JUST A LITTLE PATIENCE....

I garden therefore I am a gardener, of a type....a kind of bit of this there, some over here, what on earth is this and should I let it grow kind of gardener. But I do get out there and dabble.

I've done this for years, dabbling as well as gardening...and one of the most important lessons learnt (apart from what I think the end result will look like is nothing to reality) is to have patience.

Why else would we plant seeds and seedlings with the hope that they will grow into something huge, or in some cases, delicious?

We plant ----we give as much love and care as we can ----and then we wait. Sometimes it's not that long, a few weeks and we are rewarded with flowers or fruit.

Sometimes we know we are in for the long haul...shrubs and trees demand time.

So does having a big picture in mind. I am attempting (must be old age) to have some cohesion, some sense of style and design. Not simply buy anything that interests me then find a place to put it...and pray it all works out.

I'm hoping to create a garden that I've imagined. Which of course leads us back to patience. And waiting.

Will these plants grow? Will they like the position they are in....do they get enough water, sunlight, protection from the wind?

So why can't I do this with writing? I was wondering this the other day, why are writers so impatient? We send something off and we know we have to wait, and usually wait and wait and wait some more. All the books (and every author talk you ever go to) insist that this is the time to ignore your past submissions and work hard on your next piece.

Well, yes that is all good in theory, and most probably in practice....but come on, surely we don't have to wait months, sometimes years to hear back?

Unfortunately we do, and these days so many publishers don't even have the email automatic reply of 'we have received your work'.

So we wait, and wonder, and wait some more - with the nagging thought of 'did they get what I sent?'

We debate with contacting them just to make sure they have our precious cargo, but then that does come across as either desperate in some cases, or stalking in others. Best left alone.

So we wait some more.

With gardening, when we are at our most impatient, we can always pop outside and check on the progress.

Have the bulbs popped up---are the flower buds fattening-----leaves preparing to change colour-----has the plant grown----there is always something we can notice and comment on.  Even if we have had a death or the weeds are beginning, yet again, to take a hold.

With our writing it is the silence that we must endure. But sometimes, when we least expect it, or in my case forgotten all about it ---we receive an email to tell us that a poem we sent over 8 months ago has been accepted.

Time for a smile---then get back to it----and send something else out into the world.

And wait....
and wait.....


and wait.....


Vicki