Our bodies have five senses: touch, smell, taste, sight, hearing. But not to be overlooked are the senses of our souls: intuition, peace, foresight, trust, empathy. The differences between people lie in their use of these senses; most people don't know anything about the inner senses while a few people rely on them just as they rely on their physical senses, and in fact probably even more.
― C. JoyBell C.
You must learn to heed your senses. Humans use but a tiny percentage of theirs. They barely look, they rarely listen, they never smell, and they think that they can only experience feelings through their skin. But they talk, oh, do they talk.
― Michael Scott
Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science.
— Edwin Powell Hubble
One of the things I hate about summer is having to have the house shut up to keep the cool air in and the hot air out. The fan in the air conditioning unit in our furnace is loud. I don’t hear the birds singing, or the wind rustling the leaves in the trees, or the rain drumming a symphony on the windows, or the bad-tempered rumble of thunder during a storm . . .
Of course the trade off is I also don’t have to try and breathe in the hot, sticky air, have the perspiration beading up on my skin, or hear the whine of insects buzzing around my head.
But I do enjoy the roses in my garden when they’re at the peak of their beauty, their fragrance wafting upwards, the cool dew from the grass on my bare feet, the sharp sweetness of a strawberry, warm from the sun.
Now I could have just said I hate having to keep the doors and windows closed because the air conditioning is so loud I miss the sounds of summer, but at least I don’t have to put up with the humidity or the bugs. But don’t you think I painted a better picture when I used my senses to describe my thoughts in more detail?
Sensory description is one of the greatest tools in the writer’s toolbox, but it’s one seldom used, which is a shame because appealing to your readers senses is an effective way of drawing them in and making them feel like part of the story.
“The smell of apples and cinnamon wafted its way through the house, drawing us to the kitchen where Mom was setting out slices of fresh from the oven pie, a chime ringing out each time she gently tapped the scoop on a plate to dislodge the already melting ice cream.”
“Mom made pie and we had a piece in the kitchen.”
Which sounds better to you? Which draws you in, reminding you of your own childhood maybe, making your mouth water for a slice of pie? Notice I didn’t describe the pie, just the smell of it and the sound of the ice cream scoop as it hit the plate. But it was enough to give you a picture of the pie. What if I used all five senses?
“The smell of apples and cinnamon wafted its way through the house, drawing us to the kitchen. There was Mom, pretty as a picture in her yellow dress, a white apron protecting it and a matching scarf covering her dark hair. She’d already cut into the pie, and the first pieces were sitting on the table, ice cream melting where it met the hot apple. She tapped the scoop against the last plate to dislodge the ice cream, a chime ringing out as though signalling us to sit down. I brushed my hand over the cool wood of the table as I slid into my seat beside my brother and we dug in. Hot pie and cold ice cream hit my tongue in a burst of sweetness I tried to savor as long as I could.”
Over the top, or just enough? It really depends on the context. While the first one is more appealing than the second, the third one would really only be appropriate if there was something important about that pie.
This is bringing us back to show and tell. Adding sensory details is a great way to take a scene from telling to showing. If you haven’t figured it out for yourself, the first and third paragraphs are showing, the second one is telling.
So try adding a little sensory detail to your writing and see what happens. Don’t just use sight and sound, use touch, taste, and smell as well. You’ll be surprised what a difference it makes.
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WORDAGE REPORT
Well this is unexpected. I was 600 words down from last week. But then again, looking back I realize that when I did write it went pretty easily for a change, I had a couple of setbacks that kept me from getting more done than I would have liked to.
First of all, my ice pick headaches were back. An ice pick headache is a sharp, shooting pain in the head, like you’re being stabbed with an ice pick. They only last for a second or two, but they tend to come in clusters. In my case I was getting them off and on during the entire week.
Medical science doesn’t really have a handle on what causes them. It might have something to do with the way the brain controls pain, or due to nerves, blood vessels, or muscles in the head and neck. But the bottom line is, there’s really nothing they can do to treat it. Funny how a stabbing pain in the head can distract you from focusing on your writing though.
