While I’m working in my garden, I grow thoughts along with the herbs and teas, flowers, and greens. Thoughts of happiness, thoughts of sorrow Life and death; love lost, and love found. Memories creep in from the past and plans ripen for the future while I battle with bugs and pull weeds. I look around at all I have done, and I see the exact spot where my first novel took root in my brain. From spring rain and flower bulbs, to summer sunshine and fall harvest, I wrote until it was done. My garden grew along with my story. Snow fell, winter came, and Slowly melted away. I prepare the soil again this year, not only for lettuce and parsley, Pumpkins and potatoes… I make way for Sunflowers, Morning Glories, Sage, Cosmos, Marigold, Oregano, Primroses, Thyme, Hollyhocks, Chive, Forget-Me-Nots, Black-Eyed Susan’s Dill, Chamomile, Basil, Roses, Peonies, Violets, Lavender, Bee Balm… In the midst of all of this growth, greens, gourds, and blooms, I hope for a new tale to take root.
Today is April 29th; it’s a special day for me. In a nutshell, I became a writer. (There was so much shit happening that day, but that’s a story for another time, maybe. Just know that sometimes, something wonderful happens during the worst moments in life. I was having a “real day.”)
To follow up on Friday’s post about the gardens on My Acre of the World, Garden of Thoughts was written on 3/28/00 and has since been edited and fussed over. For context, I began writing my first novel on April 29, 1999, and finished it on October 29, 1999. It was a cathartic time as it was the first time I finished writing a book after years of trying to write something that mattered. Granted, it was far from perfect, full of “first-novel-itis,” still, I was very proud that I managed to have a complete manuscript with not only a beginning and an end, but it had a bunch of shit happening in the middle that actually held together. There’s a lot of potential to be mined, possible novellas or a collection of short stories tied with a novel. I haven’t looked at it in years. I have visited various chapters occasionally because one of the main characters, Katharine, appears in my other novels, and I have applied revisions to her storyline to keep everything consistent. (You change one thing, and the ripple effect goes through everything.) That’s one of the things about my novels: the characters have known each other; it’s a community. I do hope to publish it someday, but not yet; there’s a lot of weeding to be done in that garden of words.
I wrote this poe-umm about it as a follow-up to this life-changing event. Of course, a new tale did grow in my garden in 2000. Drinking From the Fishbowl came into being that season, and 24 years later, the major editorial trip through the manuscript was completed. I am so happy to see how the manuscript has grown over the years, and my flower gardens have grown into a mostly self-sufficient perennial garden.
I’m going out to tend to the garden today, and I’ll see what other thoughts will grow there this season.
I want to thank you for visiting and reading—it’s awesome that you’re here. I want to thank my subscribers and followers especially and welcome my new subscribers and followers. I truly appreciate your support, and it means a lot to me! Remember to be good to yourselves, and always be kind to others, okay?