Germination

When I was a kid, we had a few Chinese/Japanese lantern bushes lining the path along the side of the house. I loved how the puffy green seed pods turned orange in the fall and looked like glowing lanterns. Every few years, I think about getting one of these plants for my current house, but I can never find one in a local greenhouse. 

Lacking an established plant, I've tried starting them from seed. Usually, I can get most any variety of seed to sprout. It might not do too much after that, but I've at least seen it poke out its tiny green head. But these lantern seeds are stub-born. I've tried them in the ground, in pots, in wet paper towels, and...nothing. (I'm beginning to understand why greenhouses don't carry them.)

Because 2022 is my year to grow, I'm trying again. I found new instructions that suggested refrigerating the seeds for 6 weeks. I did that, and on January 1st I planted them in a little pot. Here's what it looks like:

Not very inspiring! But it reminds me that before growth happens, germination must occur. And that part of the process can require patience and persistence. Sometimes, we have to start over and over again before we make any progress at all. And that's just the way things are, in seeds, in writing, in life.

Send my seeds some good growing vibes, and hopefully I'll have some sprout pictures to share one of these days!

    

Writer Word of the Year 2022

Happy New Year! I hope you've all made it to the first Wednesday in January in good shape and are getting a feel for what you might want to accomplish this year. (Or maybe you don't want to accomplish anything other than just living your life, and believe me, no judgment here.)

My word for 2021 was Discipline, and as I've admitted, it was not a good choice. Patience would have been better. Or acceptance. Grace. I thought discipline might motivate me, but it turns out I needed a different kind of energy. Less taskmaster, more cloud-gazer.

This year's word, Grow, popped into my head a month or so ago, and it clicked immediately. (To my surprise and delight, my fresh-cut Christmas tree seemed to confirm the choice by unfurling soft baby needles over the past few weeks.) 

I've chosen grow for a few reasons. First of all, I really like to grow things. I love seeds that sprout in a paper cup and plants that tendril gently from their pots. I love the crawl of cacti and the sprint of mint. I love moss and avocado pits and Tillandsia air plants.

Growth can be surprising and unpredictable. Those are good things for writers, especially regarding first drafts, one of which I will be working on this year. Growth can mean getting better at doing something or getting better at not doing something. Growth can be as tiny as an alpine flower or as massive as a coastal redwood. Growth is potential realized.  

Last year at Christmas, my family and I spent some (Covid-safe) time in Arizona. Good friends sent us home with oranges from their tree, and I planted a few of the seeds on New Year's Day 2021. Here's what my little orange grove looks like today. Not astounding growth, but slow and steady. Just like me.

I hope you'll stop by often to see what's growing. Best wishes for health and happiness in the coming year!

Review! Interview! Giveaway!

 Hello, everyone! Please stop by Laura's Books and Blogs to:

• Read her lovely 5-star review of Passing Through;
• Read my author interview (she asked some great questions!); and
• Sign up for the giveaway--one copy each of Passing Through and The Storm Crows (U.S. only, please).

If you'd like to leave a comment here or there, even better!

Happy Yes-cember!

 

Greetings, all! I made it through the month of NO-vember, and here's my update.

• I'm pretty good at determining whether I should say no to spending money;
• I'm less good at determining whether I should say no to spending calories;
• I'm even worse at determining whether I should say no to spending time.

That's not a surprise to me, because time management is my continual challenge. I read a term the other day that sums up part of my problem: time confetti. Coined by author Brigid Schulte, it refers to what happens when time is broken up into unproductive, often unsatisfying, bits. It's not just about multi-tasking, though that's part of it. It's also about how we've all been trained to respond to every stimulus in real time. Every text, email, push, or social media alert tears off a little piece of time that I have devoted to something else and scatters it to the wind.

But now that 2021 is winding down, I'm going to shelve my time management issues. (Fear not, they will be waiting for me when I return.) As the holidays kick into full swing, I'm embracing a Yes-cember attitude, where I will say yes to fun things as often as possible.

I hope you're staying well and safe and finding joy in the simple things.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends and family! I hope you have much to be thankful for this year. As we move through the seasons at the speed of life, give yourself some time (even just an afternoon) to rest and reflect before the Christmas rush begins in earnest. 

Wishing you and yours continued health and happiness, laughter and love.

The Return of NOvember

Last December, when I was deciding on my writer word for 2021, "discipline" felt like a good choice. After the mess of 2020, I thought that imposing a sense of order on the new year would make all the difference. And it did. For about 2 weeks.

As it turns out, discipline was not a great word for me this year. I should have gone with "patience" or "leeway" (as in giving myself a lot of it). Because, as you know, things were still challenging in 2021. Thank goodness much of the political furor died down, at least temporarily, but the world is still messy. And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who ate too much chocolate and streamed too many shows.

But I'm not throwing in the 2021 towel just yet! Hence the return of NOvember. "No" often gets a bad wrap as a punitive word with negative energy behind it. But it can be such a helpful tool. So I've decided to buckle down in NOvember and say No as often as possible. 

Of course, the phrasing of the question make all the difference. If I ask myself if I should have salad instead of fries, instead of the other way around, that rather defeats the purpose. So, here's a more helpful list of my November questions:

• Is (fill in the blank) a good use of my time and/or money?
• Does (fill in the blank) bring me closer to my goals?
• Will (fill in the blank) make me happy?
• Does (fill in the blank) serve me?

Anyway, you get the gist. Hopefully by the time December's season of excess rolls around, I'll feel like I've earned a few indulgent yeses. 

What does November have in store for you?

And good luck to anyone on the NaNoWriMo wagon this year! You can do it!!

Get Your Monster Mash On

Hello all! We're nearing the end of  the month, and I'll be sorry to see October go. We've had the most gorgeous weather, which will either make it easier or more difficult when the first snow arrives!

My sister belongs to a choir in Seattle, and last year they did this socially-distanced version of Monster Mash. I hope it helps you get in the *spirit* for Halloween :-)

And I also hope you have more treats than tricks

With some scares thrown in, if that's your thing!

For anyone who doesn't know this bit of Colorado lore, The Stanley Hotel in nearby Estes Park, CO was the inspiration for the Overlook Hotel in The Shining. Find out more in this segment from the Today Show 2018. Happy haunting!