• Plants & Gardening

    Plants Are Speaking Right Now, Probably in Your Backyard

    Plants Are Speaking Right Now, Probably in Your Backyard, Karen Hugg, https://karenhugg.com/2018/11/26/plant-sounds/ #plantsounds #trees #forest #bioacoustics #novel #books #SongoftheTreeHollow

    Did you know plants make sounds? I didn’t up until a few years ago. The idea is fascinating, and surprisingly already proven in some scientific studies. For instance, at the University of Western Australia, researchers discovered corn plants created clicking sounds in their roots as they grew. Scientists found a similar phenomenon in pine trees coping with drought. The trees’ xylem tissue made snapping sounds when moving an air bubble. In 2017, the Yale School of Forestry produced a sound experiment where they developed a device to translate a plant’s…

  • Writing

    Why I Wrote a Novel About a Tree That Sings: Part Two

    Why I Wrote a Novel About a Tree That Sings: Part Two, Karen Hugg, https://karenhugg.com/2018/11/15/cat, #cats #SongoftheTreeHollow #novel #Seattle #fiction #books

    In Part One of this series, I wrote about how my affection for trees and the idea of plants making vibrations inspired me to write Song of the Tree Hollow. Today I’ll address the other piece of the puzzle: the sudden experience of my cat dying and coming back to life.

  • Writing

    Why I Wrote a Novel About a Tree That Sings: Part One

    Why I Wrote a Novel About a Tree That Sings, https://karenhugg.com/2018/11/12/tree, Karen Hugg #tree #novel #SongoftheTreeHollow #Seattle #book

    Hey everyone, I’ve published a short novel called Song of the Tree Hollow. It’s a literary mystery about a young woman who discovers she has a magical touch with plants — and unfortunately, a dark family history. It was fun to write, and one of my warmer, quirkier stories. I thought I’d offer this post on the origins of it. The book is available on Kindle for 99 cents, free on Kindle Unlimited. Please check it out! Thanks. Even though I grew up in a big Midwestern city, I’ve always…

  • Inspiration

    Might and Main Monday: Tackling Procrastination

    Popcorn and TV, Might and Main Monday: Tackling Procrastination, Karen Hugg, https://karenhugg.com/2018/08/12/procrastination #procrastination #writing #tasks #work

    Procrastination 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…

  • Writing

    Why a Novel About a Flower That Makes You Forget? Part 3

    Geranium, Why a Novel About a Flower That Makes You Forget? Part 3, Karen Hugg, The Forgetting Flower, https://karenhugg.com/2018/07/27/the-forgetting-flower/ #TheForgettingFlower #flower #novel #book #plants #scents

    In these last few weeks, I’ve shared the origins of my novelThe 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 having a better life, which I haven’t touched on that much in these posts but is a driving theme throughout the novel. I hope you enjoy. The Forgetting Flower Excerpt Chapter 1 Renia doubted her sister would answer, but every week she called anyway. That Friday, as the clerk packed up…