Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Writing in temperatures...

If you're in the southern hemisphere of planet Earth, I hope you enjoyed a reasonably happy winter solstice and Yule. For those north of the equator, greetings on the recent summer solstice is in order. Hope the warm weather is treating you well. If you're not on the planet earth, thanks for reading and I hope the weather's great wherever you are.

As I alternate typing with keeping my fingers warm by wrapping them around a hot cup of tea, I contemplate the difference that weather, and temperature, make to writing. Specifically, the ideas created for articles.

Does a writer whose fingers are shaking in time to their chattering teeth, prefer to tackle warm weather topics? Perhaps they might wander off to sunnier climes, at least in their imagination anyway. Does the pounding of wind on the windows effect or affect the writer's mood enough to shape the words that flow from the keyboard?

I find that when it's cold [like right now if you're in Sydney, Australia] I tend to let my mind hover on deserts and tropical islands. Sweaty, high temperature days seem much more appealing in the middle of winter than they are when you're sweltering through them. In summer, if I can bear to be at my computer at all, I write about flash floods and snow storms and can bring them to mind clear enough that I almost shiver. Almost! Summer in Sydney is a bit hard to shiver through.

That's in fiction. Articles seem to be a different matter. I guess that would be because the goals are different, outlines are more specific. And quite possibly, at least for me, because I'm writing from a list of ideas that has been developed over a period of time. This time covering all seasons and the ideas covering experiences and knowledge that I've gathered along the way.

Getting my fingers to move properly and hit the right keys is another story.

Regards
TrishA

2 comments:

lizzie said...

I'm certainly north of the equator, here in UK, but the summer solstice has been a complete wash out. Something out there in the atmosphere is totally confused, because we are getting wet, windy and cold autumnal weather. (How sterotypically British, talking about the weather!) Oh, forgot to say, interesting blog!

An Inconsistent Writer said...

I remember seeing your weather on the news and thinking it odd that the UK and Australia were having the same weather conditions at the same time. Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment. Much appreciated. TrishA