An overcast sky indented with crow wings and the sharp commas of crow talons.
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Parallel Paths
j.laster
It is good to go outside. To look up. To let the wonder of all that is not us seep in.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.jonnalaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_7953.jpg?resize=300%2C287)
Solitude Silhouette
j.laster
Early this morning, while scenery is more of a suggestion than substance, I marvel at the Writer Elkhound, who bounds through the dark, her white tail flashing. Her prey, sleek and feline, trots down the fence top and vanishes into the inkwell of a predawn forest.
![](https://i2.wp.com/www.jonnalaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_8024-480x640-2.jpg?resize=225%2C300)
j.laster
Emerging from the self imposed attic of keyboard and screen, backing up the first draft of my latest story, I savor the process. The alchemy consists of strong coffee brewing, the coalescing and scattering of ideas as startling as a spooked covey of ptarmigan, an undercurrent of lucid onyx-penned dreams, and research.
“Paradox, absurd metaphor, surgery without anesthesia, the slaughter of darlings, irony that approaches nihilism – these need to be in your writer’s toolkit.” John Rember MFA in a Box, A Why to Write Book
Out come the sharpened knives. Time to get to work. I used to hate revision, viewing it as a necessary agony. Now, I summon every honed blade and needle nosed tweezers in my possession and begin again.
“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” Terry Pratchett
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The Writer Elkhound reliving the chase.
j.laster
To begin again. To continue with the telling.
![](https://i2.wp.com/www.jonnalaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/5-25-2012-12-21-25_041.jpg?resize=194%2C300)
Traveling through paradise family album
In the words of my father, Keep your eyes keen, and your ears open. And don’t ever forget that this is a tough trip through paradise.