Winter Solstice and Writing Topics

 

Today is the Winter Solstice--the shortest day of the year. Put another way, it's the day we have the least amount of light all year. It's also a time when we know that each succeeding day will be just a wee bit longer as we look toward spring, then summer. 

Winter brings us a whole new set of ideas for the stories, poems, and essays we write. Also for nonfiction articles. Many writers whine--yes they do--that they have run out of ideas. If they are the ones who sit in front of their computer and say they cannot find anything to write about, then they definitely have run out of ideas.

Use your writer's eye wherever you go. There are stories all around us. It's up to us to 'see' them. 

When I'm reading the newspaper, I am always on the lookout for a story I can use in my writing world. I read an article once about the problem of working mothers directing their children to go to the library after school. A safe place, a problem solved for the mothers, and a problem created for the library staff. One of my most popular children's stories evolved from my reading that article. "There's a Dragon in the Library" highlighted the problem. Another newspaper article I read was the basis for "An Angel in the Snow" which is a fictionalized version of a real happening when a child got stuck in a snowdrift and was pulled out by a large dog. Keep your writer's eye tuned in when you read the newspaper or watch the news on tv. 

But back to the dawning of winter. This season offers a great many things we can write about. I have listed some of them below to trigger your memory and get you started. 

1. winter holidays
2. snowstorms
3. blizzards
4. sledding on a snowy hill
5. snowball fights
6. heavy clothing
7. boots
8. frigid temperatures
9. cold, gusty winds
10. icy roads
11. ice skating
12. ice hockey
13. winter foods your mother made
14. head colds
15. flu
16. blankets
17. shoveling snow
18. December holiday baking
19. making a snowman
20. walking to school in bad weather

I could go on, but surely one of the twenty above will trigger something for you. 

Snowy weather lends itself quite well to poetry. Thnk of the adjectives, the similes, the metaphors that are possible. There are science articles to be researched and written about winter weather and happenings like the planets lining up for us to see this evening. Winter brings many things you write about in children's stories.

The idea is to use what is around you. Use what you see and read about. I don't buy that phrase--"I have nothing to write about." You're a writer, you have an imagination. Be creative.