And . . . I cannot tell a lie. I was seduced by Facebook to click on a link for a hidden objects game. I have a weakness for hidden objects and I may have spent more time that I should have playing one. Make that two.
And the final nail in my productivity coffin was the amount of time I spent on crafting concerns. Back in the spring I committed to producing some items for the craft sale my guild is having in December and I’ve been pretty slack on it. So I spent a lot of time going through craft stuff and deciding what crafts I’m going to be doing.
NEW WORDS:
Blog Posts – 1,483+645+259+656=3,043
Poetry – 64 (included in blog post)
Total words: 3,043
Goals For Next Week:
Try write words other than blog posts.
EDITING:
3 pages
Bah, humbug! I only made it down to my office once last week, and it wasn’t for long. See above talk about the ice pick headaches. I have to say, it was a little disappointing, especially since I’m so close to being finished. But the good news is, I know what I want on the cover, I just need to find the right pictures.
MARKETING:
*sigh* No Marketing.
Goal For Next Week:
Submit two flash stories and one poem.
TECH & TRAINING:
Nope. Nothing to report here, either.
Goal For Next Week:
Check out the features of Dropbox.
POETRY WEDNESDAY:
Last week’s form was the Seguidilla. This was a little bit more complicated than the forms I’ve been doing lately, but it serves me right for whining about how unstructured the previous form was.
I gave no thoughts to the anthology.
Goal For Next Week:
Find a new form to share and give some more thought to the anthology.
CRAFTING:
I had to re-stamp parts of my pillowcase because the first stamping didn’t take really well. I didn’t want to cut up the transfer, so I traced it onto parchment and then went over it with a transfer pencil, THEN I was able to cut it apart and iron it onto only the places that needed it. And after all of that I actually worked on it a bit at the stitchery guild meeting.
Friday afternoon I helped set up our display at the Port Hope Fair, and then Saturday morning I was one of the two bodies manning the table – answering questions about our group and the pieces on display, and trying to recruit new members. I ended up being there much longer than I expected, but I kept busy working on some of my Christmas crafts.
And I got a few more rows done on the cancer blanket, so all in all it was a good week for crafts.
Goal For Next Week:
Work on Christmas crafts. Work on the cancer afghan. Get the alterations done to the sleeveless blouse and finish the skirt.
WHAT I’M READING:
Still haven’t updated my Goodreads account, unfortunately it’s just not high on my priority list.
Finished reading Small Town Big Magic by Hazel Beck. I enjoyed this book, right up until I got to the end. The author wrapped things up nicely but then she ruined it all with a final paragraph that turned it into an unnecessary cliff hanger. The way the story ended, we already knew there was going to be more books in the series. But by adding that cliff-hanger she kind of beat us over the head with it and I, for one, refuse to fall for her clickbait tactics. I will not be buying the next book in the series.
I also read Before the Coffee Gets Cold, by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, which was a somewhat odd, but engaging novel with four linked stories taking place in a small café. And I’m a few pages in on The Book Haters Book Club by Gretchen Anthony – too soon to know if I’m going to like it or not.
Goal For Next Week:
Suck it up and update my Goodreads account!
GOAL REVIEW:
My total word count was down from last week’s, which shouldn’t have surprised me considering all the other stuff I had going on. I was late with Monday’s post, but all the others were done on time. And I actually got my serial installment ready early.
I hang my head in shame over the amount of time I spent on those two hidden object games. But I’m at the point in them that they’re getting kind of tedious because collecting items in the game to advance is slow going, and I refuse to pay for what I need.
Did a little more reading than I have been, and my choice of books is a little broader, but I still haven’t updated my Goodreads account. Didn’t get the alterations done on the blouse, but I did get the seams ripped out in preparation. And over all, I spent more time on crafts than I’ve been doing.
So when all is said and done it was probably more of a down week than up, but I still just keep going.
Happy writing.
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