an overgrown garden
editing not allowed
Hi friends! This is Ursula Fan Club, where I write about what I’m reading and writing as I work on the first draft of my first book. If you’re interested in speculative fiction, climate, ancestral stuff, textiles, living in a human body, and balancing a creative practice with whatever this is *waves wildly around*, you’ll probably like it here.
Surgery went well, thanks for asking! And because I didn’t plan this incredibly well, my garden is overflowing with fecundity and I’m restricted from a whole lot of upper-body bouncing, lifting and pulling for at least a month. Which means no yanking up weeds or flinging heavy bags of mulch around. Which means my garden is overgrown, and there’s nothing I can do about it. Everything is coming up and the only thing to do is stop and smell the roses, literally.
Beth talks about this stage of writing our books as getting lost in the woods. We’re generating a high volume of words with no editing allowed. Every patch of words is another set of trees we’re throwing up over here, over there, allowing ourselves to meander and imagine. Eventually, we’ll need to find a path out of the woods and do edits, and re-writes, find beta readers… but that time is not now.
As a gardener, I like to think of this writing time as mirroring the garden. So many plants are coming up—some new, some established—and as a gardener, I’m starting to see what works well together, what’s overgrown, where the colors clash, what’s not getting enough sun, what needs to be moved, weeded, pruned. But because I’m not allowed to edit right now, I need to just let the words and plants be.
What I’m writing
Nearly 4000 words in just the last few days! I’m just as shocked as anyone. Been putting in a couple hours in the mornings and afternoons and the words are flowing.
What I’m reading
The Body is a Doorway by Sophie Strand, Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052-2072 by Eman Abdelhadi and M. E. O'Brien for book club, and a manuscript AND an ARC from two separate friends! Lucky me.
What I read
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman and HOLY FUCKING HELL. I devoured it in 24 hours, couldn’t put it down, it defies explanation. The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas. Real and spiritual chills.
Some exciting news!
If you’re local to Baltimore, join me for Greedy Reads’ The Lost Weekend book festival from May 30 - June 1. I’ll be in conversation with Denali Sai Nalamalapu about their new graphic memoir about climate resistance in rural Appalachia, HOLLER! Details here.
