Every spring the wife and I plant a vegetable garden filled with peppers, tomatoes, squash, and herbs. We spend several hours a week monitoring sun exposure, watering, and pruning. It's a joint effort that's fun and rewarding. And when our first harvest comes, we are ecstatic to be eating food from our own garden.
Every year, without fail, one of us gets too busy and the responsibility of the garden falls on just one of us. This year, it fell on me. Most evenings, when the temperature drops to a manageable degree, I step outside and water those plants that look dry. I pick random tomatoes and peppers, and I'll remove pesky caterpillars seeking to destroy our crops. But without the wife, this process ceases to be fun. It's become a chore. As a result, the garden suffers.
Writing can be very much like this. The writing process is a solitary one. Some days I write fabulous pages and I tell the wife, "I can't wait for you to read what I did today. In five months when I am actually finished with this project, you're gonna be so impressed!"
Writing is a patient endeavor. The reward comes with the process itself. Or it comes only when the project is done and you're passing your story around to people who must devote several hours to the work you've been toiling over for months. This is not an easy way to live. You must be happy with yourself. You can't rely on the day-to-day praise one might experience in other industries.
I write this post for myself and other writers who have felt the chore of solitude. A writer must understand this is part of the deal. It's part of the lifestyle. If you require constant positive reinforcement, you'll be disappointed as a writer. But if you can remain diligent, even when your spouse gets too busy to help, you'll end up with a beautiful garden. Or you'll end up with a few random tomatoes and peppers, and the knowledge that you are doing something you love...which will be enough and will make you happy.
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