I’ve always wanted to travel to Scotland and Ireland for many reasons, the biggest one being the castles. I love the idea of exploring a building that holds so much history. Same reason I want to go to Rome and Pompeii, to explore the ruins. Sadly, no castles or Roman ruins have graced my travel plans as of yet.
I did have the opportunity to explore some really old places on my trip to Mexico.
Really old.
The ruins at Monte Alban are about 10 km west of Oaxaca City. It is believed that the Zapotecs began their use of this area in 500 B.C.E. Beat that, castles.
The theory is this area was developed as a governing and religious center for the inhabitants of the valley below. As you wander the ruins, you find yourself surrounded by temples, palaces, tombs and even a couple of ball courts.
While the Zapotec’s love of steps had my legs burning by the evening, I really loved wandering freely about the ruins of an ancient society.
Meet our guide. I wanted to take him home with me.
A relatively short set of stairs.
"Danzantes". Originally called dancers, these are images of those tortured by the Zapotecs.
More carvings.
Excavations still going on
See that little flat spot? That's where they are excavating in the previous photo.
Lost count of the steps I had to climb for this view.
Ball court
Yes, we climbed all the stairs we saw. Ouchie.
Lots of wildflowers growing around the ruins.
More wildflowers
As I looked at these photos, the ruins of an ancient society, the beauty of new growth pushing through, I thought there must be some lovely correlation to writing here. Something deep and poignant, right? If sit here long enough, I can make it work.
Or maybe not.
Today’s writing lesson – don’t force the story. Have you ever found yourself wanting to insert something in a story, thinking that it would be particularly clever or unique? It doesn’t seem quite right, but your determined to make it work?
Stop shoving your fat foot in a tiny shoe.
If you feel like you are forcing part of the story, chances are your reader will notice. Nothing wrong with working for a story, researching and outlining and all those wonderful things I hear plotters do a lot. But if after all the work, things still don’t fit, maybe it’s time to move on to something else.
Hey, look at that. I made it about writing after all.
On an unrelated note, I am currently working with other bloggers to do a charity link up post. We are hoping to get a large group involved, so if you are interested, let me know in the comments, or send me a message on Twitter (@amberwest).
Currently Listening to: The Tangled Soundtrack
cheeqz
cheeqz
cheeqz
cheeqz
cheeqz
cheeqz
cheeqz
cheeqz
cheeqz
cheeqz
