A writer's thoughts are a little different from those of other individuals. Writers are just always naturally looking for those tiny little pieces of life and living that will become the basis for their next article or story line. Little mental notes made, and tucked away, to be used at a later date. No opportunity is left unnoticed; even the simple task of yard chores on a sunny summer day, to a writer, means using your back yard as an inspiration for writing. It is amazing what is out there if you really stop to see what goes on in the yard around you. Writers see things differently from other people, and to be a writer you just have to fine tune this skill.
There are a million little ideas just sitting out in your backyard just waiting to be discovered, a thousand little lives that can be future characters in articles, stories, and books. You just have to take a much closer look at the world around you. A small white butterfly that flutters clumsily by, lands on a flower for a moment, and then carries on its way can be transformed by the imagination of a writer. The butterfly becomes a tiny little fairy maid just learning how to fly; innately curious and completely fascinated, she investigates the magic forest that surrounds her.
A large black beetle crawling along the ground becomes a heavy war tank pushing its way through enemy lines, strong and determined, never knowing what might lie ahead. The blades of glass are the foliage of a jungle where little creatures hide in wait for prey to come their way. The earthworms that he scoops up in the garden are dragons in a foreign land, scurrying and hissing, trying to find their way back home.
A writer feels the warmth of the sun and imagines a sunny beach, a cool drink to quench his thirst, and he is surrounded by memories that he has yet to experience. A love story in a faraway land springs into the writer's mind. He glances over at his own partner in life, his lady fair, and he creates in his mind a character within his play. His wife curses as she picks up a splinter on the dry wood deck that he has yet to paint and he creates the fire spirit of the woman in his tale. She will be a true vixen, an amazon, a woman of more than just words, she will be fire and ice combined, just like his wife.
The mental images that he can turn into words fill his mind as he tries to capture each feeling, sensation, and thought. The sound of the wind in the trees, a bird's voice, a squirrel's angry rant, the slamming of a neighbor's door, all these simple sounds become the basis of words not yet written. Stories not yet told but which will be. These are the thoughts within a writer's imagination, simple emotions, and ideas felt and created within a writer's backyard.
Looking at the apple tree laden with fruit a writer envisions yesteryear. He sees homesteaders who trek to find a better existence, a place abundant enough where they can live off the land, and their labors. A writer feels a raindrop like others would feel tears, and in his heart he sees fields fed by rain, monsoons, and lagoons.
The old wood fence that encloses his backyard is a corral where a rodeo will be held next week, his dog becomes a prancing pony, rambunctious in its youth. The gentle wind that blows through the backyard suddenly becomes a windstorm whisking away the topsoil from prairie farms, and all homesteads within its reach. It steals the fruit from the tall orchard trees, blows the roof from the barn, and leaves an old farm devastated in its wake.
The writer's wife touches his shoulder, and he returns to today, and the warmth of the summer sun as he sits on his back yard deck.
There are just so many little details, emotions, and ideas that you can use as inspiration when you are writing. Unfortunately, sometimes writers focus far too much on trying to come up with a topic to write about, rather than simply allowing one to come to them. It means stepping back in time to when you first started to write and to the time when you wrote simply because you loved to. Relax in the writing process once again and just write because you enjoy it. Use a note pad to jot down key words or phrases to remind you of the feelings that you experience at any given time. Put down on paper the events that trigger a concept, or idea, till you have an article that you can use these emotions or memories within.
Spend a day out in your backyard, and look around you, really and truly look at the life around you. Examine your back yard through a writer's eyes. You might just be amazed by what you will discover when using your back yard as an inspiration for your writing.