My grandmother’s garden took two forms. Her front lawn was manicured and beautiful. A wayward dandelion knew not to rest in her grass. Flowers lined her house, leading to the backyard. At first glance, it mirrored the front lawn with well-placed bushes and trimmed grass. But toward the back, there was a line of demarcation. Behind the careful planning, she gave her garden over to its natural desires. The garden was a riot of color and textures, a cornucopia of sensory pleasure. Wildflowers grew with abandon, trees linking with shrubs. Bees had their choice of nectar. My grandmother loved her perfect garden but relished her wild one, as did her grandchildren. We could walk through her wild garden and deeper into the woods where we reached a stream we followed to many adventures. We literally entered the creative world, wild, free, and full of possibility.
As with gardening, plan your writing life. Goals can provide a foundation for even greater creativity. Think about what you want to accomplish through writing. What do you have to say? Whom do you want to reach? Words, like seeds, are ready to take root and flower. How will you let them blossom? As with my grandmother’s garden, there is a wild side we can cultivate. In her book, Fruitflesh: Seeds of Inspiration for Women Who Write, Gayle Brandeis, asks us to connect again with our organic roots, our bodies, and our creative nature.
Creative Writing Prompts: Planting Our Creative Garden
• Create your own wild garden of creativity. First, get outside. Take along your pen and paper, even a camera or drawing pad. Walk around your neighborhood and see it for the first time. Imagine you are a tourist. What is your first impression? Notice the colors, smells, and sounds of where you live. Write about it from that point of view. If you brought along a camera and something to draw, take some photos or sketch your next-door neighbor. Later create a collage of what you wrote, add any photos and drawings.
• In the coming weeks; choose a flower or fruit of the week and write about it. Describe the color, smell, and shape of it.
• Create a collage that represents the flower or fruit. For example, if you picked a rose, your collage might reflect images of love, flashes of red or pink, maybe a wedding photo. Try to recreate your writing visually. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Like my grandmother’s garden, it can be unordered.
• What can thrive in your garden of creativity? You might even write out your writing goals and add them to your collages as flowers or plants ready to blossom. Be outrageous and see where it leads you.
Photo by Annie Spratt
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