Do you like the sound of your voice? It's funny, but somehow when we're speaking, we don't hear our voice the same as when we hear it recorded. I remember the first time I heard a recording of my voice. I was in high school and somebody had brought in a tape recorder. None of us had recorded our voices before and so we were playing with it. I remember my shock when I heard my voice. It was so awful I decided I'd never speak aloud again. Of course, that lasted about two minutes. It's too much fun to talk.
The reason I'm remembering all this is that not long ago somebody told me I should make some videos. He's been trying to help me improve my use of media and after he met me face to face and witnessed firsthand how much I like to talk, he told me I was a storyteller. He thought I should try videoing some of my Facebook posts. So I've been playing around with the video on my iPhone. And you know what? I'm still not crazy about the sound of my voice, but I am more used to it now. Anyway, I decided to test out my very first live video on you sweet people. It's about picking boysenberries and is less than a minute long.
If you listen to it, you can tell me what you think. Stupid? Wait, you wouldn't tell me that. You're too nice, aren't you? Silly? You might tell me that. Boring? You'll probably tell me that. Just keep in mind - this is a test. This is only a test. If it were a real video, I would have hired a voice-over actress and maybe a script writer too. LOL.
But back to boysenberries and sassafras. I posted a photo of sassafras leaves on my Facebook page and asked how many people had tried sassafras tea. You'd be surprised how many. I'm not sure if I have or not. I think Dad brought in roots and Mom made it once, but I can't positively remember tasting it. But whether you've tasted it or not, you know the word.
One of my Facebook friends said she loved the word - sassafras. Doesn't it roll off your tongue just the way you think it should? And boysenberry is the same. A treat for the tongue - both the berry and the word.
I love words that glide through your ears and look good on paper too. I like fun words that sound what they mean. Like nincompoop. Or rain. If you draw that word rain out with a bit of southern drawl, you can hear drops sliding down your window. Or fever. Or hash. Add an 'r' and you have harsh. It sounds just that. But then think willow or whisper.
So even though I don't particularly like the sound of my voice, I do like the sound of words. And somehow just seeing those words written down plays the sounds in our heads as we're reading. As you're reading, you might not even notice the words. That's the way a story is supposed to read, but if the writer has chosen the right words, the best words, then those words can add so much to the story. So maybe I need to add a few boysenberries and some sassafras tea to my next story or have a willow tree whispering in the breeze.
Oh yeah, and there's that word "ow" or "ouch" I said you would hear a lot if you were here picking boysenberries with me. Maybe it will be better if we just sit in the glider and sip some of that sassafras tea. Or eat a piece of that boysenberry cobbler.
Thanks for reading. What words can you think of that are a treat to the ears or that sound exactly as they should?
I made boysenberry jam a couple of days ago and posted a picture of the finished product on my FB page. It's fun sharing things that are going on out here on the farm. But after I put up the picture there were a lot of questions about the berries. They're like blackberries only bigger than wild blackberries and sweeter tasting. Very yummy berries. However, there is a price to pay for that yumminess. They have thorns. Nasty, if you want these berries you're going to have to earn them with blood, sweat and tears thorns. You see those little curls on the ends of the thorns. That's what hooks you and once you're stuck you don't know whether to move forward or backward to get unstuck. And the leaves have thorns all along them too. There have been times when I've been certain the briars reached for me.
Even so, I like them enough to pick them, but I did tell someone once when we had an over abundance of the berries, that I would not pick them for anyone I hadn't given birth to or who hadn't given birth to me. And the grandkids, of course. The grandkids have always been brave enough to pick those berries themselves - not to put in a bucket, but to put in their mouths. During berry season, they will stand around the bushes like little birds eating everything in easy reach.
But tonight while I was picking a few berries, I got to thinking about reaching past the thorns for the good berries and how - if you want to really stretch the thought - that can be like coming up with a new story idea. When I'm searching for a new story, I have to reach into my creative bushes in order to find the ripe berry of a new idea. Some ideas are not ready for picking yet. Some may be like berries that have dried up on the bush or perhaps blooms that never were pollinated to make berries. But there will be the perfect ripe berry in there somewhere if I can just reach it. That's where the thorns come in.
The thorns are the worries that this time the idea won't come. This time the story won't work. Distractions can be thorns to keep me away from the right idea berry. After all, it's summer. Jam needs to be cooked. Blogs need to be written. Books need to be read. Grandkids need to visit. Mama needs somebody with her all the time. I don't know that any of those are actually thorns, but they do make it harder to get started on a new book. Perhaps the biggest thorn - the one with the nastiest hook on its end - is procrastination that has me putting off pulling up that first blank page and typing Chapter 1. Got to do that tomorrow.
"But he that dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose." ~Anne Bronte
Or berry. Or new book. Wish me a thornless berry/idea bush. :) Thanks for reading.
