Landscape Lighting

Yesterday we spent the entire glorious day outside working in the yard. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and not only did we accomplish a lot, but it also gave me the opportunity to continue my gardening/writing metaphors here today.

One of the things we did was to add some landscape lighting to our pond area. This was a lot of fun as it is one of those "finishing touches" kind of thing. We ran the wire and then decided where we wanted each light to be. In the process we needed to remove some ground cover that had crept into places it shouldn't have. We hooked up the lights, set the timer, and then had to wait until night fell to see if we'd aimed the lights in just the right spot. Once it got dark, we tweaked a few angles, and wa la...beautiful! Lights illuminated the pond, a tree off to one side, and the focal point of the landcaping in the middle. We decided another light we'd placed at the foot of the bridge was too much, so we removed that.

Of course, this got me to thinking about writing. Placing those lights was a lot like deciding what to reveal and when in a story. We want just the right story lines, plots, and character arcs to be illuminated (and at the right time). Other things can be a little further from the light, but still visible. They'll play a role in the story, but aren't the main focus. And then of course there are those things that we want to keep in the dark. Maybe these will be revealed in the light of day, or maybe not. Maybe they are simply background information for the author, but don't ever need to be 'seen' by the reader. And there are times we may reveal too much too soon, and things need to be removed and saved for later or not at all.

So today we're mulching. Anybody have any good metaphors to relate mulching to writing?!

Until next time,

Debra

www.debrastjohnromance.com