I would be interested in buying your book and I would also like to follow it on its way to publication. I have collected garden and gardening books for 30 years. I have more than 400 now, 60 of them about roses. The majority are in English and Swedish but I have several in German, Danish and Norwegian, only one in French. I have received some for reviewing as I write irregularly in our Swedish rose quarterly. I don't collect indiscriminately any longer as readability is my main criterion now. I look for a good book even though its practical value may be limited for my climate. It must convey a passion for gardening.

I was very disappointed in a book that promised well by its subject, An Englishman's Garden in America. The fault lay in the fact that the author was not a gardener, had never gardened before emigrating. One has this silly idea that all Englishmen are gardeners. I should know better as the few English people I know well are not. The book is about the writer's overwhelmingly large property, described in pedantic detail and without conveying anything of the grandeur of the landscape or the joy of gardening. I am sure your book will be very different.

I'm in the same mode, Melissa. I always wished for the time to write and now that I am retired and have it, I find myself silenced by the tremendous, and sometimes horrendous, amount of literary endeavors out there. I have several starts that I abandoned when I ran into "it's already been done" as well and sometimes better than what I can do, including a garden commentary. I write a lot of little pieces and, like you, everyone says I should write a book. I sit down at the keyboard every day--and end up playing solitaire.

I am further discouraged because my family was in the book business for years ad I've worked as a professional writer and editor (and quit to go into landscaping).

People have short attention spans and/or are busy-busy. I belong to several book clubs and in all of them, most members have trouble finishing a book a month. People read for escape, necessary information, or special interest. Check out Amazon's Best Seller Rank for similar books. Jamaica Kincaid's "My Garden Book" is # 236, 699.

Last year I went to India for a month and I ran a blog [in place of writing letters and sending postcards]. It was avidly followed by everyone to whom I gave the address and then some. I'm going back in February and everyone has asked me to continue it. But it is short pieces with photos. It has a time limit, the subject is exotic, and my companions and I are personally known to most of my readers.

This hasn't been encouraging. Write for yourself and if it takes off, wonderful. Maybe try writing a weekly piece here on the forum. Make it a little more structured, give it a bit more continuity than your usual, 'random' postings and keep copies of what you write here. Ask people to respond, if only to say 'yes, I read it,' so you know how many people are checking in. See what kind of following you have after six months. If we are all still devoted readers, then you may have something worth publishing.

I say - go for it! You love to write. You clearly get a lot of positive feedback from pretty genre specific critics right here. I think writing is something from deep within that we do to satiate an inner drive for us. The audience - it will or will not come, but it isn't really for them. And the audience chooses their own noise, so there is no such thing as too much noise out there.

I think you write beautifully. You transform me to places I haven't been. It doesn't get much better than that.

It seems like the way you write and your wish for a response would be perfect for a blog. Or one of the rose publications(like HRF or HRG) would be thrilled to have a contribution like yours.
I have a couple of friends who have written books and a neighbor who is a book agent. Getting published is not easy.
There is the idea of self-publishing. There's a website called (I think) Lulu and others. They will print your book when someone requests it.

To Melissa and Catsrose, I second Harmonyp's advice--go for it! I write for a living, and believe me, if you let yourself get intimidated by all the stuff that's already out there, you'll never compose another paragraph--about anything!
As it was explained to me by my writing partner, my DH and rose hole digger, when someone hires a plumber, they never tell you they can't show up today because they've got plumber's block. It's the same with writers. Ernest Hemingway used to say that the most important accessory for a writer was a seatbelt.

Kay

Mendocino is correct. HRG at least would LOVE to have input from someone who gardens with roses in a "different" area.

Start with articles, and you can begin over time to bundle them together into a larger publication.

I've been doing that, and I now have a book-LET. So I am at the point of deciding where to go from there.

