The Secret Garden

A Secret Garden

An idea springs from a moment of pure inspiration and that bud of inspiration buries itself deep within the soil and comes to life and over the course of the year, we the writers sit in anticipation just waiting to see what will rise up out of the soil.

When I think about writing a book, I am visually transported to this garden, very much the same garden that Mary Lennox discovers within her uncles very vast estate. And every time I am transported there, I still feel the same itchy nerves and dread run over me. I can only speak for myself when I share this information with you. I am in constant disarray over my work and its purpose. Much of my time when not spent elsewhere I spend bottled up before my desk, just staring down at all the work and wondering to myself, why am I doing this? What is the point if no one is interested? Am I just being ridiculous? Am I in serious need of a new hobby? Is my work rubbish? Will I ever take after a great author?

Writing is much like the seasons… And my work is dragged through all four of them. The thing about writing is this, you have to constantly look at yourself in the mirror and at times that is simple enough, but for me it is a constant battle. The journey involved in writing is intense and irrational at times. There will be days when I open the gate and enter my garden with an optimistic and energetic perspective and then there will be the days when I hesitantly pace before the gate, unsure if I can face all that is within. Your stories, poems etc. are in retrospect a reflection of yourself, within everything that you write lies a key to you, the author. And if we are being honest, 99% of us humans really struggle to look in the mirror directly, so for us writers, having to do this on an almost daily basis is hard work. At times I almost think that my writing is the therapist and I the patient.

Believing in your garden…

Do you know the greatest story ever written is our own? Now just step back and pretend you are looking at the reflection of humanity and what do you see? Beauty, Terror, Love, Hatred, War, Peace, Order, Chaos, Life and Death. In every garden these very same attributes are dotted all over the place. Trees and flowers are fighting one another for space, they wither and die and then are brought to life again, some gardens are born out of order or chaos and the very basis of life and death are a constant.

At first when I entered my garden of creativity, it was lacking and a little chaotic. It took me a long time to plant the seeds of inspiration and an even longer time to watch them grow. I took great pleasure in sowing the seeds and even greater pleasure in watching them develop. But not all of them did grow and some that bloomed one year didn’t the next. And I think the essence of writing is much the same. At the beginning, I planted my seeds in order but in time they seemed to have a life of their own and that was my inspiration for ‘The Prophecy’ in a nutshell. I don’t believe in the theory of order, I believe that order lies within chaos and god is my book filled with chaos even on a spiritual level. All of my characters and stories were once seeds of inspiration and are now grown up and mature, some return the next year and others do not, but that is the essence of life and I believe the essence of writing. You can plant the seed and hope that it grows towards the sun, but that isn’t always the case. Growing and developing is hard and messy much like life and much like the books you write.

My point?

Don’t ever doubt the seeds that you sow, sure some may never develop, but I can guarantee you that most do. A gardener must watch over their garden, they are the protector and the giver of freedom, allowing all within to grow. As a writer you must also tend to your work with passion and dedication, but understand that some of your projects will not always work out the way in which you think, but that is the slightly perverse joy of writing. And don’t for one moment think that that book you believe to be lacking, now sitting upon a shelf gathering dust is without its purpose, as I have said, all ideas spring from moments of pure inspiration. We all go through the seasons, over and over again and its hard work because at the end of the day if a project doesn’t succeed you look at it not with pride but with irrepressible eyes of failure. A gardener is not if anything a true believer and if one plant dies or doesn't bloom, they don’t give up they try again, this time with new seeds. And on those days where you simply cannot face your garden because of pre meditated, ill placed judgement s on your part, then why don’t you just open the gate slightly and take a look around and I can say with confidence that you will see life. That failed project will give life to another project and who knows how it will grow.

Iseult x