Weeding

Weeding—to a librarian—means clearing the shelves of battered, or sometimes unread, books to make space for new materials.

Weeding—to a gardener—means clearing out unwanted plants to make space for wanted ones. I kept eyeing a plot in our front yard, wanting to go out, clear out the “weeds”, amend the soil, and plant something that might thrive. The weather continued hot, and so I waited.

Weeding—to me as writer—means working through all these bits of paper that are cluttering my desk. Er . . . desks. At least three desks are cluttered. No, make that four. Two desks for writing (trying to keep projects separate but sometimes they get mixed), one for checks and finances, one that simply accumulates odd papers.

I’m making headway, but it’s slow going.

Planting

Some spare time sent me to our neighborhood nursery, where I inquired about plants that might suit our plot. I got good advice, reinforced by a neighbor with a thriving yard, concerning how much water even a desert plant needs to get established. Three times a week, dropping to once a week in winter.

And a cool day had me outside weeding and loosening the dirt, followed by a rainy one adding in a bag of compost. All that in the spirit of planting. 

Here is the Texas Sage (Lynn’s Legacy) installed just before our promised 100% chance of rain. It should grow into a sizable bush with summer blossoms. And with a watering routine, there’s hope I can also add flowers here next spring.

Writing Thoughts

Rains (and a tumble while planting yesterday that shook me up) have brought a new mindset. I finished the latest review and tweaking of my Goose Girl verse retelling—Sky’s Daughter. My critique group will read it all for our November meeting.

Meanwhile, I’ve discovered again that it’s not possible for me to work on two tales at the same time. (One tale and a blog, yes.)

So much writing advice tells you to write the whole draft, then go back to revise. I wish I could! 

Instead, as long as I’m wearing my revision cap (and don’t know where to find my writing hat), I’m going back to the beginning of Quantum Quest, to straighten out what’s already occurred, with the hope that I’ll have built up a good head of steam to continue forging ahead down new rails. (Maybe I need a conductor’s hat.)

Oh well, we each have to do the work in our own ways.