Whether you count summer as starting on the official day when the sun reaches its northernmost point (June 21st this year), or the Memorial Day weekend, or when the kids wrap up their school year, there is no doubt that we are in Summer Mode already. For many of us, summer means a slower pace, more time outside, and hobbies like gardening.
As a Floridian, I am lucky enough to garden year-round, although there are definitely seasons and different types of gardening and growing, at different times of year. Right now, with our heat and humidity, early morning is the best time to be out puttering around the garden. With our daily rains, watering is becoming less of a concern, and weeds and pests are requiring more focus.
This week I was reflecting on how much gardening is like writing.
- As gardeners, we plant seeds in hopes that they will grow and blossom. As writers, story ideas may start as a simple sentence or a single character, and the hope is that with nurturing, it can grow into a poem, or picture book, or novel.
- As gardeners, we must be patient with the process. As writers, things can’t be rushed. Our ideas and words must unfold and grow at their own pace.
- As gardeners, we must pay attention to the conditions in order to get the best result. As writers, we know that not all pieces of writing require the same preparation and planning.
- As gardeners, we know that there are sometimes surprises. The full grown plant may not be at all what we expected when we started. As writers, we know our completed piece may be more beautiful than we expected, or more dreadful than we can stand.
- As gardeners, we know that sometimes you just have to pull up the mistakes and start over. As writers, we know that revising and rewriting is critical and sometimes things need to just be cut out.
- As gardeners, we enjoy sharing the beauty of our blooms or the bumper crop of limes. As writers, we passionately share the fruits of our labors with our readers.
- As gardeners, we are eternally optimistic. No matter how bad this year’s crop, we know that there is always next year. As writers, we are also optimistic beyond reason. We believe that our next project will be the most spectacular one yet!
So to all the gardeners and writers out there, happy summer!
