In a family of green thumbs,
I have none.
Still I plant
and water
and enjoy the fauna
and the florals
while they last.
I try,
and even though they die,
I find joy in
planting still.
Reflections
Is there something you are terrible at doing but still enjoy wholeheartedly? For me, gardening is more of an art form than a science, and even though it saddens me when I accidentally kill my plants, I still enjoy the process of planting and enjoy the beauty right at my doorstep. I’ve learned a little about plants over the past couple of years, and I’ve celebrated the many that are still alive. It’s one of those things that’s “not the destination, but the journey.” What journey are you on today?
Speaking of Journeys…
Last week I mentioned that I am planning on releasing a new book by the end of the year. It is a collection of poetry and I’m SUPER excited to share it with you. I will keep updating more and more as things get closer to the deadline.
I am currently sitting on some edits from two beta-readers. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, beta-readers are people who test-read your work and offer feedback on what works and what doesn’t. A good beta-reader represents the average reader of your targeted audience. For Messy Bun Mantras, all my beta-readers were people I knew, but not all of them knew me well. For this collection, I decided to contract a beta-reader on Fiverr to get an unbiased, fresh opinion. Sometimes it’s easier to send your work to someone who doesn’t know you rather than to someone who does because there is no level of expectation or years of history going into the interpretation of the work.
Over Labor Day weekend I will be holed up at home, combing through the comments from those test-readers and making adjustments and edits where necessary. It’s been a few weeks since I received their comments, but with my son starting school and starting a new job myself, frankly, I haven’t had much time to devote to my writing…and there are so many things to write about. I am looking foward to the three-day weekend and plan on doing pretty much nothing but reading, writing, and editing. What do you have planned? Feel free to bring me a latte if you’re not too busy…