Creative Lawnmowing...Musings on a Summer Day ...by Delsora Lowe

Musings on a summer day, you say? But it’s February.

Despite the snow on the ground and the chill of winter in the air, I can still dream of the summer to come. Gardening. Mowing the lawn. Long walks without wearing eighteen layers. And summer may mean I am finished with book edits.

Frosty February

But it is February and I am ensconced in edits and a 30K writing challenge for the month, so I hope you don’t mind that I dug out an article I wrote a few years back. This piece won me a certificate for best article written for our state chapter newsletter, bestowed on me by my Maine Romance Writers. So…enjoy and dream of summer, as I tell you a bit about my writing methods.

And now for the article that fits our topic this month…marching to a different drummer.

Creative Lawnmowing – Musings on a Summer Day Originally released in June, 2008

What’s a May without the lawnmower not working? It sits in that cold garage all winter and craves exercise. When I finally haul it out, it moans and groans and hisses its dissatisfaction at having to work, until we change the oil, put new gas in it, sharpen the blades, and take a wire brush to the spark plugs. Then we’re off. Glad to be back at it.
 

Remind you of anything? That dry spell when our muse decides to take a mid-winter break?

By the time I get the mower in shape for the summer season it is mid-June, my grass is hovering half way up my calf, and the telltale signs of Black-eyed Susans and Daisies are popping up. Just like my writing muse, percolating with snippets of ideas. So, I mow around each stand of wildflower greenery. Then I wander off toward a tree and mow around that, before I realize I’ve veered off course. Seems I can’t mow a straight line to save my life.

As I was mowing my creative course around the yard, preserving the wildflowers and trimming around trees and gardens, it came to me—I mow like I write. I know where I need to begin and I know where I need to end—the garage in both cases. I also understand that my goal is to mow the entire lawn—complete the job.

I complete my mowing assignment the same way I write a book. I pull the lawnmower out of the garage and then I pantser (as in writing by the seat of my pants) my way across the lawn. I take the same side-trips I do when I write. Just like my characters take on a life of their own before I have to rein them in, my mower takes a trip of its own design before I have to straighten out in order to complete the task of mowing the entire yard.

My mower comes to obstacle after obstacle in my lawn—usually because I didn’t plan ahead. I didn’t take the time to pick-up the lawn before I started the mower. A downed limb, buried under the long grass, means I have to stop the mower to pick up the limb and toss it in the discard pile—interrupt my mowing pace. Or, I can choose to toss the limb aside in the area I just mowed, then go back and discard it later.

As a pantser writer, I usually get inspiration from a kernel of an idea, rev up the computer and start writing. I keep moving around the obstacles, highlighting them in yellow so I can revise later, and continue writing while my muse is comfortably seated on my shoulder. Who knows how long she’ll stay before she gets restless. Once that happens—once my muse has returned to the garage—I go back and do the tedious job of picking up and tossing the waste into the discard pile (my outtake file, since I hate to throw things away).

When I’m mowing and come to a stand of wildflowers soon to bloom, I take a detour around it. I preserve the waving green-leafed stalks, knowing they’ll blossom into something beautiful if I nurture them along. In my manuscript, these soon-to-blossom flowers are highlighted in gray before I move on with the story. Later I go back and ponder the best words to bring the bud to bloom, to give the sentence more pizzazz or deepen the character’s POV.

Now it’s mid-July. I’m back to mowing. We’ve finally had enough rain to encourage the grass to grow again after weeks of drought. My stands of Black-eyed Susan are in full boom. It’s easy to mow around them because I can identify them as blossoms, rather than trying to determine which leafy stalk lives or dies by the mower (or the outtake file). I’ve fixed the problems from my first draft. The editing and revising gets easier—I can straighten out the mower again. The repetitive motion of the lawnmower going back and forth along straight lines, frees my mind to daydream—conjure up the next bit of trouble I can throw at my character before we get to the big black moment and the happily ever after.

A Valentine Story – ON SALE until end of February

Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Moonlighting-Serenity-Harbor-Novella-Starlight-ebook/dp/B075TK7KYS/

Books2Read

books2read.com/u/mZ5eop

~ cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires burning ~
Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet romances and contemporary westerns from the mountains of Colorado to the shores of Maine.
Author of the Starlight Grille series, Serenity Harbor Maine novellas, and the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series, Lowe has also authored short romances for Woman’s World magazine.

Social Media Links:

Author website: www.delsoralowe.com
Author FaceBook page: fb.me/delsoraloweauthor
Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Delsora-Lowe/e/B01M61OM39/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
Books2Read Author page: https://www.books2read.com/ap/8GWm98/Delsora-Lowe
BookBub Author Page: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/delsora-lowe-93c6987f-129d-483d-9f5a-abe603876518
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16045986.Delsora_Lowe

Clip Art:

Purple Marching Band: http://cliparts.co/clipart/2383123

Lawnmower: https://www.clipart.email/list/lawn-mowing/

Flower: www.allthingsclipart.com/black.eyed.susan.clipart.htm

Winding footpath: https://www.dreamstime.com/vector-foot-tracks-footpath-perspective-walking-away-point-view-image99957323

Happy Trees: https://www.fotolibra.com/gallery/34958/happy-trees-illustration/