Charlotte (a spider) & Cam (a cardinal): Animals as Muses for Writers

I should be busy at work on one of the chapters for the book (that centers around Cam, my visiting cardinal) as I've now submitted to a publisher a portion of my book, with the outline for subsequent chapters.
Right now, I'm preoccupied by a few ideas that are in my head; hence the picture of my trustworthy pencil (posted below).
However, I don't think I have a case of writer's block; rather, I seem to be afflicted with a little case of writer's pride, a condition described in an eloquent manner by E.B. White (the prolific author of many works but generally (mainstream public) is most known for "The Elements of Style," "Stuart Little," and "Charlotte's Web").


The title of the following E.B. White's piece is "Unwritten," and it is included in an anthology of some of his New Yorker writings, edited by Rebecca M. Hall.


White writes,"Sometimes we regret our failure to write about things that really interest us. The reason we fail is probably that to write about them would prove embarrassing. The things that interested us in the past week, for example, and that we were unable or unwilling to write about (things that stand out clear as pictures in our head) were: the look in the eye of a man whose overcoat, with velvet collar, was held together by a bit of string; the appearance of an office after the building had shut down for the night, and the obvious futility of the litter; the head and shoulders of a woman in a lighted window, combing her hair with infinite care, making it smooth and neat so it would attract someone who would want to muss it up; Osgood Perkins in love with Lillian Gish; a man on a bicycle on Fifth Avenue, a short eulogy of John James Audubon, who spent his life loafing around, painting birds; an entry in Art Young’s diary; about a sick farmer who didn’t know what was the matter with himself but thought it was probably biliousness; and the sudden impulse that we had (and very nearly gratified) to upend a large desk for the satisfaction of seeing everything on it slide off slowly onto the floor."


White's essay comes to my mind as I attempt to complete the book that I am writing, with the working title "Words in Our Beak."


My book is being co-authored by Cam, a cardinal who has been visiting my garden since 2012, and she is a cardinal who is no stranger to media, as she was featured in a short virtual story (mini movie) that I produced a couple of years ago (and it can be viewed @ https://vimeo.com/46157152).


In any event, our book is directed to the person who is curious about birds, but doesn’t necessarily know much about them. "Words in Our Beak’s" goal is to open readers to a simple scientific understanding of the winged world and their environment. Because readers will be enamored with Cam (the cardinal who is co-authoring the book), a line of greeting cards has subsequently been created for each character (bird) mentioned in the book. These cards will give the reader something concrete to remember Cam, as well as her friends. Moreover, the cards can also serve as a way of letting others know about "Words In Our Beak."


When she is not writing, Cam is busy with the activities of birds, including snacking (as seen below).
Cam Dines In The Make-Shift Feeder!
In the aforementioned photo-op she is dining at a make-shift feeder that I have designed in a last ditch effort to be able to deter pigeons while accommodating cardinals and smaller songbirds.


My "invention" is something I've wanted to write about on HT as a follow-up to the many entries I've posted here, entries where I've delineated details of an array of bird feeders.


However, at the advice of Cam, I'm holding off on discussing this feeder on HT as she and I plan to include it in our book, and it is Cam's firm belief that I need to wait until I see where our book is heading and not risk duplicating content.


[But if you want a sneak preview of the details surrounding this feeder, I did post a bit about it on FB @ https://www.facebook.com/TheLastLeafGardener/photos/a.355589574490422.73015.247917655257615/652400738142636/?type=1]


Meanwhile, getting back to my book project, and my struggles to overcome writer pride (fear of sounding stupid), I will say that, like White, I have unwritten "things that stand out clear as pictures in (my) head."


And some of these unwritten things, I do hope to include in our book, including an observation I made of Mac, back in April when I was very sick with a nasty virus and confined to my home.


He was flying in circles, occasionally pausing to peer into a window across the courtyard. I wondered what he was looking at through the window of that apartment as seen in the following pictures.
Mac and His Reflection (View One)
Mac and His Reflection (View Two)
Two people, each one from different bird supply stores had varying theories.


One thought the bird that I was perceiving to be Mac, was not Mac, but rather he was a new bird on the block — a young stud with eager hormones — flying and dancing around as a way of showing off.


The other person agreed that the bird was Cam's beau, Mac, and that he was fighting against his own reflection as he may have believed it was an intruder.


I have 300+ images of this amazing sight in my Aperture Library, and my thoughts that accompanied them remain unwritten; but Cam is insisting it be a part of our book, and she promises to help clarify the whys behind such a behavior in male cardinals.


My other unwritten things do not pertain to birds, and Cam believes that if I get them out of my head and into cyber-space, I will free up my mind for working with her on "Words in Our Beak."


So, without further ado, I will follow her advice and get these unwritten musings out of my head with the help of White's unwritten bucket list.


White has cited "the look in the eye of a man whose overcoat, with velvet collar, was held together by a bit of string" and "the appearance of an office after the building had shut down for the night, and the obvious futility of the litter," as observations that he had hoped to expound on, but did not. Re my citing of my observations of appearances, the events have to do with how beautiful flowers continue to look in my garden after enduring much rain fall, as evidenced in the pictures below.
Spent Peony Flower (View One)
Spent Peony Flower (View Two)
Spent Peony Flower (View Three)
Spent ESTELLA RIJNVELD Tulip
Spent Tulips (PEACOCK VARIETY)
Spent Tulips (TULIP MONSELLA VARIETY)
But what more can I say about them other than reference a quote I mentioned in a prior post*: "The very old, they are miracles like the just born; close to the end is precious like close to the beginning."


