It's so Green ~ by Maressa Mortimer

 

I was driving along with a friend, who commented on the beauty of the English countryside. “It’s so green everywhere!” I had to agree with her, for many of the local roads are like green tunnels. Often, the road gives you a stunning view of green valleys, dotted with sheep and cattle, bordered by wildflowers.



The thing is, as I explained to my friend, the reason it’s so green is because of the rain. I’m not a fan of rain, my children aren’t fans either, and being unable to get out makes my children very restless indeed. Cabin Fever, but with lots of capitals and exclamation marks. Once the rain has stopped, and the sun is out, however, it all looks amazing.

It’s very much like writing. It’s hard work some days to find enough energy to sit down and think in a straight line. Other days, when I sit down with a corrected manuscript, working through each page and deleting entire paragraphs, I worry that there will be nothing left to publish. Or I moan at my grammar App, “What do you mean that’s not an English word? It sounds perfectly English to me!”

One of the best things has been meeting up with other writers. Input from others has been invaluable, and I’m looking forward to better times ahead where meeting up with fellow writers can resume again. It’s hard to judge our writing, and as my husband doesn’t normally read fiction, whatever I produce is classed as wonderful, which is nice but unhelpful.

Sometimes hard work is necessary for making the grass greener. I’m not a keen gardener, and watering the grass seems a little pointless as most of our lawn is soft green moss and seems to survive quite happily without my efforts.

Writing needs watering though. Coffee and snacks help, but will only help up to a certain degree. As some of you know, I have only been writing for about three years, thoroughly enjoying myself. I now know that the grammar app doesn’t agree with adverbs, and my editor doesn’t like more than five exclamation marks per 100,000-word manuscript. She doesn’t approve of triple dots either, so it feels like a real victory when she kindly leaves one in.

Writing itself comes easy (it’s just talking on paper, I could go on for hours) like it’s easy to have a garden. Of course, you could claim that you’re part of the wildlife gardens, but to have a lovely garden, you have to pull weeds out, move things around and dig up stones. At least in England, you only have to water your garden about three days a year.



Maressa Mortimer is Dutch but lives in the beautiful Cotswolds, England with her husband and four (adopted) children. Her debut novel, Sapphire Beach, was published December 2019, and her first self published novel, Walled City, came out on December 5th 2020, followed by Viking Ferry, a novella. Beyond the Hills is the second book in the Elabi Chronicles, and will be released on June 18th 2021. All Maressa’s books are available from her website, www.vicarioushome.com or local bookshops.

Maressa is a homeschool mum as well as a pastor’s wife, so her writing has to be done in the evening when peace and quiet descends on the house once more. She loves writing Christian fiction, as it’s a great way to explore faith in daily life.


Comments

Wendy H. Jones said…
Brilliantly put, Maressa, trying to find the right word is key and I agree with you re the grammar app. In regards to rain, we do it spectacularly well in Britain. Did you know there are 23 words for rain in Dundee and we’re the sunniest city in Scotland.
Thank you! 23 words for rain! I love that!
Reb MacRath said…
Well done Maressa. As for me, though, I'd have to get rid of any editor who told me to sack ellipses wholesale...or even half-sale.
Ruth Leigh said…
I used to live in Devon, one of the greenest counties and one of the wettest. You just got used to it, much as Wendy has, I imagine! Like your analogies very much.
Thanks, Reb,I agree...😂
Thanks, Ruth, yes, it's the constant change in weather that makes me wonder why I picked England, rather than Crete or Spain to move to...

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