I just pulled a bunch of radishes from the vegetable patch.They are glossy red, fading quickly to pure white tips, with bushy green leaves. When I slice them thinly you'll be able to see the light through them. They'll pack a CRUNCH.
I couldn't find a photo online that came anywhere close to how fresh and red they look, so you'll have to look at this one and use your imagination. Or maybe I'm just biased.
It's been difficult for me to keep my world balanced for a couple of weeks now. Questions about whether or not my books are selling/will sell have been like a cloud of pesky mosquitos buzzing around my head. This week a big chain of bookshops sent 200 copies of The Letters back to Snowbooks to pulp. I feel a little sad for them, but it's also a relief - there - that's happened, and it wasn't the end of the world. It's just a small proportion of the ones they ordered in the first place. It's early days.
Then a friend texted to tell me how much she was enjoying The Blue Handbag.
Radishes are just as important, anyway. And my other seedlings - chard, celeriac, runner beans, beetroot, carrots, french beans, butternut squash, cucumber, purple sprouting broccoli. The first new potatoes might be ready soon, to be boiled and slathered in butter. The garlic won't be far behind.
The books will sell, or they won't. People will enjoy them, or they won't. I'll keep writing them whatever happens. I'll keep growing my veggies. If one person thoroughly enjoys each book I write, it will be like eating a new potato slathered in butter. Anything more (and I've already had so much more) is really more than enough.
I'm off to do some weeding now. Thank you for listening.
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4 comments:
Oh, Fiona... I can't image the kind of angst this kind of thing produces... the questions, hopes, fears that come up... but when you get right down to it, it is so very personal. If one person enjoys what we've written, that's a plus that wasn't there before. I know I am enjoying The Letters immensely, and with the rainy days we've had here, it's a wonderful book to curl up with... quite the mystery!
Hang in there, my friend...
Oh, and your garden sounds beautiful. Yum.
I loved The Letters and will read it again, despite now knowing the ending.
It is the 'little things' that really inform the joy of our lives, I have 'known' this for many, many years, but why oh why does it never quite sink in!
Keep writing, please!
Carole.
See, I told you - more than enough! Thank you Carole, that means a lot. And yes, how is it that 'knowing it' still means we have to relearn it over and over and over again?
And thank you RB - that means a lot too. We've had blazing sunshine here today, and it's lovely to think of you halfway across the world with a copy of my book in your hands, getting to know Violet... I'll send you over some virtual veg! :)
I think your 'one person' hope is a great one to hold onto. I used to want to write a book that would change the world. Now writing something, a sentence, a paragraph, that changes one person for one moment is looking like enough.
We had radishes in our veg box the last two weeks. They were lovely but not at all like I remember from childhood, which was sadly probably the last time I tasted radishes. I wonder if they changed or I did?
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