(*The post reference is @ http://www.hometalk.com/diy/grow/plants/the-week-that-was-where-have-all-the-flowers-gone-3688483 and more iImages of flowers in this lovely state are included in my garden themed movies @ https://vimeo.com/41016521 as well as @ https://vimeo.com/40666047.)


My closest unwritten musing attracting someone, is my thoughts on my Candy Corn Vines AKA Manetta luteoruba (pictured below) procured from a grower at a Greenmarket.
Manetta luteoruba Siblings
A lone Manetta luteoruba
My hope in getting these vines was to attract humming birds to my garden, and I had wanted to include David, the grower, in my writings, because he is the one who told me Candy Corn vines attract humming birds!


Once upon a time I bought a succulent from David, and his colleague held it up and asked him. "Is this a five dollar plant?'" David's reply, "It will grow up to be a five dollar plant, for now it is a three dollar plant . . . "


"Osgood Perkins in love with Lillian Gish, a man on a bicycle on Fifth Avenue, a short eulogy of John James Audubon, who spent his life loafing around, painting birds; 7. an entry in Art Young’s diary; about a sick farmer who didn’t know what was the matter with himself but thought it was probably biliousness," were the other unwritten musings OF E.B. White.


Mine include a name tag project that I began to write about in 2011 (@ http://www.thelastleafgardener.com/2011/08/salve-mihi-nomen-est-or-name-tag.html) but never finished.


At the time, I envisioned the idea of flora networking with one another and having convos (wearing name tags to identify one another, name tags such as the ones my chives are sporting in the picture below), convos about soil and growing conditions; and also having convos about the importance of Latin names.
Chives Sporting Name Tags!
My unwritten bucket list also includes an unwritten rebuttal to a comment made to me on Blogger* re my id-ing of a Farfugium japonicum ('Cristata') plant whose leaves can be seen below.


*http://www.thelastleafgardener.com/2011/04/my-well-read-farfugium-japonicum.html
Farfugium japonicum ('Cristata') Detail
I have come to the end of E.B. White's "Unwritten" bucket list, and although I have much more on mine, HT will only allow one more picture and I've chosen the following, picture that shows another angle of my WRITER'S BLOCK PENCIL.
Hopefully, by sharing E.B. White's essay, I've shed a bit of light, or another angle on writer's block in the event that anyone out there in HT land struggles with their muse.


I also hope that Cam, my sweet visiting cardinal (and now my co-author) will prove to be as prolific for me as well as to my readers as Charlotte was to White when he wrote "Charlotte's Web," for I believe that, in addition to being wonderful creatures, animals are great muses for writers.


I'm looking forward to working with Cam on my endeavor and to having our musings written instead of unwritten. I have to meet with an editor this Friday with typed pages in hand, so please stay tuned, and if you have any of your own suggestions on writing the unwritten, Cam and I welcome your thoughts.
TheLastLeafGardener
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  • Douglas Hunt Douglas Hunt on May 20, 2014
    Does anyone go to an editor with "typed pages in hand" anymore? How delightfully old-fashioned! Best of luck with the book. Love the title!
    • TheLastLeafGardener TheLastLeafGardener on May 20, 2014
      @Douglas Hunt Thank you so much for your good wishes. I posted my book endeavor on HT not only to help others with writer's block issues, but to give myself a little nudge by letting the word out that I needed to complete my book. I truly hope my project moves forward. You are right, it is "old fashioned" to take an editor typed pages, but she is 90 yeas old and never has (or will) used a computer! But at least my pages are numbered so I won't have the fate of Camilla Laporta, the protagonist in an essay by Carol Shields. I thought you'd appreciate the following excerpt: "On October 31 Camilla La-Porta, a Cuban-born writer, now a Canadian citizen was taking the manuscript of her new novel to her Toronto publisher on Front Strret. She was nervous; the publisher had criticized her first draft, telling her it relied too heavily on the artifice of coincidence. Camilla had spent many months on revision, plucking apart the faulty tissue that joined one episode to another, and then, delicately, with the pains of a neurosurgeon, making new connections. The novel now rested on its complex microcircuitry. Wherever fate, chance of happenstance had ruled. there was now logic. causality and science. "As she stood waiting for the bus on the corner of College and Spadina that fall day, a gust of wind tore the manuscript from her hands. In seconds the yellow typed sheers were tossed into a whirling dance across the busy intersection. Traffic became confused. A bus skittered on an angle. Passersby were surprisingly helpful, stopping and chasing the blowing papers.Several sheets were picked up from the gutter, where hey lay on a heap of soaked yellow leaves. One sheet was plastered against the windshield of a parked Pontiac half a block away; another adhered to the top of a lamppost; another one was run over by a taxi and bore the black herringbone of tire prints. From all directions, ducking the wind, people came running up to Camilla, bringing he the scattered pages . . . "When she got to the publisher's office, he took one look at her manuscript and said, 'Good God Almighty, don't tell me Camilla, that you of all people have become a post-modernist and no longer believe in the logic of page numbers.'"
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