the Trials of Writing

One of the things about writing that bugs me the most is when it reminds me of how little I know about anything. I feel my personal knowledge about the subjects that I do know is not enough or interesting to write stories, article or even poems. I'm left wondering what I can contribute to the literary world and that bothers me a great deal.

I'm trying to write a short story right now and I'm figuring out to write adequate description for it. I don't know that much about scenery or architecture to create captivating images for readers. I mean, I don't want to simply say: "The big brown tall building was in the middle of the street or the lane was lined with big beautiful trees."

I would like to know what kind of trees and what kind of building style it was or what kind of trees. Knowing that isn't enough either, because I need to be able to also blend it into the story so that it flows and helps the story along; however, I still need to know some basic stuff about these two topics to make my description and setting effective and realistic.

I'm researching all the time and and I just get overwhelmed with all of the information. I wish I could find a website that could give basic info on home and building design as well as nature stuff. That would be a tremendous help and I wouldn't end up feeling like an idiot.