December 2009

All Things Frozen

Somewhere in the bottom of the pond a dozen goldfish huddle close to the pump seeking warmth. Tiny hummingbirds perch on the sugar feeders sucking up liquid energy. The feeders have to be brought in at night to keep them from turning into solid ice! Suet is disappearing like snack food.

The Pugs (who are now a year old), are shocked to find their warm lush garden has turned into a frigid alien landscape of uncomfortable pain which is no fun to play in. They run outside wrapped in warm coats, take care of business and race back inside. Full of youthful energy they chase each other up and down the long hallways and the elderly Papillions’ stay out of the way.

The one element which isn’t frozen is my imagination and my writing. ‘Tis the season to let inspiration and “what if’s”, turn into heated sparks of plot, character, motivation, and getting it all down on cyber paper.

My wish is for the spirit of Peace to warm your heart and those around you.

DIVA @ DIVOT

November 2009

This is the month of whatever was I thinking. Two hundred daffodil bulbs need planting. The weather has turned cold and rainy and my image of a spring garden filled with beauty is battling with reality. Darn, and oh gee, this is not going to be easy. I keep telling myself it is all an engineering challenge. Take it one bulb at a time. My knees are already screaming.

My writing mind is also screaming. What have you done? I have a habit of creating secondary characters I think are interesting. No matter they may not have a part in the story. The crux is the “may not,” part. I keep the character in the story until I am sure they won’t fit. This drives my logical mind nuts. Right now I have a character I love and don’t want to delete her to the maybe in another story, file. In a case like this I turn to writer’s intuition, stick with this character for a while longer, and hope she has a reason for showing up.

Much like the two little fawn Pugs who showed up, totally unexpected, in my life at five weeks old. Here they are eleven months later racing and bouncing through the garden with a puppy’s curiosity and silliness every time they go out. When I write, Diva and Divot cuddle next to me, like hip to hip Imperial Fu dog guardians, offering their warmth, protecting me with their dreamy snorting. I can’t imagine the story- line of my life without them.

Finches and bees love sunflowers!

Fountain @ glass sculpture

October 2009

First rains and cold temperatures herald the beginning of fall. A time to look over the garden and wonder how in the heck I will get all the last minute tasks finished. I still haven’t cut the iris leaves, and there are hundreds of them! However, all the plums have been harvested and I put up 32 pints of luscious ruby red jam. Yum. The house smells like a sugar plum factory :D

Time to stop feeding the handsome orange and white goldfish so they will begin the process of dormancy. Last year I selected over a dozen of them from the pet store and made sure their patterns of color were as close to Koi as I could get. They are triple in size and beautiful watch while they cruise just below the watery surface between the lily pads and plants.

Writing is mostly done in my head these days. While I trimmed the spent blossoms from the lamb’s ears I resolved an important plot element. Planting winter beets I found an answer to one of my character’s family background. While making space in the barn for the glass sculptures to be stored I went through a major conflict scene in my mind. And out of no where while picking cherry tomatoes I found the reason the antagonist wears a certain ring.

I know I have developed a symbiotic relationship with the garden. It is a living space in which I physically work and mentally let my imagination and creativity grow and develop. Now to get the mental work down on paper!

Garden Fountain and glass sculptures

My Garden

Ed, Sherry, and Gabi at the Garden Writer’s Weekend July 2009

Summer is coming to an end . . . big sigh! It never seems to last long enough for my many projects to get finished.

In July I held the annual weekend writer’s critique group and due to unforeseen road blocks, like conflicting scheduling and ferry nightmares, I was thrilled to have several long time writing friends brave the hazards and make it.

I always appreciate their supportive critiquing and encouragement in my own writing projects. This year they were insistent I get up off my tush, get busy, and finish up the first draft of the current project and submit it to agents. We had a great weekend, got in lots of serious critiquing time and the great food and wine kept our energy and brains moving right along! :D

I look forward to next summer and sharing the garden with a great group of writing friends.

I highly recommend visiting Gabi’s website and ordering her funny, witty, murder mysteries.

July 2009


Summer. Much anticipated, sought after and adored, has arrived. Or so we hope. So much heat and glaring sun cause those of us in the Northwest to scramble and find our sun block and darkest UV-glasses. We toss our layers of clothing into the corner of the closet and hunt under the bed for our sandals.


Mother Nature beckons us to late sunsets dipping into the glittering Puget Sound, along with BBQ’s of salmon cooked on cedar planks accompanied by a nice chilled Washington white wine. If only we could hold and keep weeks of these heavenly perfect temperatures . . . if only. The truth shatters our hopes with maybe five consecutive days of bliss until an offshore front moves in and rolls over us with clouds and rain. But ever the optimists we look forward to the next few days of bliss.


My writing takes great effort in the summer because there are too many distractions in the garden. So many beautiful colors and every time I turn a corner on the pebbled pathway something makes me catch my breath. Dawn in the garden is my favorite time. Sunlight makes everything sparkle and glitter. The little goldfinches sit on the edge of the fountain like yellow gems. And the sky is like a busy freeway with birds zooming in and around the trees and hedges.


The air is filled with heady cinnamon perfume from the Ragusa rose. No fussy unscented hybrids in this garden. Peonies’ scent is delicate, Honeysuckle is sweet, and clematis mixes it up with golden hops on the side of the barn. The bearded irises were wonderful, and the lavender spikes are filling out. Germander is almost blooming and fleabane is just starting to take off as are Styrex trees. Petunias on a hot day smell just like warm horse flesh. Yes they do. The vegetable garden is poking along. It has been cold at night!


