Dear Friend,
As a young child, I loved learning about plants. Several times, I tried to grow sweet peas, which grew on a vine. They were colorful, and I wanted so much to succeed. But they didn’t survive. In one case, not my fault, my father actually mowed them down!
As an adult, I nurtured a philodendron, supposedly one of the hardiest plants that exists. The excitement I felt as the plant grew, beyond my wildest expectations, was almost like being a proud parent. One thing I could not bring myself to do was to cut the plant back. It felt cruel to cut a plant, after it had used its resources to grow.
I was so proud of the very large, green, robust plant. It was nearly as tall as I was! And then, one day, it keeled over, dead. I had watered it, so that wasn’t the issue. Sadly, I think it was my unwillingness to cut the plant back. It had grown too large for its pot.
A landscaper even declared I had a “black thumb” when I told him about my inability to keep a philodendron alive.
A few years ago, as a freelance writer, my assignment was to create a series of PR pieces for how to grow healthy lawns and plants. A contradiction, if ever there was one! The philodendron killer, writing about growing healthy plants!
However, I did my best, and the client liked what I wrote.
Fast forward to my new career as a romance writer. My main female character, Louisa, is a horticultural guru who loves, and is successful at, growing grapes in a vineyard. Her nickname is “grape whisperer.” In my most recent book, she’s studying viticulture (cultivating vineyards), and enology (winemaking) at UC Davis.
This proficiency at growing grapes and making wine is quite a contradiction for Shelley, the person who can’t grow tomatoes, roses, and whatever else I’ve tried. What’s wonderful is that I can overcome this difficulty in cultivating plants by enjoying my alter ego, Louisa’s, talent! She’s already great at cultivation.
In a few years, when she gets to the upper-level college courses, she’ll be using her talent to create wine blends.
No longer a contradiction, I can enjoy knowing that I’ve learned a lot about vineyards and winemaking, but I’ll leave the actual cultivation to the talented people who run the vineyards.
I invite you to spend time in the vineyards with Louisa and Will! Click here to drop in to the “Watson Valley” wineries in Louisa’s Passion. The other books in the series also give you an inside look at vineyards.
PS Insider’s secret – The “passion” in Louisa’s Passion is, at first, really her passion for growing grapes! Later, it transitions to . . . (If you guessed it’s a passion for Will, you’d be correct!)
May everything you raise be healthy–especially your children!
Happy reading,
