Morning Rituals
Have you ever wondered how authors come up with their ideas for their books? Or have you ever thought you’d like to write a story, but didn’t know where to start?
I thought it would be fun to give some behind the scenes of the inspiration of my first book.
My first series of blogs was inspired by Squirt, the narrator and star of THE PARROT ON THE PORCH.
Squirt was a red-headed amazon parrot, and not only did he live on our porch in Panama when I was a kid, he observed us and regularly surprised us with things he taught himself to do.
We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into when a little featherless baby bird that needed to be fed in a dropper ended up as part of our family. As he grew feathers, he grew a personality, and by the time he was fully grown, he was a force to be reckoned with.
Morning rituals were one of my favorite things Squirt did.
Squirt WHISPERED in the morning for permission to get up.
Yup, at night, we’d put a sheet over Squirt’s cage. Squirt knew that he had to be quiet if the sheet was on his cage, but if he could hear us, he’d start whispering, “Hola,” or “Hello…” until we took the sheet off. As soon as the sheet came off, he’d the crank the up volume and yell, “HOLA!!!” or “HELLO!!!” over and over again until we’d interact with him. Saying “hi” to him was important, but if we didn’t give him food right away, there might be a price to pay.
Squirt’s morning ritual was to whisper under the sheet until someone in my family would take the sheet off, and then it was HELLO WORLD! The rest of the day, he’d be entirely loud and obnoxious, but not before that sheet came off.
I had a parrot who knew when to use a quiet voice and when to use a loud voice. Do you have a pet that does a silly morning ritual? I would love to know what your pet can do! Jot me a note to tell me what your pet can do.
Who knows…it might just inspire you to write your own story.
