The kids love marigolds, so we got two packs of those, along with some wave petunias. The “centerpiece” of each of their containers is a vegetable plant: Ari has a grape tomato plant, and Donovan has a red bell pepper. I got my own container garden going this year, with chives, rosemary, sage, cilantro and oregano. Oh, and thyme. Mustn’t forget thyme. The rosemary and chives are in their own pots because they’re perennials, and when we move, I intend to put them in the ground. We got a bunch of other plants, mostly perennials, to round out the garden. Matt’s out now buying the mulch because the bags are really too big for me to lift.

We planted the container gardens yesterday, and we just finished doing the two beds. I hurt now, and I’m going to hurt even more tonight and tomorrow, but that’s all good. I’m going to be able to enjoy the garden for the rest of the year (and it should help with the value of the house).

(And wouldn’t you know it, it’s starting to rain, so maybe I didn’t have to water everything after all. )

Now, I bet you’re wondering why I wrote all this and what it has to do with writing.

Getting my garden planted reminded me of the process of writing. Just like picking out plants, you pick out ideas that you think might go well together. You work with what you planted last year, just like you use ideas that have already been rumbling around in your head. And sometimes, things you’ve already done have a way of surprising you.

I love violas. Their tiny, delicate flowers make me really happy – I smile every time I see one. I planted two types of violas in the new bed we made in the front of the house last year. Now, violas are “supposed” to be annuals. The ones I planted last year most definitely weren’t. Not only have they come back with glorious abandon, but they’ve spread throughout the bed. It’s like someone took handfuls of baby violas and scattered them across the bed like someone scattering seed for chickens.

And that’s kind of the way inspiration works, doesn’t it? From one idea, a million others can spring up, often in the most surprising way.

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Why Gardening Is Like Writing (or vice versa) originally appeared on LisaHartjes.com on April 26, 2009.

While a date for it hasn’t been set, I’m working on getting my “lesson plan” together. As third graders, they’re just getting started in their writing careers. It’s too early to hit them with character or world building strategies. Plus, I’ll only have about half an hour, maybe an hour at most, with them. So, it needs to be something simple, but will affect them profoundly. But where to start?

I did a search for “teach children to write fiction” and came up with a pretty good list of places to start. The first page I checked out was “How to Teach Kids to Write” at eHow.com. Not really what I was looking for – too complicated for the half hour I’m aiming for. The next page I looked at was “Teaching Children to Write” – and that’s what I’m looking for.

I think that author’s right – kids sometimes need a helping hand, a bit of guidance. So I’ve decided to do a kind of guided writing exercise. One of the things I find in a good writer’s work is the incorporation of all the senses into a scene. “The alley stank” as opposed to “the alley smelled like week-old garbage.” So, that’s what I’m going to teach them about – using the senses in a story.

I’m putting together a one page hand-out for the kids, which will be a one paragraph example of using the senses, then a list of questions they need to think about when writing. Then, after they’ve read it, they’ll be given a prop which they have to write about. What is the prop? A chocolate chip cookie.

Only, they won’t know it when they first get it. I’m going to put each cookie in a brown paper bag, and then we’ll go through and write a paragraph together as we explore with our senses and write it all down. And the very last sense we will explore is taste. After all, for all that hard work they’re going to be doing, they deserve a reward.

Have you written with kids (either or own, or someone else’s) before? Do you have any tricks you can share?Similar Posts:

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Writing With Children originally appeared on LisaHartjes.com on February 3, 2009.

Now, at the time I am writing this, there’s been no digest created for yesterday’s Twitter postings. I don’t know what that happened, but it did. Hopefully things will be back to normal.

Now, on to writing. I need to do a couple more crits for my writing group, and then I’ll start work on Chapter 14. This will take a bit longer to do than the previous chapters, as most of this is brand new. Well, not brand new, brand new, but from the first first yucky fast draft. It sucks. It stinks. And I’m going to have to rework a lot of it to make it acceptable. I don’t want to get rid of it completely, as there’s some stuff in there that’s usable, but we’ll have to see how it goes. Hopefully by the end of the week the word meter will be up to 33k.Similar Posts:

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Rabbit tracks in the snow. originally appeared on LisaHartjes.com on November 18, 2008.

I’m about 2/3 to 3/4 the way through the rewrite of TMA Chapter 12. I should be able to get that done in about an hour, and then start on crits for my writing group. I believe it’s Elizabeth’s turn to be critted today. I’ll try to get at least three done for her, just like I did for Vic yesterday. I got such a nice little note from her, thanking me for the extras. Made me feel good.

Supper last night was a hit, even though I forgot to salt and pepper the eggs until after they were cooked. No big deal, though. The plan for tonight is baked chicken breasts with almond rice pilaf (I cook the rice pilaf as per the box, then throw in some chopped up roasted almonds just before serving), salad, and corn and peas. Since Matt won’t be home for supper (he’s going to Corner Brewery to pick up the beer from his brewing class), I think I’ll slice the chicken breasts into strips and bread them. Ari’s crazy for chicken fingers.Similar Posts:

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It’s barely noon…. originally appeared on LisaHartjes.com on November 12, 2008.