What greenhouse gardening taught me about the creative life.
If there’s one silver lining to being home for nine months and counting, it’s that my garden has never looked better. The extra at-home time convinced me to try something I’ve been wanting to do for ages: greenhouse gardening. So this past summer, we ordered a greenhouse kit and my husband and son, bless their hearts, spent several days building me a 7’x13′ greenhouse.
Although I read a couple of books on greenhouse gardening, as the temperatures dipped, I started to panic. I had this whole huge empty greenhouse — how would I decide what plants to put in it? How cold would it get during the coming winter? What would survive?
As these questions swirled in my head, another one emerged: Is there a writing metaphor here? And of course, there is. Because I cannot control Mother Nature or what type of winter she sends us. Nor can I predict what temperature a brand-new greenhouse might maintain through the cold season. And there are several other factors equally outside my control from pests to humidity to light.
There are many things outside our control in the creative life. We cannot anticipate how our words will be received nor whether someone will beat us to that shiny new idea. We cannot know in advance if we’re submitting our story to the right publication, the right agent, the right editor. All we can do is create our best work and put it out into the world.
Ultimately, I put a variety of plants into my greenhouse this fall. Herbs, both tender and hardy, flowers, and seeds, and even a sweet potato and a hot pepper that I dug up from my vegetable garden.
If you enjoyed this post, you may like the others in her “Writing in the Garden” series, beginning with Late Season Blooms. Or learn more about Julie’s book coaching services.
