Writing Wisdom...Or Things I've Learned From My Chickens
by Mary Manners
Some of you may know that my husband and I recently relocated to a mini-farm in the foothills of East TN. One of my dreams has always been to raise chickens. Well, with the beautiful coop we inherited with the property, I got right on it. And quickly discovered there are a lot of correlations between raising chickens and the writing process.
My baby chicks arrived and they were so tiny, barely seeds of the chickens they would grow to be. I thought of my writing ideas over the years, all swirling around in my head, and knew that something fabulous was in the future, but it was going to take some time, great dedication, a touch of humor, and a whole lot of patience.
Every day, without exception and even when I was tired, sick, or just plain over it, I tended to my chicks. Though they looked nothing like the adult chickens I had envisioned through all my years of dreaming, beneath the heat of a red lamp in the dead of winter, they began to thrive. Though they were noisy and helpless, often stinky, disorganized, and at times downright frustrating, I continued to love on them without exception, keeping the faith that one day a gift--eggs--would materialize as if from thin air (only I would know how labor intensive eliciting that gift actually truly was).
Well, the chicks ate and they ate (I practically needed a second job just to pay for the feed) and finally, ever so slowly, they began to mature. Finally, the day came for me to release them from the warm confines of their safe, homebound bin to the great outdoors of the coop. With so many predators lurking in the country, I wasn't sure they would make it. But I kept the faith, and had to try.
Well, winter turned to spring, and then spring to summer. I waited and I waited for those eggs to arrive. And while I was waiting, I kept working. I read and studied everything I could find on chickens, asked my chicken-savvy friends for pointers, cleaned the coop, tended to the chickens' needs, and often even sang to them (because what's the point of all that work if there's not a little fun mixed in, as well). During it all, I kept believing that one morning, as a result of all my work, I'd enter the coop and find those elusive gifts--eggs--winking back at me from the nesting boxes. Twenty weeks went by, then twenty-five, twenty-six, nearly thirty. The deadline passed and still I found no eggs. I worried my chickens were somehow defective...somehow not good enough. Even so, I clung to faith.
Then one day...
The happy-dancing commenced, followed by a delicious, farm-fresh breakfast.
So, the moral of this story is...never give up. Have faith and work diligently toward your writing goal. Stay happy and remember to laugh. Share your trials and worries with friends, and lean on them when it's hard. Because your happy-dancing day will come if you hold firm to your faith and stick with it.
And those eggs...well, they're worth every bit of the hard work and the wait.
~~~~~
ONE WRONG TURN AT A FORK IN THE ROAD...
When Chloe Rylin flees New York City and her dream of
becoming a Broadway performer, she returns to her hometown harboring a
life-altering secret and the shame of a shattered past. Best friend Kelsie asks
her to help build a house through the local Shelter the Homeless program, where
Chloe meets Zack Coleman and his mischievous St. Bernard, Sammy.
Zack
is dealing with a devastating loss of his own, yet his gentleness and patience
melt Chloe's resolve never to trust, much less fall in love, again. But what
will Zack think when he discovers the shame of Chloe's past? Will he reject
her, or can their fledgling love heal hurting hearts and blossom into a
happily-ever-after, together?
~~~~~
Mary
Manners is a country girl at heart who has spent a lifetime sharing
her joy of writing. She lives in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains of
East Tennessee with her husband Tim and their rescue dog Axel, mischievous cats
Colby and Rascal, 6 rambunctious chickens, and 13 fish.
Mary writes stories full of faith
and hope. Her books have earned multiple accolades including two Inspirational
Reader’s Choice Awards, the Gail Wilson Award of Excellence, the Aspen Gold,
the Heart of Excellence, and the National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award.
Mary
loves long sunrise runs, Smoky Mountain sunsets, and flavored coffee. She
enjoys connecting with reader friends through her website: www.MaryMannersRomance.com.