GARDENING OR WRITING

I'm back.  I had given up on this blogging project--trying to write, blog, and adjust to a brand new life.  Blogging For Dummies is well written, but I was tired of multi-tasking.  I have been gardening and am back to writing.  I am ready to tackle blogging again! 

My garden is blossoming.  I have roses and lavender and all kinds of herbs to breathe in as I walk down my little brick path behind a white picket fence.  I usually pick a leaf off each plant:  lemon balm, basil, Greek oregano, pineapple sage, tarragon, and spearmint, and crush it between my fingers to inhale the fragrance.  Soon I hope to have Monarch butterflies because I am planting a Monarch waystation, which provides host plants like Milkweed along with nectar plants like Lantana and Verbena-- in a sunny location. Monarchs spend the spring and summer preparing for their flight in the fall to winter in Mexico.  I will post some pictures when I see the first one.

I am still sporadically writing--some days intensely, others not at all.  When I write, I get totally immersed in my feelings.  Then I go back again and again to edit.  I have entered one memoir writing contest.  I wrote about the links between my grandmother, my mother, and me and the effects of our powerful relationships on the choices we made in similar and different circumstances.  I focused on the circumstances we each lived in, the choices we made, the expectations we had, and finally the reality of our lives as we aged. Entering this contest was a great exercise for me.  I had to synthesize all the different elements in my work-in-progress book in under 3000 words.  My essay is a microcosm of my book, its essence.  I felt revitalized after finishing the essay.  Even if I don't win or am not even a finalist, the effort I put forth has been rewarding.

I would love to hear about your writing, your successes (and any failures), and your experience entering contests.  Plus, I am always up for a book discussion or a gardening story.