Assignment deadline looming
I've been trying to write stories over the last couple of days. I found it really hard to get started, because I've now got all these 'shoulds' in my head from the workbook chapters. It's got my critic on full red alert and constant vigilance. However, the deadline is looming so I started to write something, accepting that it would be total dross. I've now got an idea and a structure, and am writing it in bite size chunks. Hopefully I'll be able to glue the chunks together at some point without the cracks being too obvious. I'm so glad I'm not doing this for marks. I would be pretty stressed if this was counting towards a degree.
Meanwhile, Spring is moving on. We have a blackbird nesting patiently in the ivy by our front path. We did have a thrush nesting in the back garden, but today I went out and saw a fledgling lying motionless underneath the nest. It is the saddest sight, and has quite spoiled my day. I saw the thrush later, gathering nesting materials, dropping them again and flying off in disarray. Or maybe I'm just attributing human emotions to her.
posted by Carole @ 6:00 pm
5 Comments:
Hi Carole,
I have an assignment looming, too and I am making a mess of it, but I have a mini start so that is something at least.
I have a Carolina Thrush nesting in the eaves under the back porch. She was there last year, too and a tiny baby fell out and died. It is a terrible feeling, because once they nest in or near your house, it seems like they are a part of the family. I check on her nest at least two/three times a day.
I like the picture from ayour nature walk, too.
Connie
Carole,
Good Luck on your assignment. I know about getting attached to birds and how badly you can feel when some thing happens to the fledgling. One spring we had a humming bird nest in the nursery that I worked in almost at eye level. I watched her sit on that nest through winds and rains of spring, then one busy weekend, at the end of the day, I found the fledgling, nest and all lying on the nursery floor. I cried, I felt like somehow I hadn't done a good enough job of protecting her nest. The worst thing about it was that who ever knocked it off didn't even try to pick it up, maybe the mother wouldn't have come back but who knows.
Hi Connie and Tami,
I'm kind of reassured to hear both your stories about feeling somehow responsible for the birds. I also felt guilty, and couldn't understand why. I wondered if I should have tied the shrub more securely to the fence, or whether I'd given them the wrong food on the bird table ... all sorts of crazy thoughts. I wonder why we feel responsible? I am also checking now on the blackbirds every day, and praying that their nest will be OK.
Carole
Hi Carole
Sounds like good progress with your TMA. I'd decided to give up completely on the course yesterday. Not because I haven't enjoyed it but just because there is so mcuh else on this year; I'm so behind with the activities and I hadn't written a word for the TMA. After a rather inspirational chat with a friend tonight, we decided I would experiment with sitting down and writing a draft straight through with no thought about how good or bad it was. It worked. I wrote half a story that I can finish, then play around with and revise. Suddenly it seems achievable. It looks like I may just hang in there on A215 with you all! Good luck with finishing the TMA!
Liz, well done! Things seem so much better when you have some words down, don't they? And they are never as rubbish as you think they will be. Sometimes we just need to trust ourselves, hold our nose and jump right in. Good for you.
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