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A Leap of Faith

Happy Leap Day! 

In celebration of the twenty-ninth day of February, my peach tree took a leap of faith and opened its blossoms, which may well mean it won’t be producing any peaches this summer.

Optimism is a risk. Too many warm days may have lured the tree into blooming, but it’s too early to not to expect more frost. Still, the first bee of the season was hard at work, pollinating the flowers. Maybe Mother Nature knows something I don’t. Maybe we’ll have a bumper crop of peaches. And if there are no peaches this year, the tree will try again next spring.


Releasing a book is a leap of faith. It’s always scary for writers to let go, to let their babies out into the world of agents and editors and readers. Maybe it’s too early. Maybe it needs more work. Maybe everyone will hate it. But if we never bloom, we’ll never bear fruit. And if it that story doesn’t make it – if we’re met by nothing more than frosty rejection, we can learn from our experience and write another. 

When next spring comes, we can bloom again.  

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 29, 2016 at 1:48 PM

    Beautiful blossoms, and a wonderful analogy! Thank you for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beth CarpenterFebruary 29, 2016 at 3:12 PM

    So glad you stopped by.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Diana WilderMarch 2, 2016 at 3:54 PM

    Just lovely. I can hear the drowsy buzzing of the bee and see those fragile blossoms fluttering in the breeze. ...I surely hope there will be no more frost.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Beth CarpenterMarch 2, 2016 at 3:59 PM

      I hope so, too. Oddly, only the branches on the north side of the tree are blooming. The rest of the tree is in bud.

      Delete

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