Saturday, March 10, 2012

Inspiration from houseplants

I know what you're thinking: Why should I be interested in someone else's room?  That's a good question.  A lot happens in someone's bedroom.  It's personal.  This is where I spent a lot of time as a kid.  See those scratches on the floor?  That's from my dog, Abby, who used to follow me everywhere I went.  I used to think of her as my little sister because I had no siblings of my own.  When she got older, she was my older sister, and finally, more like a godmother because I wasn't looking after Abby the puppy anymore; she was looking after me, the teenager.

My desk is where I've done most of my writing and homework over the years.  I've even doodled on the surface with sharpie when I ran into some kind of writer's block.  Which happens a lot.  Writing is something I've been passionate about for a long, long time.  I love reading about other writers, especially Virginia Woolf and Stephen King, but I've never been able to write as much as I've wanted.  Sadly, I'm intimidated by other writers or that I don't have the right vocabulary to truly express what I'm trying to say.

This blog is a way for me to develop my writing skills and to grow and learn from myself and others.  Let's start by taking a closer look at one of my interests: plants.  There's one sitting under that lamp on the brown table.  Here, take a closer look:

 Look at those colors! After Abby passed, I was devastated.  Having a dog is a huge responsibility as we all know.  It was a weird feeling not having anything to take care of anymore.  My parents weren't planning on getting another dog anytime soon, so I went plant crazy.  My dad used to do a lot of landscaping as a career but plants never interested me until I needed something for me to take care of.  I had about twenty houseplants in my room at one point.  Some needed watering every day, some didn't need watering for weeks, some needed partial sun, partial shade, no sun at all, or needed to be somewhere with consistent air flow.  Talk about responsibility!

The thing is, I need to spend as much time writing as I did looking after those plants.  The time is now.

Annie