Trees in Winter

I live in southern CA. We have a small backyard. But in our yard, we have two different types of trees: deciduous and evergreen. We have 2 birch trees and 2 Japanese maples. We have a Blue Spruce pine tree in a big pot. And several tall palm trees are in our neighbor’s yard next door but we get to enjoy them because they stand right next to our wall.

Even though our winters are mild, these two types of trees react differently to winter. At the first sign of winter, the deciduous trees drop their leaves. They lie dormant. They shut down.

The evergreen trees, however, just keep on keeping on. Yes it’s cold. Yes it’s winter. Yes everything around them seems dead and empty. But they persevere.

What kind of writer are you when you hit a winter season? Are you like a deciduous tree? If you get rejections and nobody seems interested in your manuscripts, do you shut down? Do you give up on writing for awhile and just wait until next year’s conference rolls around to motivate you to write again?

Or are you evergreen? Do you keep writing, keep learning new writing skills, keep pumping out manuscripts and sending out queries? Do you keep on keeping on until springtime comes again?

Even if you’ve been like a deciduous tree in winter, don’t despair! In my next post I’ll show you some ways you can be like an evergreen.