Baby, It’s Cold Outside

December 5, 2011 / Tracy Abell / 6 Comments

The thermometer reads 8 degrees
and I'm so very grateful for my warm home.

I filled the feeder this morning after shoveling
(a profanity-filled exercise due to steamed-over-eyeglass-induced blindness)
and am enjoying the flurry of activity out there.

The House Finches and Mourning Doves coexist peacefully
but there are some birds who never seem to fit in the the crowd.

Juncos are often chased from the feeder
but today's odd-bird-out is this Spotted Towhee.

Is it just me or does it look as if he's wearing an executioner's mask?
Dude, there might be a lesson there.

Wordless Wednesday: The Red-Tailed Hawk Edition

November 16, 2011 / Tracy Abell / 4 Comments

Thankful Thursday: Peanuts

November 10, 2011 / Tracy Abell / 6 Comments

Bird on a Wire

November 7, 2011 / Tracy Abell / 9 Comments

It's a whole new week filled with possibility.
I've got blue sky and sunshine outside, and a manuscript to revise.
Time to get to it.

How about you?

Wishing everyone a fabulous week!

Wordless Wednesday: The Snowy Day Edition

October 26, 2011 / Tracy Abell / 11 Comments

Autumnal Glory

October 24, 2011 / Tracy Abell / 23 Comments

Two little finches sitting in a tree . . .

Friday Five: The Time-for-a-New-Plan Edition

October 7, 2011 / Tracy Abell / 7 Comments

1) Last weekend I read I the first draft of my latest middle-grade novel after letting it sit awhile.

2) All week I've jotted notes and zeroed in on characters' motivations and reconfigured the plot.

3) I followed editor Kendra Levin's Five-Step Revision Plan, and created a
"one paragraph summary" that inexplicably mushroomed into multiple paragraphs.

4) I swing between moods of exhilaration and freak-outs about my chances of pulling this one off.

5) And then today I realized that, despite the first draft being written in first-person,
the story needs to be told in third-person.

Here, Tracy, gaze upon the starling to calm your nerves:

© Tracy Abell 2009

I wish everyone a wonderful weekend filled with epiphanies and maybe a few feathered friends!

Blue Jay Day

September 21, 2011 / Tracy Abell / 12 Comments

I've been gone from LJ much too long
and that makes me feel
bad
bad
bad.

Here's a feathered gift for all my friends . . .

PSA: Use Paper!

August 31, 2011 / Tracy Abell / 4 Comments

As mentioned here and here, I've been using Scrivener to write a first draft
and while I love the program for many reasons,
I got caught up in my chapters being (easily accessible) separate files
and so never printed out anything.

As a result, I got a wee bit confused on plot issues
and came to a screeching halt when I felt overwhelmed by the whole process.

This past weekend I printed out all I'd written and read it again.
Wow.
Hard copies are awesome.
And helpful.
And absolutely vital to the writing process.

So, friends, don't scrimp on your paper usage just because it's better for the planet.
The planet does need our love and care, but so does our mental health.
© Tracy Abell 2009

Bwak!
What she said!

Defining Friendship

June 29, 2011 / Tracy Abell / 18 Comments

AGNES by Tony Cochran

Sometimes we need to establish boundaries so that our friendships may continue.
That said, I’m confident my friends here in LJ-Land who are all exceedingly supportive (tolerant?)
of my bird mania would varnish my nose if I asked nicely.

Isn’t that right, friends?

Hellooooo? Anyone out there?

The Bird-Bar Connection

June 28, 2011 / Tracy Abell / 10 Comments

What does this remind you of?

© Tracy Abell 2011

Being in one of those bars where you drop the peanut shells on the floor, right?
All this finch needs is a bottle of beer and some twangy, heartbreak song on the jukebox.

Moist Monday

June 20, 2011 / Tracy Abell / 11 Comments

Yes, I used the "m" word despite the fact many, many people cannot stand that word.
I like it.
Moist.

