In tending to the garden of my mind, I’ve neglected my actual garden. Summer has been brutal, and the heat has given me sun sickness more times than I can count. Many of my leafed babies deteriorated, resulting in pests, fungal infections, and overgrowth. My real garden is no longer pretty and requires a massive amount of love.
With that said, I’m taking my first break (only a few days) from writing after five months—not because I’m burnt out—but because I want to take a few steps back and return to my story Eclipse with a fresh set of eyes.
One of my favorite “break periods” involves literally touching grass—and dirt. And soil. And worms. And sticky sap and mildew.
Thinking About My Story While Gardening
Other than the typical benefits of spending time in nature, it’s a necessity for me as I’ve been using my gardening and hiking experience to flesh out one of my main characters in Eclipse. It’s inevitable that pieces of ourselves end up in all of our characters, but it’s fun to see them manifest through relaxing hobbies.
This main character utilizes wood magic, which I am identifying as a practice that connects the magician to plants and fungi and allows the magician to manipulate it (with limitations), at will. She is in tune with the plants and earth around her, and she uses their knowledge to fuel her medicinal practices—which will be heavily relied on at a turning point in the story. When I garden, I sometimes pretend I am her, feeling the pulses of the soil as though my fingers are the mycorrhizal fungi.
Although I’m not a Green Witch—a pagan practitioner of earth-based crafts—I do borrow some of the spiritual philosophies and practices such as honoring seasonal changes, herbalism, and Earth-friendly actions.
I have to be honest that this main character is probably most inspired by my spiritual journey, and I like the idea of embedding the need for the quieter, natural living that technology has ripped away from us.
The idea is to have her presence reflect what humanity has lost in its relentless pursuit of “progress” and “technological advancement”: connection to the environment. Don’t get me wrong; I love a good computer. However, as a millennial that has seen several generations of technology in the span of nearly four decades, I’ve grown tired of learning how to use another damn device.
