“Into the woods you go again, you have to every now and then…”
Just like the characters in Stephen Sondheim’s 1987 musical, Into the Woods, writers should journey into the proverbial woods “every now and then.”
Such sojourns refresh the soul and feed the mind, inspiring writers’ imaginations and thoughts. Just consider Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862) and his philosophical, transcendental book, Walden. Or the more recent 1998 Bill Bryson memoir, A Walk in the Woods.
A connection with nature helps us commune with a deeper, quieter sense of our selves. Free from the distractions of everyday life we can reflect, think, and imagine.
Walk along the path in the image below and transport yourself to its environs. Look deeply at the scene and hear the sounds of nature all around you. Journey into the woods and discover a new story. What will you experience? What will you write?
Haunted Woods from Anne of Green Gables
" data-orig-size="5152,3864" sizes="(max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px" data-image-title="Into the Woods" data-orig-file="https://thepoisonedmartini.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dsc01593.jpg" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"3.2","credit":"","camera":"DSC-W800","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1438556721","copyright":"Copyright 2009","focal_length":"4.6","iso":"100","shutter_speed":"0.02","title":"","orientation":"1"}" width="610" data-medium-file="https://thepoisonedmartini.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dsc01593.jpg?w=300" data-permalink="https://thepoisonedmartini.com/2017/02/09/writing-challenge-61/dsc01593/" alt="Into the Woods" height="458" srcset="https://thepoisonedmartini.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dsc01593.jpg?w=610&h;=458 610w, https://thepoisonedmartini.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dsc01593.jpg?w=1220&h;=916 1220w, https://thepoisonedmartini.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dsc01593.jpg?w=150&h;=113 150w, https://thepoisonedmartini.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dsc01593.jpg?w=300&h;=225 300w, https://thepoisonedmartini.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dsc01593.jpg?w=768&h;=576 768w, https://thepoisonedmartini.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dsc01593.jpg?w=1024&h;=768 1024w" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-5929" data-large-file="https://thepoisonedmartini.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dsc01593.jpg?w=610&h;=458" />Each month, The Poisoned Martini presents a photo to spark your creativity. Because of their visual nature, images vividly speak to writers and spark ideas for writing. View the photo above, ponder what you see, and then put pen to paper or finger to keyboard. Write a scene, a short story, a chapter, a novella, or maybe even a novel.
Last month’s challenge (captured on camera in November 2011) featured a creepy-crawly snail in the courtyard garden of a hospital in the French town of Arles where the artist Vincent Van Gogh (1853 – 1890) convalesced in the late 1880s.