Surveying the Orchard - Step One, Two & Three

It turns out that planning an orchard is something that other people have been doing a while. I know a lot about this field (of writing) and have been growing saplings (ideas that can produce fruit year after year) for a little while now. I've dug some holes (research and development), too, but I'm not sure if I'm putting them in the best place and I thought I'd go back to my extended metaphor, the heirloom peach orchard and see if I can find anything out about how to begin again.

Part of going forward is really knowing how this "land" was used in the past. Therefore, a quick review is in order because I don't want to start wallowing there. What I can say is that the field has been half-used. There have been lots of starts and stops. I used to plant ideas that were one-offs, more aimed towards immediate gratification, and quick return. I wrote what was in front of me a lot, what I might actually get paid for right away (copy, content, game scripts, writer-for hire scripts, and the like), rather than what I really wanted to write about or spend very much time on. I figure this is like planting cherry tomatoes. They can certainly be tasty but you have to be massively prolific to get a real return on them over time. My great uncle was a farmer in South Texas, I called him Pretty Pa, and we covered fields of tomatoes in a pick up truck, over the course of an entire afternoon. My field is not for that kind of farming. It is a quaint little lot...that's me...that was somewhat flooded so that, often, when I have tried to plant the longer term, regenerating crops, I've gotten too emotional to fix what needed to be fixed. I've spent some time working on that, but I imagine that there is still labor to do in that area. 

Moreover, this is not an established orchard -- it is a field. I’m starting from scratch. I’ve plowed under the cover crop of rye to nurture the soil. I’ve metaphorically fertilized. You know I’ve fertilized…grin. I’m working on the irrigation. It’s on a hill, facing sort of West (thinking of the second half of my life at this point), afternoon sun, and a gentle slope (because I have some amazing support from my husband and children). Let’s say this is Lot 46, for the years I’ve been on earth so far, and let’s call the Orchard something that evokes a storied place…hmmm. Kosmic Egg doesn’t suggest a place but a thing, so it will be something else that suggests the work and reward of a healthy orchard, a place of great vision and plenty. It seems too obvious to me to call it “Abundant Orchard” because somehow I feel like I will have to trick the Universe into giving over some abundance to me. Isn’t that telling? It would be a courageous statement, but it has no sense of humor for me to embrace it. Perhaps “The Problems & Opportunities Orchard” would be most honest.

I never thought I would have so much trouble naming an imaginary place! The orchard is for heirloom peaches that are metaphoric for very special, classic, engaging and dense stories that we see, hear, and tell year after year. Yes, I’m thinking about stories that we’ve inherited, that are vital still in their retelling because I am of the school of thought that says all stories have been told before in some other way. The trees are the production method. How many peaches can a healthy peach tree produce? Certainly, that must be a copious number. I imagine that these are the stories, like seeds, that passed on from village to village, tribe to tribe, and scribe to scribe until they became a lexicon of storied knowledge. This is a new orchard, but it is growing heirloom peaches. You see? Therefore, I believe I will simply call it “Storyteller’s Orchard” and hope you know what I mean.

Another question for the survey is how visible is this orchard from the beaten path? Actually, to begin with, it probably won’t look like much, but you’ll be able to see its progress, metaphorically, from here, and maybe someday there will be more traffic (I hope! Invite your friends to follow me at http://kosmicegg.blogspot.com/) as I am more established. I feel somewhat like a kid who can’t decide whether I should cover my work until it is finished or if I should let the other kids look over my shoulder. Those are my trust issues, having come from Hollywood where we’ve seen multiple films made on the same subject or same genre every year (i.e. ants, space, dreams), and so I’m working under a blanket for now. My readers will have to accept the metaphoric exploration as a substitute secret, until my trees are little sturdier. However, once established, I do so hope that Storyteller’s Orchard will produce peaches no one can resist.

Next entry: Wildlife! 

Gold for Gold...

Living on the edge as a writer has forced me to consider selling some of my treasures so that I might get a different sort of treasure...peace of mind. It's a difficult sale on one hand, because a few of the pieces were handed down, were worn on a beloved's finger or breast once upon a time. These pieces have those emotional hooks to people I loved, and who I feel fear of losing emotional connection to when the hooks are gone. Yet, as a spiritual being I understand this is folly. I understand, and yet my heart grasps at the hooks one last time. I even know that were I to present the problem to those sweet souls, that they would giggle at my grasp and egg me on to let go and embrace what is here and now instead.

Then there are the pieces that came from the wasband. Now, this is funny. I was saving them for our children to have and hold. I told them once, "This will be yours someday," and you know what they replied, "Ooooh, ick! Get rid of it. I don't want to carry that around." And, so from both ends I get the support I need to let go and embrace what is here and now instead.

The spring trees are blossoming already. It's high time to begin planting my saplings for my heirloom peach orchard. I've had the seeds growing next to the window (my eyes watching the world go by). I've actually gone past the dream stage quite suddenly, and in a way I never would have suspected. I was dragging my toes in the well-plowed earth one day, and the next day I was digging holes with a vigor I have not felt for years...years since my divorce, and even before then. I may never have felt this excited about my ideas: I have landed squarely in my hope for an orchard of dreams that produce more and more dreams over the coming years of my life. Please note: I am a middle-aged woman who has started on a new path and it is going to astound you what this amazing idea is going to produce. I hope everyone who ever reads this posting of ideas will experience at least one of my peaches someday...

I expect to have the orchard planted this year. Terra firma is the first step. I'm racing to get the layout just right to take maximum advantage of the light, and the protection from harsh winds while the saplings expand their roots deep into the dark, well-nourished soil. I have to dig deeply and rely on somethings that may lay in the great unconscious. I may have to spread around a lot of fertilizer, and like selling gold, it is a lot about letting go of fears and attachments.


There are pieces of equipment I need to support my proverbial orchard:

•  I need new shovels, turns out (a new laptop in the real world)
•  I need to buy some time to get everything just right. 
•  Investing in regulating emotional flow, is a must, so that my orchard is well-irrigated and also well-drained.
• I need to build strong boundaries so that my orchard isn't invaded or robbed. Fence building takes resources! 

With all of that in mind. I start to teach again in a few weeks. I find that starting my orchard has re-invigorated my willingness to teach what I know because it gives me hope that there will be a market for my students' work. I know that I will get growing tips also from the exchange and I'm excited to share my enthusiasm for writing and storytelling again. I'll be opening myself up for private mentoring, too, and I really hope to find a few students who may actually want to become part of this orchard tending. We'll see what happens. 

So, I'm selling some gold in order to invest in a futures market that is all my own.