This Guy Would Love to See You There!
(Note: This is an alligator, honest. No crocs up here. 😀 )
I’ve been unable to keep up with all my blogging due to everything that’s been going on since Irma came a-calling, but I am starting back up with one of my favorite things: my nature blog for St. Johns River Eco Tours. Today’s post on #NotesFromThe River is about an upcoming event a week from Saturday. (January 13) Hope you’ll check it out and share far and wide, and if any of you are in the central Florida area, hope you’ll consider coming to see Doug and I at DeBary Hall Historic Site for this fun program. Thanks for helping spread the word.
#NotesFromTheRiver – Presentations, Photography, and Information, Oh, My!
Finally able to spend an hour or so at the computer, without needing a break every fifteen minutes. Back to my Wednesday posts on #NotesFromTheRiver. Hope you’ll check out this week’s, and be prepared for what’s coming over the next two! Enjoy!
#NotesFromTheRiver – The Alligators and I Are Back
This week’s #NotesFromTheRiver post is up, featuring the ways to tell an alligator from a crocodile. Hope you’ll enjoy learning about these two often confused reptiles. Check it out and pass it along, if you get a chance. Thanks!
#NotesFromTheRiver – What a Croc! (Or is it?)
New feature on #NotesFromTheRiver: great photos by Doug Little. Light on narrative, BIG on beauty. I’ll be doing these now and then, just for fun! Hope you’ll check this one out, and share with your friends. Thanks!
A Narrow, Black Water Stream, Chock Full of Mystery
Those of you who have been following The Write Stuff for very long, know that I believe in inspiration boards. The walls around my computer area are covered in cork, where I pin photos and illustrations to inspire me as I write. Actors or models who look the way I picture my characters, animals that might factor into my books, and lots and lots of scenery. Whether it’s an awe-inspiring shot taken from a mountaintop in North Carolina, where my Wake-Robin Ridge series is set, or a dramatic image of an alligator, basking on the banks of the St. Johns River, where my Riverbend series is set, you’ll find it within sight of my work space. Whole scenes have been written, based on ideas that come to me from photos.
If you’ve never collected images for inspiration, I highly recommend you give it a try. In the meantime, here are some of the images I surround myself with when I’m working on my Riverbend series, set here in central Florida. Enjoy! And be inspired! 🙂
Baby Gators on a Log Continue reading
For many of us, nothing is quite so full of inspiration as an animal. (Witness the ten kajillion online photos and videos on YouTube). They touch us in our daily lives, teach us how to enjoy the world, and surprise us with their beauty, strength, and grace. Why not let more of them inspire us in our writing?
I enjoy including animals in all of my books. My characters have pets that immediately say something about who they are. From the enigmatic MacKenzie Cole’s sole companion, an Irish wolfhound named Rosheen . . .
To make up for being gone so long, I’m taking you on a short photo tour today. Enjoy!!
****
Inspiration can come from anywhere or anyone.
I’m inspired by lush habitat and scenery.
Wekiva River – Dark and Mysterious
I’m equally inspired by wildlife and birds.
Prothonotary Warbler
Little Blue Heron and White Ibis
Purple Gallinule
Baby alligators, last year’s and newer hatchlings.
Not such a baby, this time.
Sometimes I’m inspired by things I’ll probably never see in the wild.
Albino alligator. Wanna dance?
Blue-eyed Leucistic Alligator (My inspiration for Big Blue, in Swamp Ghosts)
Inspiration! It’s all around us!
All we have to do is open our eyes and unstop our ears.
😀
Doubling up today. Make might that a habit for this new feature. That way you can be TWICE as inspired! 🙂
***
Sometimes my inspiration comes from the nearly overwhelming beauty of an Appalachian Spring. (Great name for a symphony, Mr. Copland!)
And sometimes it comes from the close observation of the plants and wildlife of the
St. Johns River, including basking alligators, and turtles like this one, which knows when the alligator’s hungry, and when it’s not.
Can You See Me Now?
Car’s all packed, and I’m ready to go. As soon as my cover designer, Nicki Forde, gets here, we’re off for an afternoon of fun, wildlife observation, and book talk! What could be better? Thank you to everyone who shared my posts about this event. We have a great group signed up, and I can’t wait to meet them all!
Hopefully, I’ll have some good pictures to share when I get back. Have a great Saturn’s Day, you guys. Oh, and if you’re interested, there are still some openings on Tuesday’s tour, 4/28, 1:30pm. You can book here: St. Johns River Eco Tours.
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