Hello and Happy Spring!
Things are full-tilt over here garden-wise. At the beginning of the year, I took on the ambitious goal of starting all of my vegetables and flowers from seed this year. Last year I started our tomatoes and peppers from seed to not much success, so for some reason I thought, let’s just make this a little harder. In our basement, I have shelves with grow lights and a lot of pots (I honestly don’t know how many). My tomatoes look much better this year, but my peppers never really sprouted despite having planted the seeds in February. I already have ideas on how to do things better next year. I guess that’s the point – learning as you go.
As for outside, Tyler and I put in a large arched trellis and a new garden bed, which ups us to three six by four raised beds from only two. A third more growing potential! On the trellis, I am planting peas, green beans, cucumbers, squash, and melons. I’ve also got lots of greens already planted, as well as garlic and other herbs. Not much to harvest yet, but hopefully there will be lots in a couple of months.
In short, I’ve gotten really into gardening.
I want to write some kind of tie-in between writing and gardening here, but the truth is, lately I’ve been feeling conflicted between the two. Most days I just want to spend all of my time in the dirt or on the computer learning about how to manage pests or organic plant feeds from a permaculture perspective. I haven’t been this into something new in a long, long time. And I’m finding that part of me wishes I could harness this sort of brain power into writing.
For now, I’m looking into getting some freelance gigs that combine my love of gardening/home projects and writing. If you have any leads, let me know.
More on the rest of it below.
Editing
My summer has pretty much opened up, and I have availability to do one manuscript each in June and July. I’m interested in fiction (many genres) and narrative nonfiction. Additionally, I love editing short stories (also essays!), have space for several each month, and can usually give a quick turnaround with them. Even if you’re not sure whether or not you’re looking for an editor, let’s talk! You can fill out this form on my website. And if you’re not looking for an editor, I humbly ask that you keep me in mind when your writer friends ask if you know one!
I’m in the process of a minor website refresh and trying to think about ways that I can include more resources for writers. I’d like my current blog to remain more of a personal space, so I’m wondering if I should create a sort of secondary blog where I share writing tips and resources. I’m not sure what it will look like yet. If you have any ideas, please feel free to hit reply and let me know.
Writing
In my last newsletter I shared my goals for the month were to read through my current novel and make plans for edits. I didn’t accomplish that (even though it’s been more than one month), so I’m going to just go ahead and reiterate that it’s again my goal for this month. Additionally, I’d like to look into some craft books, both for personal writing goals and to be able to have solid recommendations to give my clients. Again, feel free to reply to this e-mail with craft book recommendations!
I’d also like to commit myself to submitting short stories. I have several and while I have submitted them to literary magazines, I’m well aware that to actually get published you need to submit to more than three or four per story. So, I’d also like to sit down and create some sort of plan to get my work out there.
And then of course, there’s still the planning and dreaming about my new novel. Hopefully I keep doing that, too.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the ways in which fear of imperfection has held me back from success. But I think that’s a newsletter for another time.
Anyway, that’s a lot of ambitious writing goals, so if I accomplish even just one of them, I’d be happy.
The Writer’s Grove
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Thank you for taking the time to read my musings this month! And, if you could, please send this newsletter along to others in the writing community that you think may enjoy it. This is a tiny operation right now, and I appreciate all the support I can get!
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All the best,
Mary E. Nolte
Writer & Editor
P.S. Here’s your Vincent pic of the month:
Mary E. Nolte 