Rain: It’s Child’s Play Because

Summary

The website content discusses the positive aspects of rain through personal anecdotes, illustrations, and reflections on how rain sustains life and inspires creativity.

Abstract

The article titled "RECIPROCAL PROMPT – RAIN" on the website delves into the author's appreciation for rain, emphasizing its essential role in sustaining life. Through a series of personal stories and illustrations, including sketches of children playing in the rain and references to a story featuring a character named Woedy Bear, the author conveys the joy and inspiration that rain brings. The article also pays tribute to Dr. Preeti Singh for her work in publishing the author's stories and encourages readers to see rain as a positive force despite its sometimes gloomy connotations. The author reflects on the fun of drawing in relation to rain and shares unfinished sketches, highlighting the process of artistic creation. Additionally, the piece mentions other stories enjoyed by the author and provides links to their books on Amazon.

Opinions

The author views rain not just as a source of life for nature but also as a source of joy and creativity for humans.
Rain is seen as a positive influence, contrary to the common perception of it as a bringer of gloom.
The author expresses gratitude towards Dr. Preeti Singh for her publishing efforts and wishes her well.
Drawing and art are presented as a process of experimentation and learning from mistakes, which the author has come to embrace over time.
The author cherishes memories of spending time in the rain with their children, emphasizing the fun of activities like jumping in puddles.
The article suggests that rain can evoke nostalgia and inspire storytelling, as seen in the author's own work, such as "The Silver Ragusaurus."
There is an acknowledgment that external factors, like a film release with a similar title, can influence the creative process, such as changing the title of a story.
The author is considering self-publishing a picture book on Kindle, indicating an openness to new publishing avenues.
The author appreciates the prompts provided by the editors of 'Reciprocal' and the opportunity to share their work, showing the value they place on community and collaboration in writing and publishing.

Rain Sustains Our Lives

Rain sustains our lives

Dwelling on this today, and having a rainy drawing I started a few years back. I thought I would return to this since @Dr.PreetiSingh has prompted us to write on this subject.

I am sure you will all join me in wishing Dr. Singh well. Thank you for all your hard work publishing our stories.

Rain seems to be a harbinger of grief and misery with its incessant drumming, especially when it is ceaseless. In the UK, recently, it rained for 3 weeks solid, and it is impossible to keep dry when out walking; it is easy to get tired of rain, but Dr. Singh reminds us that rain is something positive; indeed rain sustains us.

Rain nourishes flowers, trees, birds, frogs, fish, and even those pesky mosquitoes that bite us. Rain pools at our feet, and is such fun for children to play in.

Rain creates a mood. Children with their wellies love the rain. It is such fun to dance in the rain.

I drew the sketch at the top of this story this evening. It took me 15 minutes. I based it on two drawings I did a decade ago when I was considering turning my book, Woedy Bear into a picture book.

Here are the drawings. They are unfinished and have many notes on them and errors. I enjoy making mistakes when I do my initial drawings now, but when I was a teenager, I used to believe I should get the drawing right first time.

Drawing is a slow process of working out what works and what doesn’t work.

Here are the original sketches:

I spent many happy times in the rain with my young children. I enjoyed buying them beautiful coats and bright red wellies and taking them out for walks in the rain, jumping in puddles. I wonder whether my girls remember too. I based these drawings for this character on my eldest daughter. (Shh, don’t tell her.) She had this lovely spotty coat.

I really enjoyed returning to the rain for this prompt.

I drew the above drawing some years ago, when writing a story called The Silver Ragusaurus. I often asked my children to pose for me so that I could get the hand, legs and feet right. Rain is featured in this story when the protagonist, Tusk decides to smuggle the Ragusaurus into the house to keep warm. He takes the baby out into the garden and they get caught in the rain. Then he realises how much work looking after a baby is when the ragusaurus becomes hungry and eats his goldfish.

Originally, the story was called, The Silver Lining, but when I began sending it to agents, a film came out with the same title, which is why I changed the title to The Silver Ragusaurus.

I am sure that if someone had taken an interest in this story, I would have finished the illustrations a long time ago. Maybe, I will create that picture book and self publish it on Kindle alongside my other books.

Thank you to the editors of ‘Reciprocal’ for the wonderful prompts and the opportunity to publish my stories here. I hope you can see how much the rain has sustained my life and my stories through what I have shown you.

Some stories I enjoyed recently are: