Spring, Where Are You?

My daffodils are up, buds tightly closed, waiting, waiting for the first string of warm days.

I feel like one of those buds, just waiting for my time to bloom. Waiting does not mean doing nothing, as it also is for the daffodils. Our roots/spirit, our bulbs/bodies, our leaves/mind wait, knowing our time will come.

The daffodils know what they are waiting for, but I am not as clear. I believe I am waiting for acceptance in the literary world. I need someone to believe in my next story. I need someone to read it and say, “This is what the world needs.”

Is this going to happen? I will continue to put my work out there, query literary agents and small publishing houses, for that one “Yes” to make me as “Real” as The Velveteen Rabbit.

While I search, I continue to reread my story, honing my craft, improving the narrative, eliminating words which do not drive the story or characters forward. Well, sometimes, the characters need to go backwards as part of their narrative arc.

I wrote this story in large part, in a stairwell at St. John’s College in Annapolis, in their oldest building, McDowell Hall. My little Writer’s Retreat, I nestled on the stairs leading up to the Bell Tower. How writerly I felt then. It fueled and fed my creative spirit. I fancied myself as though some writer in the garret of a mansion, perhaps a scullery maid, with mad stories she needed to tell. How delicious to have formed this image in my mind.

Doesn’t everyone think like this? No. But that’s alright, I do and I like it. Is it easy? No. I don’t imagine that a daffodil has an easy time with its’ life story either. It doubles, some years, it creates no bloom, sometimes, it’s time to divide the bulb in order to allow the daffodil to bloom again. I think it may be my time to divide. I suppose one could look at that like pruning back in order to encourage flowering.

Perhaps instead of fear, I should look at this undertaking as thrilling. Where is Spring? When is Spring? The soil smells sweet, so I know it will be here.

When is your Spring? What are you waiting for? What are you looking forward to in your life? Thank you for reading.