Take a blank sheet of garden…

Talking about muck-raking, sorry, rock-raking, reminded me about the parallels of writing a novel and creating a new garden.

With a novel, you start with a blank sheet of paper, or a blank computer screen, with a garden you start with something like this.

 

 

 

 

You carry out a survey and draw up a scale plan:

 

 

 

 

 

Or for a novel, you carry out research (current knowledge, what’s possible, what’s already there in your brain) and write out an outline (how you hope it might turn out, but like gardens, it’s subject to alterationi the further you get into the work).

Assessing your own abilities and competence, you go on a course: Hadlow College of Agriculture for garden design, Arvon Foundation for writing. You talk to people, get a mentor, attend events, conferences.

And then in comes the first  mark on the blank surface…

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