My resting place sways gently back and forth, a light breeze ruffling my feathers, lulling me to sleep after the satisfying lunch that my Mum lovingly prepared for us. My home is my solace, the smell of bark and leaves and the garden below mingling with the musk of my surrounding brothers and sisters, cuddled warm and secure against me.

Mum sings in a sweet, sometimes mournful, sometimes proud and joyous, song of us flying off and leaving her soon, but I can’t begin to believe her. Why in the world would anyone want to leave such a beautiful tree?

The above resulted from a little creative writing exercise. If you need a warm up sometime, try taking a look out your window (or walk outside for a moment) and write a descriptive paragraph or two about the first item that catches your eye.

What’s your favorite writing ice breaker?

Walking is so dynamic and energetic. When a group of characters are walking straight at you, straight at the television or movie screen, sometimes it’s a bit intimidating, but it’s always engaging. My sensory intake always picks up on these scenes, heightening the meaning behind each interaction between the players:

• Do they look at each other?
• Do they move in sync?
• Do they brush up against each other, or against something else in an effort not to touch each other?
• Do they walk casually or purposefully?
• Is it one of those “pretty scenes,” with the cool coats flapping and hair blowing, or does it appear to occur naturally for bigger impact?

I remember in the TV series Angel, there was a scene when Angel, Claudia, Wesley and Gunn are leaving a scene after putting the bad guy in his place, and it was just magical. The fluidity of their coordinated motion and expressions were perfect. I remember saying out loud to the screen, “There’s your shot.”

I’m no cinematographer; I barely take a decent still picture. I was right though. In prior episodes, the regular “walking scene” for Angel featured Angel walking alone down an alley at night, away from the camera: a testament to his dark and lonely character. After that walk scene that I had noticed was taken, “my walk” was incorporated into the intro, and then it was replaced with one featuring just Angel, Claudia and Wesley.

The most famous walking scene, if you go by Google results on that term – and my husband’s emphatic opinion – is from Reservoir Dogs. It’s in the beginning. They are walking from the diner from their original meet up to the warehouse where they will get their mission briefing.

It’s a fairly long scene, as far as walking scenes go, but it feels quick. There’s a lot of motion. In addition to the walking, characters gesture and turn their heads, and the camera is constantly moving. They use the scene for opening credits, bouncing from face to face as the actors’ (and director’s) names appear on screen. While the characters are having conversations, the scene still follows the “no talking” rule of good walk scenes. The song “Little Green Bag” is all you hear. To me, it is all about how many guys are starting off this adventure, initial takes on their personalities and who they are in relationship to those moving around them.

I love a good walk scene. From the bulk of them, I’d say directors and viewers like they them pretty well across the board. There’s even a Kia commercial that features “the walk.” Five stuffed animals doing the staged, side-by-side, purposeful, eyes straight ahead The Right Stuff version.

I’ve never thought to write one, though. It wouldn’t work, would it? I’ve read lots of descriptions of walking. They usually include a character’s posture and level of energy, maybe even expression. But have you ever read a good group walk, the kind where you just go, “Wow, that’s a moment in time, right there,” like you do when you see a good one in film? Even the pictures I’ve used to illustrate them in this article don’t do the scenes justice.

Have you ever read a good walk scene? Read one, in a short story or novel, or even in a graphic novel? Please share, if you have. Anyone else out there really into walk scenes? Please let me know I’m not alone by leaving a comment.

In honor of my near death experience that lasted way too long and left my poor brain rusty and crusted over, sticking and sputtering as I try to bring it back to life and continue my regularly scheduled blogging efforts, I beg your indulgence as I dump a bit of that rust into this short ramble for your entertainment and my commitment. The next time you get sick, just come back and read this and know that, while you feel horrible, you would never be as wimpy as me to get knocked out of everything you enjoy doing for an entire two weeks over some lousy flu! It will either make you feel better about yourself, or it will force to you get to the doctor in a timely manner so that you can feel better about yourself.

Coming up over the next week, I have much planned for you:

• Before getting ill, I read “The Black Jewels Trilogy” by Anne Bishop, which includes Daughter of the Blood, Heir to the Shadows and Queen of the Darkness. I absolutely adored the series and will tell you why. It might be a little on the romantic side for some guys, but I hope to at least entice every lady I know that’s into fantasy fiction to give it a shot.
• Also before “my event” (Untold pun), I interviewed the local game development team for Untold the Game. I wrote pages and pages of notes as Brannon “Ashy” Hollingsworth, game master extraordinaire; Nathan Ellsworth, combat system numbers guru; and Brannon Hall “Hall,” art design maestro, all spoke in interacting rivulets of streaming consciousness of their personal journey with Untold, along with upcoming play testing and final release information. Their story may take multiple posts to do justice to their story.
• Beer and Blog occurs each Tuesday, and Dave and I do our best to attend at least every other week. I am especially grateful for Dave dragging me out of my “but I haven’t done anything to talk about” mood to go participate this week. It gave me much more motivation to break out of my slump and provided a couple of topics for discussion:
  • Effective Arguments – There are ways to discuss points of view that are positive and growth oriented for all participants, and then there are others that aren’t so much. I managed to go down both roads this week and I’d like to share what tilts me, both for my acknowledgement – and hopefully eventual victory over – and for your information – to help you bring the best arguments out of your social and professional brainstorming groups.
  • Education Basics – It was brought to our attention that many “forward thinkers” believe that with all the instant information at our children’s fingertips today, there is no longer any need to teach facts that you can look up on the internet, or math that you can punch into a calculator. That all you need to teach is how to use the information. I disagree with this sentiment to the point that it gives me an instant headache just thinking about it. I’ll try to make my argument one of those positive kinds!

So, now I have gotten my first post back after a long break jitters beaten back a bit, cranked my brain over to warm up for the upcoming first “real” post, and laid myself a plan of attack that’s public to hold myself accountable. I’m looking forward to it!

Have you ever had a break from an endeavor that had you stumbling around for a bit to find the way back?

• Did you have to resort to a “blow out” attempt like me? What kind of reaction did you get?
• Did you hide it with aplomb? Share your tricks of the trade!
• Have you not made it back yet? Post a comment and let folks encourage you back into that saddle.