Filling The Well (Tara Taylor Quinn)

After two grueling months in which I've written two complete novels and worked on another, I finished revisions on my second Heartwarming book, Once Upon A Marriage, on Monday.  Prelims - the letter in the front of the book from the author to the reader, the dedication and author bio - were all done yesterday.  And to celebrate...I bought and planted a couple of rose bushes.  It's something I have been wanting to do for more than a year.  This morning I have two glorious roses.  This is one of them.  The fragrance is so incredibly pure I wish I could lay out there and just be one with it.  Take it.  Refill my well.

I've already got an idea in for more Heartwarming books.  I loved this experience.  It's different from my other work in some ways.  Not different at all in others - in the ways that matter to me.  The intensity, the heart and soul, that pour into ttq books is all there.  Just some of the 'gritty' is gone. 

And I learned something over the past few months.  Or was reminded of it again.  By my own example.  I had books to write.  I wrote them.  Period.  I have more books due this year - two of them by September.  And they will be done.  Because if you put your mind to something, really put your mind to it, it happens.  I finished the last book and was drained almost to the point of being emotionally comatose.  And yet, felt strengthened, too.  I walked outside and I saw those two places where I had underground irrigation that was capped off.  I thought of the rose bushes that I wanted there.  And I knew that I could make them happen.  I just had to put my mind and energy to them.  And, as life often works, when you do all that you can do, fate steps in and gives a hand.  I didn't have a lot of time.  I found exactly what I wanted in the first place I looked.  And paid less than $20 for both bushes - not a piece.  A miracle.  A small one, yes, but for me, significant.

I have a synopsis due to my agent.  And three chapters on a Superromance due next week.  I step outside.  Smell my rose.  And I am ready...

How about all of you?  What fills your well?  Maybe if we share, our collective energies will multiply for all of us!

Comments

  1. Congrats on finishing the books, Tara! Wow! Definitely sounds like a rough couple of months. :) I think I've discovered refilling the well is as easy as stepping outside. Deadlines to me have definitely felt like a cave surrounding me. Reminding myself there's sunshine and fresh air...a simple walk seems to be all I need. And yay on the roses! Never too many roses in the world.

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  2. Congrats, Tara! I'm always amazed at your productivity. I've found just getting out of my routine for a day or two helps. I painted a bathroom this weekend and all of a sudden the writing flowed!

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  3. What a beautiful rose - and a great symbol for the final result of all that blood, sweat and tears - roses! My desk sits in a window on the second floor of our old house looking down on the Columbia River - I watch it from inside all the while I'm working. When the going gets tough, I walk down to the River Walk, see all the sea-going folk hard at work, smell the salt (we spill into the Pacific not too far away) and diesel and honeysuckle left over from when old homes lined the river. Not all the scents are romantic, but they make up a bouquet that connects me to all the hard-working people around me and makes me feel productive.

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  4. Tara, you are an inspiration! Congratulations on all your new projects. My sister-in-law gave me a rose bush two years ago after my dad passed away. I was sure I would kill it, but I planted it and it immediately flourished in my flower bed and bloomed and bloomed! Now that it's spring it's growing and sprouting and I look at it every day hoping that I can be like that rose!

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  5. Gorgeous rose! I miss the bushes I had in CT, but right now the azaleas are blooming out front to be enjoyed. And from my office window I have a view of the surrounding mountains here in TN, which provide constant inspiration. However…today I'm at a good point in my new book and am stepping out to do some much-needed errands, people watch and just refill my well. Congrats on your books. That's an amazing writing schedule!

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  6. Like everyone I love the rose. A walk every day helps refill my creative well. I can face the Catalina mountains and love their changing colors at various times of the day. Sunrises and sunsets I find renewing too. But I couldn't refill enough for your killer schedule.

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  7. I love the rose, too, and I love walking. (I think I want to borrow Muriel's for a while, though I love our rail-bed trails). Congratulations on all your accomplishments, Tara. While I admit I'm not willing to work that hard, I admire your dedication.

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  8. Wow, I love the validation that nature works for us. Most of us, in our own way, turn to nature to find what we need. I have my mountains and sunshine here in Arizona. Every morning that I can, I take a break and sit outside in my garden backyard and let the plot flow. And yes, it's a full schedule, but I chose it! I love what I do, am very focused, and am just grateful that I can spend my days doing what I love. Once my energy is renewed, I'm at a loss without the writing. I once had someone tell me to just relax. I was upset to learn that I do not know how to just do nothing. And then learned that it's just me and that's okay. Even when I am taking a full day off I have to have plans. However, give me a pool or a beach and sunshine, and I can lay there and soak up rays and let my mind tell me stories all day long!

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