How writing and gardening are the same

garden

Gardening and writing are the same.

  1. They are both hard work. You either have to put your bum in the chair or get out in the hot sun. An effort is required.
  2. You are always learning. The basics are easy. You can throw something in the dirt or write a sentence, but if you want to get better you will have to gain more skills and knowledge.
  3. Writing and gardening require attention to detail. You need to notice the fern is not happy now the sun has moved and you need exactly the right verb or adjective, or character tic. They are thoughtful pursuits.
  4. Plants will fail. Stories will fail. You have to figure out why and try again.
  5. Gardening requires some vision, the imagination to envisage how something will look in the future. Writing is exactly the same. You have to have a sense of imagination and vision of something that does not exist yet.
  6. Tenacity. In the face of constant change, you need the willpower to keep at it.
  7. There are rules. The rules can be broken. Sometimes successfully and sometimes not.
  8. They are both creative pursuits. You create a garden and you create a story.
  9. You can share your garden produce with eaters and you share your stories readers.
  10. There is an amazing sense of achievement and satisfaction looking over a blooming garden and writing The End. Even better seeing a book in your hand!

5 thoughts on “How writing and gardening are the same

  1. G’day Kathryn,
    I agree, writing and gardening are the same. I like No.6 – Tenacity. I have been fighting a slug/snail epidemic in the garden and am finally succeeding, and trying to find the motivation to edit book I have written. It is challenging but I am enjoying it. Thank you for the post.
    Lee.

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