All posts by Amber

Hands in the dirt; head in the clouds.

Antics, , , ,

The secret twin of my life as a writer is my life as a mini-farmer.  I’m not mini.  My farm is.  I tend a 40 x 40 vegetable garden (fenced to keep out the deer and elk) as well as the potatoes, artichokes, rhubarb, herbs, and asparagus (which have sprawled outside the fence because the herbivores don’t eat them.

It’s all manual labor for me out there: tilling, weeding, planting, harvesting.  And it’s work that leaves my back aching but my belly full and – here’s the writing connection – my writer’s mind loose, free, and open.

As creatives, we must make times for our minds to wander, to get lost, to be unproductive.  When I’m stuck, I’m usually trying too hard.  There’s nothing like a little pulling weeds to get me on track again.  That, and chickens.  They are delightful and so are the omelets!

Nation by Terry Pratchett

My Reads,

I confess.  I’ve dog-eared this book.  This exquisite, deep, moving book.  Passage after passage of brilliant phrases.  I’ve been compelled to write them down, tuck them in safe places, hold them close.  Ahhh…

“Ah, good one!  I must answer, mustn’t I?  Because you liked my blue Jupiter.  Because we keep going.  Because we’ve come so far and have such a long way still to go.  Because there are stars and blue hermit crabs.  Because you are here, and strong and clever.  The joy of the moment.  Those sorts of things.”