Hitting the Midpoint

At Colorado farmer's markets, you can buy Palisade peaches, Olathe sweet corn, and Rocky Ford cantaloupes. But hurry. You can only enjoy these special treats for a few weeks out of the year.

We have made it to the midpoint of the summer growing season in this region. Now is the time to support your local farmer, wherever you live.

It's hard to believe we've blown through June and July so fast. My modest little home garden is now producing. Every day, we harvest a few green beans. We've enjoyed kale and Swiss chard, zucchini and cucumbers. I have even eaten a few cherry tomatoes.

This is the time to enjoy the literal fruits of all that late winter and hopeful spring labor. Preparing soil, starting seeds, protecting the delicate sprouts. Watering, weeding. And now, harvesting. The final step in gardening is picking and using the vegetables. Drying, freezing, and canning what you can't use right away.

The creative writing process follows a similar path of development. I have been working on a novel for several years. It's time for the harvest: to send it to my agent. 

This is a tough step, because I'm emotional about this book. But I've spent all this time "growing" this novel. If I don't send it out into the big wide world, it would be the same as investing energy into a garden, and letting the vegetables rot on the plants.

What's different about writing fiction is that I can plant a new crop regardless of the season. After I send this book out, and begin the waiting game to see what becomes of it in the cold, cruel, publishing world, I can continue with other projects, or begin new ones. 

Writing and gardening both involve constantly renewing cycles. There is a fallow season, then a time of beginnings, the wild period of growth and fruition, followed by harvest.

Enjoy your summer garden, or the special local fruits and vegetables from your nearby farmer's market. When you're reading a book this summer, think about how many seasons it may have taken for the author to bring that story to fruition. Each book is as unique and special as that local variety of cantaloupe or corn.

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