Might and Main Monday: Tackling Procrastination
August 13, 2018Procrastination is the devil. It’s insidious, it creeps up on you when you hadn’t planned on it, it tricks you into behaving as a worse version of yourself. It thrives on your weaknesses. I’ve been thinking about procrastination lately because I’ve been doing it. Putting off revising my novel for days until I panicked late in the week and hopped on the work I’d previously given myself to do. This happened these last two weeks. I spun my wheels in place. I worried. I suffered from low-grade anxiety. My novel wasn’t good enough, I told myself, it needed too much…
Why a Novel About a Flower That Makes You Forget? Part 3
In these last few weeks, I’ve shared the origins of my novel The Forgetting Flower. It’s a story about memories, about a botanically unique plant, about sisterly relationships, and about Paris and Poland. It’s even about an immigrant’s dream of…
Might and Main Monday: Provence Vacation in my Mind
What is a vacation? By my definition, it’s a place where you go to relax and feel happy. In that case, writing is my vacation. It’s where I’m in a “flow” state, where I’m not concerned about every day tasks…
Why a Novel About a Flower That Makes You Forget? Part 2
Last week, in my post about the origins of my novel about a flower (The Forgetting Flower), I talked about the idea of plant scents, memory, and why I thought working in a plant shop would be a fun experience.…
Might and Main Monday: Struggling Not to Wilt in Summer
The heat of summer is intensifying. The sun beams a hotter radiation on Earth and challenges all growing things. Plants wilt, dogs pant, people sweat. I sit down at dinner and drink a large glass of ice water, then return…
Why a Novel About a Flower That Makes You Forget? Part 1
Most people love fragrant flowers. Who doesn’t want to take in the sweet smell of a lily or antique perfume of a rose? Scents are one of the gifts plants give us. They add to our sensory world. They, more…
Might and Main Monday: Inspired by Lavender
In July, I see lavender everywhere: in my garden as it blooms in the sun, in my mind as I write a novel set in Provence, on public street corners, in the books I read. This year, my summer beams…
A Tribute to Plants in Paris
This year on the 4th of July, my husband and I took our kids to see the fireworks show by our neighborhood lake. It was in a park where 5,000 people peacefully sat in the dark and watched pretty flowers…
Might and Main Monday: Why Read? Katherine Paterson
I’ve been thinking about why fictional books matter. Do they? Why read? What would happen if we could no longer read stories? Fiction readers would live like people who choose not to read. A world of the here and now…
