Gardening
January 1, 1970
May 2005 Newsletter from the desk of Karen BrichouxContents:
*News
*Article: “Gardening”
*What I’m Reading
News:
*Congratulations to Janet, who won the April drawing for a signed ARC of THE GIRL SHE LEFT BEHIND. I will be drawing another winner from among my list of newsletter subscribers in May, then again in June. Good luck!
*I’ve completed the changes to my website. If you have time, drop by http://www.karenbrichoux.com and tell me what you think.
Article: “Gardening”:
It’s early May and rather than the usual warm weather, we’re having a cold snap. I don’t mind, because it gives me a chance to do all those things I’ve neglected doing while finishing up the manuscript for my next book. I’ve been up to my elbows in composted manure and I still ache all over from revamping my front garden so I can plant a few new varieties of hosta (I’m a hosta addict), ferns, and heuchera.
Why is this of interest to writing? Because I call it “downtime.” After six months of intense writing and rewriting, my creative brain is exhausted from playing with words. I’m sick of my office, sick of thinking about promotion ideas, sick of role-playing as my characters...just plain sick. This is where gardening comes in.
I have a lot of outdoor activities I love--hiking at the nearby lakes, climbing the banks along the river, walking in the city’s garden cemetery, learning more about the area’s birds, insects, mushrooms, trees, and wildflowers--but my favorite brain relief is my garden. I spend hours looking through catalogues, subscribe to a few garden magazines, and love putting my hands and brain to work playing with real, tangible things like dirt, compost, and plants. I love watching the tulips and daffodils I planted last fall poke through the cold ground before putting on a show. I love it when wild things appear in my garden and surprise me--from a Virginia creeper vine to a garter snake. But most of all, I love having a creation that isn’t 100 per cent a product of my own mind.
It’s a relief.
If you want to be a writer, don’t abandon the other things you love doing. There are fancy names for resting your brain from the creative trauma of writing a book. Filling the well. Restoring your creativity. Things like that. I call it resting. Giving up control for a little while and letting the sunshine, rain, dirt, earthworms, hail, and even the aphids play a part in the creative process. It’s a humbling and deeply satisfying experience.
*What I’m Reading:
THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD by Patrick O’Brian
REVERSE OF THE MEDAL also by O’Brian
WAR FOR THE OAKS by Emma Bull
FOLLOW ME HOME by Jerri Corgiat