Our Tiny Obsessions
And how they can fuel our writing practice.
I hung a wreath on my front door loaded with faux colorful vegetation. It’s summery and I like it. I noticed I wasn’t the only one. The birds seemed to love it too. For days, often two birds at a time would be standing on the wreath, pecking away at it.
One of my most frequent visitors was a small bird with a red breast I eventually identified as a house finch (accompanied by its plainer-hued female companion).
Which got me wondering—have we human ladies been tricked by our culture to think from a young age we’re the ones who need to don jewelry and makeup and nail paint and hail color and fancy wardrobes to snag a heterosexual mate? In the animal kingdom, it’s the males with the bright colors who need to put on the song and dance. Maybe we’ve got it all backward.
But I digress. Back to the wreath at hand.
These birds showed up day after day, and eventually, I noticed their visits weren’t just for sport. They were bringing things—twigs, bits of grass—to build a nest! I found the process of watching this nest construction endlessly entertaining (and yes, I’m at that age where I find the birds in my yard more compelling than the latest Netflix drama).
Isn’t this the most perfect, cutest nest you’ve ever seen? [Photo update: there are now SIX pale blue speckled eggs in said nest.] Once the nest seemed completed, I moved the wreath nearby to a location other than our primary door.
Soon thereafter, an egg appeared. And then another. And now we’re at six. I love catching the female sitting out their stoically, unblinking, in all weather, because isn’t that just like a mother? Doing the thankless job of waiting out the birth of her precious, squawking babes.
This nest building process struck me as the perfect parallel to the process of building a novel (or anything of great consequence and effort). At first all it looks like is a few small twigs loosely stacked one on top of the other—but the more you show up, the more pieces of twigs and grass you weave in, the more the structure starts to appear, until finally—aha!—the nest, the novel draft, is complete.
Imperfect but beautiful.
Obsessing over the small details in nature, in humans, in our world, is in many ways the job of a writer. I read somewhere recently that many highly sensitive individuals end up becoming writers because they need a place to put all the noticing. And we need people (i.e. humans, not AI) who will pay attention. Who will watch, who will wait, who will reveal their observations to the masses.
I’ve always believed it’s also important for a writer to lean into and explore their individual obsessions on the page. There’s something to be learned there—by both the writer and the reader. In doing so, we are able to reflect our own unique (and human) lens for viewing the world. (Stay tuned for my riveting next book, The Case of the Missing Finch Egg).
Maybe this is partially why I end each of these newsletters with my “Creativity Through the Senses”—it’s an invitation into where I’m placing my focus in my day-to-day life.
It’s that practice of paying attention, of sensing, that keeps our lives and our writing vibrant.
Wishing you a little more vibrancy, a little more noticing, and plenty of songbirds for your writing week ahead.
Creativity Through the Senses for this week:
See: I started watching season 2 of Four Seasons. I used the structure of season in my first novel, and I like how the premise of this group of friends going on a trip each season sets the structure for the show.
Hear: I listened to the audiobook of Lily Kings Heart the Lover. Despite avoiding this book at first because I read it had to do with a child who has cancer—not my preferred genre—but I loved it! Also, I just heard that this book is the prequel and sequel to her last novel Writers and Lovers, which I also really enjoyed.
Smell: Someone grilling outside on a warm day. WHAT ARE YOU DOING SPREADING THAT MOUTH-WATERING SCENT ABOUT THE NEIGHBORHOOD? INVITE ME OVER FOR A BURGER.
Taste: The party waffle. A second-to-none weekly breakfast delight in my home. I invented it about two years ago, and my kids still regularly request it as their first meal of the day. The recipe: frozen waffle + layer of almond butter + layer of strawberry jelly + layer of plain yogurt + dash of colorful sprinkles= the party waffle.
Follow me for more fancy family recipes.
Touch: My kids soft hair and pale scalps as I search for ticks. Did I mention I finished up treatment for Lyme a week or so ago?