Tend to Your Garden of Words (Michelle Intro) (05/30/2020)

A recap of the week's writing at Atticus Review. Submit to our Flash CNF Contest, judged by Nick Flynn! Introduction by Michelle Ross.

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Since the outset of social distancing, and therefore my working from home these last several months, I’ve become newly dedicated to my backyard vegetable garden. Sure, it’s nice to have homegrown food, and I always hope for a successful harvest, but I know from years of doing this that some of my efforts are going to fail; yet, I keep at it because the act of gardening is calming and fulfilling whether or not it yields a big harvest. Gardening is a lot like writing in that way. Actually, writing and gardening have so much in common, and all this time in the garden lately has reminded me of some truths about writing that I sometimes lose sight of:

Managed Expectations.

Writing, like gardening, is a long, slow process without guaranteed success. It’s fine to visualize the harvest, but you’re better off if you manage your expectations and find pleasure in the work itself. Sometimes, despite your best efforts, projects fail, just as crops fail. Maybe there’s a lesson you can learn from that failure that will benefit future projects; maybe not.

Continual Discovery.

Writing, like gardening, is a process of learning and discovery. The other day I discovered a little kale plant that somehow survived into the late spring heat because it was shaded by towering tomato plants and flowers. I also discovered a new insect I’d never seen wreaking havoc on a tomato plant leaf. Writing constantly yields discoveries, too. It’s a wonderful thing to be a student every day. 

Natural Cycles.

Writing, like gardening, is cyclic. Do the work of caring for it, and there may come periods in which the harvest is abundant and the work minimal. But eventually, as the season changes, the harvest ends and you have to start all over again. It may be all work with nothing to show for it for some time. 

Companion Projects.

Writing, like gardening, can benefit from companion planting. Just as beans benefit squash by delivering nitrogen to the soil and corn benefits beans by giving them something to climb, writing projects can benefit one another, too. For example, writing flash fiction can hone skills, such as concision, that benefit longer projects. Seemingly disparate projects may inform each other in interesting ways.

Infinite Returns.

Writing, like gardening, is a process in which nothing has to go to waste. In gardening, after plants die or stop producing, most of them can be recycled into compost to feed future crops. In writing, sometimes you can literally recycle words and sentences. That is, the darlings you cut from one project may become the seeds for a new project. But even if you don’t literally recycle words and sentences, the time spent writing is never a waste: sometimes, your past efforts feed new projects in less obvious ways.

Renewal.

Finally, like a garden that has been neglected to the point that it’s overrun with weeds, a writing practice that has been neglected can be cleaned up and restarted, fresh.  

It's a lot of work to start again, but starting over is also exciting. Begin anyway — it's a chance to experiment, maybe try to grow something you've never tried to grow before.

Thanks for reading. We’re glad you’re here.

Michelle Ross

Fiction Editor

ATTICUS NEWS

We want your CNF!Deadline July 26th. Only $10 to enter.First Prize: $350; 2nd: $100; 3rd: $50.All pieces considered for publication.Judge: Nick FlynnSUBMITCheck out Nick's latest memoir HERE.

Congratulations to Atticus Review contributors Gwen Goodkin, Mia Herman, and Connie Post.Read the update here.

THIS WEEK AT ATTICUS REVIEW

BOOK REVIEWREMOVING THE FABRIC OF THE AMERICAN DREAMA Review of THE ROYAL ABDULS by Ramiza Koya from Forest Avenue PressReview by Shumaila Taher"...reflects the multigenerational trauma seeping into the lives of many..."GET THE BOOKREAD THE REVIEW

FICTIONFULLER BRUSHby Jeff Ewing "..I remembered the brush man’s visits when I was a kid, twice a year with his case and patter. The brushes nestled in velvet-lined cutouts in the case, the bristles cat-soft when my mom swept them across my cheek."READ ON

POETRYSECOND CANCERby Susan Trofimow"Each flaw magnifiedthe way morning light glaresyour age, dust on the nightstand,loose thread in the area rug."READ ON

CREATIVE NONFICTIONTHE MOUTH OF OUR CAVES by Emily Choate"But now my own dear beast lies curled beneath my desk. The one I thought had gone extinct is wide awake and making plans."READ ON

MIXED MEDIAPILGRIMSA videopoem by Ivan DoanPoem by Joseph Brodsky"When I decided to make this short film, I tried to find a good translation, but unfortunately they were all bad. Not only had they no rhyme, but the rhythm was completely wrong. Rhythm is essential in this poem as it conveys the feeling of pilgrims’ eternal movement through space and time. So I decided to do my own translation, in which I maintained the same rhyme and rhythm that exist in the original Russian version."READ ON

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