Attitude is so often a product of our perception. Glass half empty? Glass half full?
But yesterday morning I discovered that writing description is also a product of our perception. Let me explain…
I did not want to get out of bed yesterday. Sat/Sun was spring forward Daylight Savings Time (which I personally think needs to be abolished because internal clocks are REAL!) I was tired and cozy and wishing to stay that way, for at least another hour, if not more. But, not wanting to be a complete Debbie Downer, I reminded myself how happy and cheerful I was in the evening when it’s still light outside.
Perception.
But you know me, this train of thought was a delightful slippery slope. I bustled around getting the kids ready for school, reminding them to wear rugged shoes, because now that the snow was melting–EVERYTHING is muddy. I know this because I can’t keep the car, the floors or the dog and boys clean. Very quickly I’d fallen into complaining mud mode. Wasn’t it just days ago I had begged for this warm, muddy weather because I was sick of the cold and snow? It was. So now I needed to adjust my expectations and my perception. *sigh*
Since I’m a bit of a weirdo, the self analysis got me thinking about how awareness of perception is involved in how we write descriptions. And suddenly I realized that the seasons were a great way to concisely illustrate how to avoid cliche and use your unique perception to write great descriptions.
Cliche Seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter
Seasons Negatively described: Mud and Allergy (Spring), Bug and Humidity (Summer), Raking and Gray (Fall), Frigid and Shoveling (Winter)
Seasons Positively described: Warmth and Flowers (spring), Fireworks and Ice Cream (Summer), Cider and Pumpkins (Fall), Hot Chocolate and Pine (Winter)
Seasons by color: Pastel (Spring), Green (Summer), Earth Tones (Fall) and White (Winter)
Seasons by food: Irish Soda Bread and Easter Eggs (Spring), Fruit and Veggies from the Garden (Summer), Turkey and Carmel Apples (Fall), Christmas Cookies and New Years Champagne (Winter)
I could go on and on and on, finding new ways to use words to capture the seasons in a non-cliche way, but I think that gives you the idea. I would love to hear your perception description of the seasons in the comments.
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