Growing Your Writing

It’s that time of year again…I’ve just finished reading another one of those essays comparing gardening and writing. For the most part they are lovely expressions on how you can plant the seeds of ideas and nurture and care for them until they turn into the beautiful blossoms of your completed work and how editing is just pruning etc., etc., insert next warm/fuzzy/inspirational metaphor here.

If it speaks to you, Mazal Tov! For me though, the only gardening my writing resembles is the incredibly dysfunctional and antagonistic relationship I have with my deranged Hydrangea bush. I love this plant, but year after year it mocks me. For years I have mulched it, fertilized it, pruned it and pH balanced it. I have fussed over it, emailed gardening blogs about it and researched gardening books and websites trying to figure out what I’ve been doing wrong. And what do I get for all this energy and focus? 2 to 3 blossoms, at most, a year. Yes, the leaves are gorgeous and lush. Yes, it’s grown to be a 5 foot by 5 foot monster. But the beautiful blue mop head blossoms I lust after have consistently eluded me…until this year.

This year we had a very busy and chaotic Spring here at the Kozlowski Ranch and due to those conditions, no usual Spring chores were done. There was no mulching, no pruning, no weeding, no fertilizing. Nada. Zilch. We didn’t even step foot into our local nursery until the second week of June. And yet, one bleary early morning last week, as the dog was going about his business, I looked over and noticed not one, not ten, but DOZENS of Hydrangea blossoms. I give up. I have no idea what makes this plant tick. I surrender, it wins.

And I’m about in the same spot with my writing. Maybe the Hydrangea IS trying to tell me something. Perhaps if I relax and let nature take its course, lovely things will happen. Perhaps it means that after years of hard work and laying the ground work and doing all the right things, it will all come together in a surprising way. And perhaps it means my writing is my writing and my Hydrangea is evil and just likes to mess with my head. I’ll keep you posted.