PORCH PONDERINGS

Wind and Writing

Boy, I tell you - this part of Montana, and from what I've been able to tell from the Weather channel, some of the other parts of the world, has been getting some wicked wind. The wind whistles around my house, rattling the siding. I am glad my roof is new. I am glad I don't have any outdoor furniture. My neighbor's decorative windmill is no more. The top is gone. I look at that windmill every day from my bedroom to see if the wind is blowing and if it is, how hard. Darn.

So today as I walked my usual noontime walk, I was fighting the wind. It was coming straight out of the west, and blowing me into the east. Usually when we get big winds like this, there is a storm brewing and it will be here in a day or two. But this windy spell has been going on for the better part of a week, and still no rain or snow. In fact, we are having what the old-timers call an 'open winter'. No snow or rain. Not good. Because if you don't get moisture in the winter, the chances fire in the summer go up.

While I sit in my cozy little house listening to the wind, I have been reading some books on writing. I came across a little gem in my library the other day. The "Random House Guide to Good Writing" with a copyright of 1991. It is a wonderful little paperback that addresses all sorts of writing. I was dismayed to read about grammar, and how much I had forgotten from my school days. Granted, those days are long in the past. But still, you should be able to remember something of what you were taught. But reading this little book shed some light on my own writing and how I can improve it. A worthy read.

Two quotes from that book:

'Good writing excites me, and makes life worth living.' Harold Pinter

'The Random House Guide to Good Writing' is for those who have to write - and wish they could write better; and for those who wish to write - but can't or won't or don't.