Been busy. Still jumping back and forth on writing projects- currently I have been working on JAD, which stands for Just a Dream, or Just a Daydream, since it started from a dream I had, that I then kept going with spinning a daydream around it at night to help me to fall asleep. And after a couple of months I figured what the heck, I'll write it down and see where it goes. I have learned something from doing this, while my story stories (intentional attempts at novel writing) tend to be lacking in the dialogue department, my daydreams have plenty. So I have to figure out, what is so different about them (and my approach to them)- why is one heavy on speaking and the other on narration. I'm just about stopped now though, as I'm actually at the point where I need to do- what else- research! for it. I need to develop it's mythology.

But, I haven't yet, because I am reading The Nine Lives of Chloe King (did I mention that I have decided for sure that I am a YA writer, because that totally justifies reading teen novels, and watching ABCFamily.). And because I have been super busy digging holes- planting stem cuttings, divisions, and several hydrangeas I found on clearance at Lowes, and then watering watering watering- in hopes that they will take. (while my body has added some slight jerks and twitches to the fray- and still can plague me when I try to stand still on a smooth surface- for some reason I have no trouble at all traipsing up and down the hillside.)

I'm re-envisioning the back bank. It's a lovely stretch of yard steep and shady, where many plants have gone to die. Their suffering was due to my lack of accepting the reality of the situation. Now I am trying bigger things-and things that say part sun on the tag. I also gave the trees there all a crew cut. Actually they are bushes and shrubs, but I pruned them to look like little trees (and I don't care how they or anyone else feels about this. Summer haircut!) A neighbor gave me some hostas last fall. And they have made a spectacular difference. I never thought I liked hostas, but trade in a bunch of weeds, for tidy white edged loose spirals of leaves, and yeah-hostas are awesome. And with this bit of encouragement, my mind is looking freshly at the bank, and coming up with other strategies. Like something that had never occurred to me before- planting hydrangeas along the edge at the top.

As I stood there today watering my new plantings- I thought about a speaker on writing and a book on it that I had read- that both mentioned the importance of being able to re-dream your story. That there is the initial version- but that the key is being able to let go of the first version of it, and re-dream, re-envision, re-imagine it. Frankly I never really pushed myself in this direction. I always kind of just let things in my stories, unfold, and evolve, and take me where they are going. But my yard has surely shown me something- how long it takes my thinking to evolve. That my mind isn't as open to seeing all the possibilities that are truly available, as I think it is. But that though it can take half way to forever, if I keep trying, and moving on away from what doesn't work, trying different strategies, something beautiful can still be created where I failed many times before.

So I am trying to open myself up- in my yard, and in my stories- to the power of re-imagining. Re-dreaming till I find the dream that can be made real.