It is hard to write scenes with violent antagonists when peace and beauty lies just outside the door. Sigh, I have been substituting writing for reading and research. I will save antagonists for a rainy day.


The Pugs are sleeping through the heat of the day after chasing away the noisy woodpeckers and Stellar jays this morning. The puppies have decided they don’t like the sound these birds make . . .too funny. The elderly Papillons only react if quail are in the yard. They take off like white fluff balls thinking they will catch a fat bird too heavy to take off. Furry optimists.

June 2009

When I walk down the garden path, plants are on a fast track of growth and productivity. So are the weeds. Just when the first round of removing the unwanted guests from the flower beds is completed it’s time to start all over again.


Sometimes the task seems never ending, and that’s when I start thinking about landscaping fabric and three inches of cedar bark. Nice and tidy, everything in place. Cut down on physical labor. Solve the problem presto, fasto.


And that’s the exact time I start laughing. Just what the heck did I think gardening was all about –if not physical labor? Getting out there every day and tackling all those wiggling, growing, green, organic “things”.


And this is the seasonal time in my writing when discipline is a challenge. So many other “things” tempt me away from the labor of tending to words. Of course when I am in the midst of forming those words I am deliciously enthralled and entertained.


Human behavior is ever entertaining, mine included ;)


Time to get out and plant the vegetable garden. Time to work on my newest character in my manuscript. I think she will own a small wire-haired Dachshund named Wally.


Did I mention I have two six month old Pugs? They are my bookends and snuggle hip-to-hip next to me, when I write. This is inspiration!

May 2009


With over fifty mature Tuscan rosemary bushes and numerous other beautiful plants like New Zeeland Flaxs’ and rock roses lost to the cold winter; I asked a friend who is a professional horticulturist to stop by, survey the damage, and make some suggestions.


While I followed him around with a pen and notebook he made this pithy and blunt assessment. “No matter how much we want to believe we mimic a Mediterranean climate, it only takes one winter like this to yank us into reality.”


Well, hell. He is right of course, and I have taken his advice and replaced the rosemary with boxwood, and Pieris. No more handsome flax plants. I can’t bare the thought of losing them again. Thank god, I didn’t plant any Palms.


I figure I have two ways to deal with the unexpected. Wrap myself in a cloak of morose pouting or use the debacle as an opportunity. It does help to have an expert critique the situation and make suggestions on how to move ahead. When things aren’t working with my writing, I step away from it for a moment and try to think of the obstacle as a chance to make changes.


Recently, I decided on introducing a secondary character who has an unusual lifestyle. However, something just didn’t ring true to the situation the character was in. It dawned on me to change the character from male to female and it was a perfect solution. Simple and right on target.


The moment I realized this, it was as if this woman stepped out of a swirling mist and began to take form in my imagination. All sorts of ideas tumbled into place. Her voice, her age, and her personal history. She is the right fit for the story and plot, and just like replacing the Rosemary in the garden, I have replaced my male character for a female.

Time to move on and get busy, things are warming up!!

April 2009


This winter has been extremely dry and cold for the Pacific Northwest. This combination has been devastating on my garden and I have lost all my Tuscan rosemary and most of my Flax plants. GRRRR. There is a major lack of vegetation around the pergola leaving me more than a little irritated with the whole gardening experience.


On the other hand this offers a new perspective in the overall design and I will make new and different plant choices based on possible upcoming weather patterns. Opportunity beckons.


Writing can often suffer from a devastating crisis as I have often discovered. I am at a point in my new manuscript, 36K words into it, and I don’t like the way the plot is developing. I am doing a fair amount of ‘story-boarding’ to come up with new possibilities. This, like my garden situation, is frustrating and at the same time it offers me opportunities.


I do however; feel guilty my story isn’t moving forward as fast as I’d like it to. This is where patience and trust in the creative system come into play. I am waiting for synchronicity to kick in this month of April and bring wonderful solutions for both my garden and my writing.

February 2009


This month in my garden is all about heavy lifting. The daytime temperatures hover in the high forty’s and fifty’s, so working outside is pleasant –if you keep moving.


Heavy lifting is about moving rocks, building berms, planting bare root trees, pruning and spraying dormant fruit trees, and ordering and spreading mulch.


Heavy lifting for a writer means getting the “crappy” first draft on paper, and finding creative ways to get it done. For example just write the scenes in dialogue and later going back to fill in emotions and surroundings.


The daily progress you make towards the first draft will surprise you. Try for a thousand words a day, and make a goal to have the complete draft done in three months time, set a date. You will pat yourself on the back when your heavy lifting pays off!

New Years 2009


I am always amused at the marketing media’s take of New Year. Diets, resolutions, exercise, and organizing your office or home, are a few of the items on the annual and “to do lists”. All these activities take energy and action. The get up off your couch and do something mantras.

And of course there is another way. The wait and see mantras. Wait for the snow to melt enough so I can get out of the driveway. Wait till the used newspaper pile is high enough before carting it out to the far away recycling bin, over by the gate, buried in snow. Certainly wait to think about dieting . . . and wait until the last of the holiday sweets are no longer lurking in the house. Geese, I can’t wait to finish them off ;-)

However; there is no waiting around for writing. This is the best action to usher in the New Year. The lure of creating words on a page is sweet magic and creating imaginary worlds for a new year is rich and rewarding. Better than holiday candy . . . well maybe not chocolates. You get my drift (pun intended).

I wish all of you an abundance of words and creativity in this New Year and hope your stories inspire those fortunate enough to read them.