As promised, I’m adding BIRDS description to the list below.

On an ongoing basis, I maintain a How-To-Describe word document. It contains descriptions for emotions, scenarios, and people that I can use when my brain turns to mush, which happens when I’ve been writing for eight straight hours.

Below find some lines from my How-To-Describe file that may help your drained brain along.

• Air – The air was clogging her lungs
• Air – The air was painted with fragrance
• Air – The air was crisp, and the smells of a not too distant winter mingled in the air
• Air – The air was crowded with (insert sound e.g. beach) sounds
• Air – The air was sweet with the hints of the incoming spring
• Air – The air held the faintest chill
• Air – The morning was scented with earth and pine
• Anger – A breath hissed out between her teeth
• Anger – The anger took form deep within and sprang hot
• Anger – Anger roiled up inside her
• Anger – Raw anger flared and mingled with posturing toward…
• Anger – A quiet rage radiated through her
• Anger – A simmering rage had her blood boiling
• Anger – As anger spit out of her eyes
• Anger – At the ice in her tone, she responded in defense and defiance
• Anger – Chest tightened into that familiar ball of anger
• Anger – Clinging to anger was simpler than dealing with the grief that was consuming her
• Anger – Everything seemed to wash over her at once: guilt, fright, remorse, fright, anger, denial, shock
• Anger – Fury briefly exposed
• Anger – Fury simmering
• Anger – hands clenched and unclenched, leaving deep crescent marks on moist palms
• Anger – She aimed a look at Bob that could have moved mountains, frozen oceans
• Anger – She carefully filtered out of her voice the anger surging through her
• Anger – She closed her eyes, fisted her hand in anger as the pain came to her
• Anger – Heat flashed in the pale blue eye
• Anger – She let raw temper carry her out
• Anger – She rubbed the knots of tension at the back of her neck
• Anger – Heat balled in her belly
• Anger – Her anger becoming more resilient she was quivering
• Anger – Her blazing gaze was so steady he thought he felt the heat on him
• Anger – Her eyes burned fierce and furious
• Anger – Her eyes spit fire
• Anger – Her eyes were slits when she hissed the words
• Anger – Her face was flushed with fury
• Anger – Her mouth closed, her lips formed  a long firm line
• Anger – Her voice cut the air between them like honed Damascus steel
• Birds – Birdsong burst out in an ecstasy of sound
• Birds – A pair of blue jays winged by in a sun-drenched, blue sky
• Birds – With their music trilling
• Birds – Their duet followed him into the house
• Birds – From deep within the branches of the olive tree drifted the piping song of birds
• Birds – Terns were darting in and out of the waves
• Birds – She watched an egret sail across a staggeringly blue sky.
• Birds – Her eyes followed the flight of a tern who’d expertly fished lunch and had it snagged between its bill
• Birds – Music from cicadas poured in the stillness of the night and tangled with the sound of water and wind
• Birds – Scream of crows overhead
• Birds – She watched a gull skim diamond-blue water, then bullet out to sea.
• Birds – Terns darted along the water’s edge, looking for food, their heads bobbing
• Birds – The cheerful sounds of conversing birds
• Birds – The screech of gulls in my ears, and the taste of brine on my tongue

I normally document the information, as it comes to me by category in order to make it easy when searching for the right description. Lists like these help me jog my memory and get back on track.

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