It’s the task of the writer — and the special gift of the writer — to find words for the things that are hardest to put into words.  While the old adage is ‘a picture paints a thousand words’, the challenge we relish is attempting to do the opposite: using words to paint pictures in vivid, real-life detail, and, even more challenging, to capture the subtlest nuances of emotion.  But that doesn’t mean it isn’t very difficult at times.  Perhaps in some ways it’s hardest of all for a writer, who knows the immense importance of finding exactly the right words at the right moment.

So today I share a picture to convey those thousand words, through some little friends of mine — collectively known as ‘the writer doggies’ — who sit on my desk and keep me company while I write (a good thing to have for such a solitary activity).  They’re always good at being quiet, but today there seems a deep sadness in the quiet camaraderie they share.