Spring Equinox, Ostara

by Susan Old

Thoughts of nature’s rejuvenation of the earth gives us hope in this soggy start to the season. Every day I check my plants for signs of life after the long winter slumber. Little green leaves and buds begin to appear with the promise of beautiful blooms to come. Parts of my yard became flooded earlier this year, but my red current bushes, lilacs and roses have survived.

When writing a new story, it starts like Spring, as ideas become paragraphs revealing the clues to a plot and introducing characters. Then the tale continues, like the plants showing more foliage, our cast of heroes, villains and questionable miscreants begin to show more of their depth. Their ability to work with or clash with other characters brings surprising results even for the authors. Like a plant you’d given up on suddenly shows promise. Books are carefully tended gardens of words. Editing is like weeding and pruning, hopefully bringing out the best writing for our readers.

Is it any wonder that Linda Jordan and Susan Brown are amazing gardeners? I have learned so much from working with them. Not only in terms of writing but also appreciating how the seasons impact a garden and the diligence, patience, and effort it takes to bring it to a beautiful conclusion every Summer. We employ those same qualities when publishing a new book.

I hope you have enjoyed our urban fantasy series so far. Like a gardener anticipating new blooms, we are happy to bring our readers a short story collection later this year. Once the newest publication comes out, we’ll work on a new shifter series for next year. Always making plans to keep the garden growing, and improving our publications with new ideas, new plants.

Enjoy Spring!