It’s been pounding rain…… the last few days here in my corner of Texas (the last exhalations of Hurricane Odile) – an unusual occurrence, to say the least. When I was younger, I loved rainy days – they were a convenient excuse for staying inside and reading – double-down for snow days, which may have been the best bad days of all. I can’t count the number of books I devoured while hiding out in my room from weather.
I live in the lee of a mountain ridge, so wet weather brings with it clouds that drape and cover the cliffs. I’m fortunate that the study where I write looks out at that vista, so in those moments recently where I’ve been stuck searching for the right word (or a whole paragraph), I’ve gotten to watch the rain work its way down to me. I’ve also seen the rocks back-lit by lightning, and listened to the thunder echoing up there.
Needless to say, rain has figured more prominently in the latest chapter of my WIP.
It’s only natural – what and how I write is influenced by all the people and things around me, even something has seemingly unrelated as the weather. As writers our personal weather vanes are always in play, spinning with the world around us. I’m not just referring to “real” wind and weather, but the news and books we’re reading, the shows and movies we’re watching, the problems we’re dealing with. We filter everything around us, and then translate it into our work.
Let’s see what happens when we get some snow this winter…
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