WriterByNature.com

December 31, 2006 4:44 pm

I was pretty far from these two turkeys, so I’m impressed with my digital camera’s ability to take moving pictures as well as still photos of elusive wildlife.

These male wild turkeys are trying to impress a group of females. The females noticed me and stalked off.

4:25 pm

A moving black form in the woods caught my eye. It took me a moment to realize that it was a wing. Wild Turkeys engage in cooperative courtship to attract mates in spring. But the weather on the east coast has been downright balmy for weeks. Even the plants are budding.

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December 28, 2006 3:13 am

I don’t take a field guide on hikes; I use bad weather days to improve my nature knowledge.

After a storm, gather some torn branches and twigs – 8 to 12 inches long and turn study into a game. (more…)

December 25, 2006 5:27 am

The Internet is like having a giant library at my disposal. Bad weather days are not quite the same when I can ask:

I wonder if . . . and get answers to questions or browse sites that motivate me to write.

Here are a few sites that feed my eyes, brains and fingers: (more…)

December 21, 2006 4:22 am

Winter Solstice officially arrives at 7:22 PM in my neck of the woods.

For the next six months, the sun will start getting closer to earth and days will get longer for those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere. Folks in Australia and New Zealand are enjoying summer, while we experience winter.

Here are a few things to think about on this, the shortest day of the year. (more…)

December 19, 2006 8:58 pm

Sometimes it is easier to make a picture with words than it is to write words in a line.

Some writers call this process organic notes or brainstorming.

Here are the steps. (more…)

December 17, 2006 4:55 am

I watched An Inconvenient Truth for the second time last night.

This time I was in the home of someone I have not seen in over two years. This family is home schooling their children; their daughter had presented this event as part of her environmental studies education. Watching a 16-year-old ask a roomful of people my age what we were thinking gave me chills. (more…)

December 12, 2006 8:58 pm

I love the feeling of accomplishment when I finish a written piece.

I know it’s finished when I have enough distance from what I have written to notice typos, syntax errors or clumsy phrases. Proofreading is an essential part of the writing process.

If you are your own proofreader, you have to proofread on a different day than the day you finished writing. If you need to submit a piece on the day you finish writing it – get the services of a proofreader. I joined a writing critique group, which is one of the best decisions I have ever made.

Here are some tips to improve your effectiveness as a proofreader: (more…)

December 11, 2006 4:01 am

I participated in a study which is close to becoming a published work on Outdoor Education.

I just heard from the soon-to-be PhD and what she wrote made my day:

Your interview helped give words to the idea that where writing takes place matters in the creation of text and the preservation of memories.

Specifically, you used the word “texture” to describe the differences between when you sit and compose outside and when you take notes but compose the bulk of a piece inside looking out the window.

Other research echoed your experience, but your descriptive words really enriched the text.

I look forward to continued communication with you. (more…)

December 8, 2006 5:27 pm

When I first heard the news that searchers found trousers belonging to James Kim, I thought: hypothermia.

It breaks my heart that I was right. I don’t go anywhere without the basics of my pocket survival kit. I also have emergency supplies in my car.

Shelter is paramount in a survival situation. I’m not judging this man. I went bushwhacking the other day and ended up in a swamp. I knew I was within 2.5 miles of my car; I had more than four hours of daylight on a partly sunny, warm afternoon with no wind.

Still, an injury could have changed my afternoon. I had headed west off the trail and knew that I wanted to travel north. I was just looking for a little loop; what I thought was an abandoned field was in fact a wetland.

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