It’s fun to say.
Try it.
Moist.

It rained all night and it’s still raining.
This Mourning Dove is on the backboard, preening in the rain.

You know, rain? The moist stuff that falls from the clouds?

I hope your day is filled with the weather of your choice,

and contains only words that bring you great joy.

Friday Five: The All-in-the-Family Edition

June 17, 2011 / Tracy Abell / 17 Comments

1) On Tuesday morning I crowed about my runner’s high and feeling so good

2) but by that evening all euphoria was gone due to a Wildebeest implosion,

3) and we were forced to sort through the rubble.

4) The dust has settled and tomorrow we focus on Zebu’s 15th birthday.

5) Today, though, I will focus on this Western Tanager captured by Zippy:

Wishing everyone a rubble-free weekend!

Runner’s High

June 14, 2011 / Tracy Abell / 10 Comments

This morning I ran the trails
and now I’m feeling so darn good.

I was serenaded by a Western Meadowlark,
scolded by magpies,
and raced by bunnies.

I was not attacked by any off-leash dogs,
did not stumble and fall,
and ran the entire way without stopping

(except for the 30 secs I always take at the turn-around point).

I realize there are few things more obnoxious than a runner on a high,

but I just had to document my feelings right here and now.

image from morguefile.com

I hope you all have an awesome day!

Singing My Own Song

May 3, 2011 / Tracy Abell / 8 Comments

A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.
~ Chinese Proverb

image from morguefile.com

There are so many things we could learn from the birds.
If only we cared to listen.

Seeking Out the Unremarked

April 26, 2011 / Tracy Abell / 7 Comments

Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.

~ Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Szent-Gyorgyi was a physiologist credited with discovering Vitamin C,

but this quotation gets to the heart of what it means to be a writer, too.

In fact, when reading it I immediately thought of something Marilynne Robinson told me (paraphrased):

Most experiences are unremarked. The tendency in writing is to focus on the already evaluated

and already delineated. Instead, as a writer, aspire to bring to the forefront the unobserved.

Every story has already been told; it’s the telling that makes each different.

Wordless Wednesday: The Ghost Edition

April 20, 2011 / Tracy Abell / 16 Comments

Splash of Color

April 19, 2011 / Tracy Abell / 4 Comments

I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven.
~ Emily Dickinson

It’s a gray day but these male House Finches are ablaze in their wooing finery.
Maybe I’ll go put on something bright and chase those clouds away . . .

Then and Now

April 14, 2011 / Tracy Abell / 12 Comments

A couple weeks ago I was hiking in a tropical forest, scanning the ocean bay with my binoculars:

Today I’m at the kitchen window, photographing a Mourning Dove hunkered down in the snow:

What a wonderfully diverse home we have on this big, blue spinning ball.

Sound Effects

March 23, 2011 / Tracy Abell / 14 Comments

Have you ever felt insecure about the way you depict a sound in your writing?

The other day I struggled to come up with onomatopoeic words for an action in my story,
and ended up using "plonk" and "kerplonk."
Not genius, by any means, but usable words.

Except now I’m questioning how I hear things.

I’ve always used "creaky" to describe the sound of a Mourning Dove taking flight,
but just did research that indicates most, if not all, people would describe that sound
as "whistling."

Say what?!

Deep Thoughts

March 22, 2011 / Tracy Abell / 14 Comments

Marriage should be a duet – when one sings, the other claps.
~ Joe Murray

Hope is the thing with feathers

March 16, 2011 / Tracy Abell / 14 Comments

Nature Nurtures

March 14, 2011 / Tracy Abell / 21 Comments

When I start to panic and worry, I look to Nature for my calm.
Saturday I ran on the trails with Zippy while a Red-tailed Hawk soared above.

Today, I return to last week’s Starling visit for solace.
As long as there are birds in my life, I can find the courage to carry on.

And because I’ve been reading THE ANNOTATED CHARLOTTE’S WEB:

I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.

~ E. B. White