Sometimes he used a spade in his garden, and sometimes he read and wrote. He had but one name for these two kinds of labor; he called them gardening.
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
News
I’m so excited to announce that my micro-essay, “On the Path to Hope,” about coping with my daughter’s habit of self-mutilation and thankfully her growth, won 2nd place in the Mothers Always Write essay contest. It’s now live on the website.
My short non-fiction piece, “The Scent of a Daphne,” has been published in Rooted: An Anthology of Arboreal Nonfiction from Outpost 19 press. It’s a great anthology edited by Josh MacIvor-Anderson, author of On Heights & Hunger, with a foreword by Bill McKibben, one of the most respected and well known environmental advocates. Outpost19 has a terrific section of writing prompts and thoughts on craft as they relate to the natural world. Click here to explore. My little blurb is in the Author Notes. Rooted is available at Amazon and other bookstores.
I often use a modified version of meditation for writerly inspiration and to shape my stories. The technique involves a lot of sitting, breathing, and not thinking. But it really works! I wrote about the practice in a post for the wonderful site Women Writers, Women’s Books. It’s an informative, supportive resource for women writers. Please check out my post and if you try this technique, comment and tell me! Here’s the article.
Featured
I had a fun conversation with Dave Ledoux on the podcast “Back to My Garden.” Dave interviews dozens of gardening lovers every year and has a huge archive on his website. We talked about everything from the challenges of gardening in rainy, hilly Seattle to the frustrations of having moles in the garden. Click here to listen to the interview.
In late 2015, I talked about small-space gardening with Seattle Met magazine, covering best plant choices for tight spaces, summer watering, and why having a patch of nature is so important for city dwellers. Click on the image to read the article.
From 2016
I was surprised and delighted to learn my novel, Harvesting the Sky, was a semi-finalist in the Del Sol Press First Novel Competition last year. It’s about a botanist in Paris who grows a medicinal apple to help the ill and elderly while fighting off a mysterious stranger who wants to destroy it. It’s set in Paris in current day times and is available for representation.