Jeri

Melissa, you already have a tremendous body of work on this forum that has basically journalized your own garden. I would gather up as many of those as Google will find and see what they say about your gardening life in real time and go from there. I don't know about the book business. I'm sure it's not an easy one (have you seen "Julie & Julia"?) Like any creative work, you need passion for your subject that comes across and a hook, something about you or about your subject with which the reader will connect. YOU have to love the subject before a reader will love it, and putting that love and the dream of that love on paper will be the key. You'll need to get personal. By that I mean your heart, i.e., truth, will have to be in the writing. People want to see YOU on the pages without exactly reading your biography. I think writing is more a matter of the heart than anything else. As to knowing who you're writing to, I think it's more a matter of them finding you and believing deeply that you wrote it for them. Good writing is metaphysical. If you NEED to express what's inside of you, your heart and your mind will find a way to do it. As someone who writes with no training, the neat thing about writing is the way it turns out in the end, compelling with no loose ends and the feeling that it wrote itself. I think that comes with knowing yourself or (the way I do it) purely stream of consciousness. By all means give it a shot. The writer in you deserves a chance.

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...

Oh yes indeed, you should write a book. The best garden writers are those whose personalities come through the written word and who write about what they truly love. You are one of those. Add to that that you will be writing about the exotic (to us) location of Italy and you should do well.

On a personal note: My sister was a career journalist and editor but she wanted to write books...romance novels. She has now written about 30 and one or two of other genres. In addition she is now selling e-books. I must admit that she is and always has been a "go getter" but it can be done.

Cath

oh yes, I think Harmony has hit the nail squarely - writing is an emotional act which needs release - I would say that you are already doing that. However, Sherry and Pam have also made astute observations inasmuch as you are engaged in a very co-operative and interpersonal venture when writing on this forum - the replies to your initial postings and also your responses in return.....is a conversation rather than a monologue. I think Sherry has hit upon a telling issue - the play between the technical, horticulture and design alongside the personal - who you are and why you are. What sort of book do you want to write? A journal, a story with some sort of narrative arc (and I confess to being more interested in the elements which are specific to you, rather than gardening per se.
Hmmmmm, normally, I can ramble on with at least some degree of clarity but feel I am failing you here. I Think you should do it because you clearly have something to convey.....other issues such as getting published, who will read it are, I think, fairly irrelevant since you are practically on your way.
Oh yeah, one thing that does strike me is that your 'voice' is remarkably consistent, serene almost, so we readers do already have a sense of who you are.

Personally, I'd rather follow your blog for a few reasons. By all means do whatever moves you, but nothing like the quick setup, satisfaction and feedback of a blog from real people, even if it's to get you started. Do take what you've posted here and use it to fill the blog at the beginning - I for one am sure I have not read them all, and would love to reread the rest!

Not only that, there's no deadlines and other like things to make writing and sharing a job rather than an avocation. A blog is a way to test the waters and see how much commitment you would have to a book. It's also a way to test the style of writing you'd prefer OR change it back and forth - do you want to share you life and your passion or do you want to inform in the third person?

I confess, most of the several blogs I follow are about dogs, nevertheless, I've learned a lot and enjoy my "virtual friends" more than I can say. Not just because I've learned something, but because someone is sharing who is in the same boat as myself. I'm not alone in an interest - similar to the thread recently about killing bands, oh the murders I've committed!! Made me feel better and although I am more successful now, I still learned something.

Finally, I love books, don't get me wrong. But they are static. A blog would be a dynamic experience that you might enjoy more AND your followers would have the pleasure of enjoying you every day, instead of the first reading and as a reference, lovely though that would be.

So, do you pressure cook? I found a wonderful pressure cooking blog the other day by an American ex-pat like yourself living in Italy. ;-) Email me if you'd like the link!

Cheers and salut to whatever you do,
Kerin

Just re-read your original post and noticed the comment about anything written in GW is GW property. Really???

I would have thought I can take my words and write them anywhere. Anybody have more info on this?

If not, Melissa, I would check with GW to be sure. And if they insist, I think you should still take your words and just rearrange them!!!
K

Melissa..you go girl. Do it. I'm sure you will be more than successful. I'll read everything and anything you write. You have a stunning ability to capture an audience.
The best to you.
Jeannie

