Pictures=Lifesaver!

Wow, you guys, I am so sorry I haven't posted in...oh, God knows how long. A long time. I don't even have an excuse for you, and I feel like a jerk for keeping you guys waiting. Well, "you guys" being maybe one person. I would love it if more people read my blog, but that means I'll have to post a lot more. It will be my mid-years resolution. This post might be a little too similar to the post about setting, but here goes anyway. This summer, and a little bit before, I've taken a sudden interest in taking pictures with my mom's Nikon D-40 camera. It's a nice camera, and I'm clumsy, so I can only hope I won't magically break it or drop it in the ocean. Because that, my friends, is very well possible. Anyway, every time I take a landscape picture, I have a feeling that one day, I will use that picture to describe a place in the book that I will be writing (guys, I have like 15 more ideas for books that I need to write, and I already have, like, four going). Like, pictures I take of beaches we visit, the gigantic Sequoia and Redwood trees in California, the gaping deserts of Arizona and new Mexico, the endless crop fields of Texas and Arkansas...I have a feeling I will use it all someday, to describe someplace. Another place I loved visiting while we were moving to Maine this summer was San Francisco. I love big cities, especially New York City. People think I'm crazy, and sometimes I agree with them. I love the tall buildings, the lights, some of the interesting people you meet, the sightseeing, the shopping, I loved all of it. I loved San Francisco because it was so unique. It was unlike any other big city I've ever been to. The smells, the sights, the roads, the people, and all. There was also the Ghirardelli chocolate factory! It was so wonderful :) The only downside was that the Golden Gate bridge was enveloped in fog. We couldn't see the whole thing, just the bottom of it. Alcatraz would've been cool to visit on a foggy day, but the tickets were sold out until...wait for it..JULY 8TH!!! I was so mad, I mean, is it really that popular? When is the next time I will make it across the whole country, people? They don't know that, but URGGHHH!! ANYways. Imagery. Pictures of real-life places are great to have when you need imagery in your writing, because, like I said in my settings post, you've actually been there, you know what it's like, and most importantly, you know what it looks like. If you really want to go above and beyond, write down what you smell, and what you are hearing. All five senses can come into account with imagery. In fact, it's best that way. Usually I only do this if I'm planning on using that place for a setting in a book, but I guess I do it whenever I feel like it. Sorry this is so short, but I'm tired and my thoughts keep running away from me. So I strongly encourage you to take pictures of unique landscapes! Not pictures of everywhere you go, unless you want to. That's something I would do :) I cannot express how important pictures are in writing! If you're like me, you'd forget what a place looks like after a year, and then you're like, a year later, writing a book, Man, I wish I remembered what that place looked like...google it! I mean, I guess you could google it, but that's no fun! Happy writing! <3 (the pictures below are of a street in San Fran, then the Golden Gate Bridge)