A Writer's Moon by Barbara Baldwin

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"The Tenderhearted Cowboy is a heartwarming story filled with romance and passion. The book leaves you on the edge of your seat wanting more. Excellent read..." -- Amazon customer

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Tenderhearted Cowboy has several night scenes which always include the moon. Regardless of whether you're a writer or a reader, a traveler or a sitter, I'm sure you've gazed into the sky one moon-lit night and let your mind wander. It just so happens that I have too...

A Writer's Moon

            The full moon, yellow and bright against an ebony backdrop, rose high in the sky, shining over fallow fields, dancing across the pond like a thousand fireflies, and whispering to me in the night -- "Come with me and listen to my story.  Let me teach you to love."

            I realize many people have recorded the moon's mysticism long before I picked up a pen, but no matter where my characters reside, no matter in what century they have lived, the moon remains the one constant.

            What enchantment does that glorious globe of luminous light hold that makes me dream of lovers, or write of romance and intrigue?  After all, in rather non-scientific terms, the moon is merely a chunk of rock.  It doesn't even produce its own light, but simply reflects the sun's rays.  And yet in the dark of night, exotic words emerge. 

            Moonbeams, moonglow; a hunter's moon, a harvest moon; phases of the moon, once in a blue moon.  I can promise my heroine the moon, think my hero magnificent enough to rope the moon, and believe witch doctors and sorcerers as they chant incantations to the moon.

            At times when I sit at the computer and the words won't come, or when my characters rebel against my direction, I want to howl at the moon.  It doesn't matter if it is a full moon, a sliver of a moon or no moon at all.  My feelings can't be changed by a crescent moon, or even when clouds obscure the moon.

            There may be a man in the moon, but he can't compare to my hero when the moonlight shines on his golden locks or reflects the passion in his eyes. 

            The greatest writers in history have faithfully administered to the moon's ego, singing its praises and inconsistencies with eloquent words.  It's impossible to forget the majesty of Shakespeare's Romeo (“Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear”), or Alfred Noyes’ The Highwayman (“I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way.”)  It makes little difference that tragedy ended both these love affairs.  The moon must have its say, reminding us it oversees both the love and laughter in our lives, and the tragic termination of our most tender feelings.

            So beware!  No matter the course of your writing -- romance or tragedy, mystery or myth -- the moon will exert its primal pull.  Without conscious thought, you will find yourself incorporating that masterful overseer of human emotions into your manuscript. You are not alone when you disguise the moon behind a veil of clouds. Don't be concerned as you proclaim your characters moonstruck, moon-blind, moon-eyed, or moonish; or when they exclaim over a moon flower, moonscape, moonseeds, moonstones, or a moonshell.  Continue to scatter your writing with moon dust and moonbeams; enjoy each and every moonrise or moonset.  You are in very good company, for in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, there are over 130 references to this chunk of rock I affectionately call A Writer's Moon.


(This essay was originally published in Crumbs in the Keyboard, an anthology. All authors donated their work and proceeds benefited The Center for Women and Families, which in turn benefited those affected by domestic violence.)
Barbara Baldwin
Https://www.authorsden.com/barbarajbaldwin