takes you.

Celebrating the Seasons: New Poetry Book Seasonal Songs Inspired by Children's Artwork

Several years ago, my kids, Jennifer and Jesse, each created a beautiful picture representative of a season. For Jennifer, it was a tree with Fall-colored leaves. For Jesse, it was a splash of white paint on a gray surface, representing snow. Later, Jennifer also drew me a picture of a “Spring setting” and after I had all 3 of those pictures up on my wall, I thought, 'Hm, something’s missing. I know! Summer!'

Since I already had two “season pictures” from Jen, I decided I would ask Jesse to draw me a picture of something that says "summer." So he drew a picture of a boy about to go fishing at a pond during a hot summery day. I liked the way he drew the sun because it really looked like it was shining so brightly and making the day really warm.

Now I had all 4 of the seasons in pictures on my bedroom wall. And for a long time, those pictures remained there for me to see every day.

After some time, however, it would seem that those 4 pictures of the 4 seasons would start to catch the attention of my muse. I soon found myself writing poems about the seasons. The first poem I wrote was about the summer and, when winter came that year, I wrote about finding frost all over the grass in our backyard and other winter-related poems. Then I moved on to the other seasons.

Soon enough, I had enough poems for a poetry book. I had some difficulty figuring out a title for this one, but I eventually settled on the title “Seasonal Songs.” I chose this title because someone was advertising their poetry book with the title “Seasonal Songs” but when I saw the cover of their book, the title was different! I frowned and muttered, “That book is not called Seasonal Songs.” Then I started thinking about what a catchy title “Seasonal Songs” was. And I thought, ‘Hm, Seasonal Songs. I like it!’

So I selected Seasonal Songs for the title of my new poetry book.

Since I had planned to bring this poetry book out this month, I contacted my cover designer and editor to see if they were able to work on the cover and edits for this book this month – preferably before the month was out. Fortunately, they were able to fit it in and I was able to get all the formatting of the final draft done in time, too.

Now my new poetry book, Seasonal Songs, is out now and available for purchase. Yay! So far, the print version of this book is available. It will be available for the Kindle very soon.

While this poetry book is mostly written for children, I hope readers of all ages would enjoy this book.

Thank you to my kids, Jennifer and Jesse, for granting me permission to include the artwork that inspired these poems in this book. Thank you to Denise Bartlett for editing this manuscript so quickly and for doing a fabulous job on the edits. And thank you to Charlotte Holley for yet another amazing cover for this book! I am very grateful to you all.

Here is the blurb for Seasonal Songs:

The seasons of the year can bring so much happiness, joy and magic into our lives. From the snowy hills of winter to the falling leaves of autumn, the new life of spring and lazy days of summer, the seasons are times for enjoyment and gratitude. Seasonal Songs celebrates the seasons with poems that will bring back happy memories and embrace the beauty of the changing times of the year.

This book is mainly written for children but can be enjoyed by readers of all ages. It includes color illustrations by my children, Jennifer and Jesse Wilson.

Buy link