All these responses with wonderful advice from people whose writing I admire and respect - you certainly struck a chord, didn't you! Campanula pegged your "voice" when she said you were consistent and serene. Yes, that is you! I would love to read anything by you - I always, always read your posts from start to finish and enjoy the pictures you paint of your life in the garden there in Italy. So I am saying yes! yes! write a book if there is one inside you waiting to be written. Don't worry about your readers, we'll find you. If you need, imagine all of *us* reading your book - because we most likely will!
I say all this from the position of one who has been told all my life that I should write (my 70 year old elder brother still never lets go by a chance to nag) but I have not felt that inner drive. Very occasionally the urge comes over me and one letter or one essay or even a poem is enough. But to write more - I don't *feel* that it is inside me. I was my most prolific in the months immediately following the death of my husband, but that journal of essays was very personal and written for myself...and in some way it was for him, too - but not to be shared with the outside world. It fulfilled a need I had and satisfied the voice inside of me. But if your inside voice says loud and clear that there is a book to be written then you should be doing something about it, not worrying about who will care. Just sit down and write what your heart tells you to write! I think of so many people whose contributions on this forum would have translated well into a book - first and foremost in my mind was Cuz from North Carolina, if anyone else here remembers him. His stories were so gentle and warm that I could have gone on reading a whole book by him without a blink - but now his voice is gone and the posts he left behind are lost to the world; I could only find one from 2002 and there were so many good ones he offered to us. There is something about publishing a book that keeps those words alive. Do it!! :-)

Yes, you should start writing a book.

Yes

With lots of pictures...may I suggest a photographer :)

You might be surprised to find there are some who lurk and post here who have practiced plagiarism and may have used some of your work, so get hopping. I did the same that you are thinking of doing and found some of my work had already been used as well as the posts of many others here, so be careful how in depth you answer questions if you choose, ever, to write a book or you might find yourself, as I did, working to find your words have been used already by others, who took them from your posts. Another reason I have chosen to lurk and learn, not contribute for several reasons. Do a blog and see how that works, and if it does, you can always use your body of work for publication.

I heartily appreciate your answers and the honesty and thoughtfulness that have gone into them. I intended to answer yesterday, but we had an unpleasantly lively day, with a foot and a half of snow and DH being involved in, not one, but two automobile accidents, the second of which resulted in our car being totaled. No one was much hurt and we have a spare car, but still, I imagine you all know how expensive and troublesome and disheartening these incidents are. So my mood today leaves something to be desired, and I'm not ready to respond in any kind of thoughtful way to your posts; by tomorrow I hope I'll have recovered enough to do so.
For now, though, let me say thanks for all the input!
Melissa

This post was edited by melissa_thefarm on Fri, Jan 18, 13 at 5:49

Um, I did wonder why we were not hearing much from you, Patricia, 'specially since you write so well (and coruscatingly) in Hot Topics)

Sympathy for the car crash, Melissa - teeth gritted, my dear, you will probably need fortitude to cope with the tedious insurance details. As it happens, I have also been thinking a bit harder about your book venture (and am especially on form after dipping into expensive garden magazines in a moment of weakness) to be quite clear about what (some) readers want (and would rather not get)but hey, will save for another day when your spirits have recovered.

TWO automobile accidents in one day? Oh boy! Good to hear that no one was injured. Sometimes when a lot goes wrong in a short period of time, I look at it as getting my share of bad things out of the way so that I can have a long stretch of serenity. Just mind games, but I hope it helps.

Cath

Do it, Melissa. It's the things we didn't do that we regret when it's too late. And do include photos, if possible. I've never forgotten your photo of Mme. Antoine Mari.

Laura

I'm back again. Marianne, catsrose, harmonyp, Pam, Kay, Jeri, Sherry, Cath, Suzy, Kerin, Jeannie, Anne Cecilia, windeaux, Kippy, Patricia, Laura, thank you all for your answers and the thought that went into them! I hope I got everybody; I wanted to list all your names because I appreciate all your responses.
Various considerations:
I went back and checked the "Terms of Service" (you can access them from the bottom of this page) and, as best I can tell after hacking through GW's verbiage with the not overly sharp machete of my logic, all text posted here is GW's to do with as they please. I'm not particularly bothered by this, as I had known (thought I knew) this for years, and have never posted anything I would really regret not being able to claim ownership of. I have faith in the fecundity of my mind, and no fear I'll run out of material or the words in which to express my thoughts.
This question of ownership is why I've thought about alternative platforms on which to write. I've certainly considered starting a blog, but, aside from my general aversion to mastering a new technology, which can be overcome, I have two difficulties. One is that I'm afraid of an Internet world in which I might be exposed to the malice of ill-wishing readers--trolls: I like someone to be guarding the gates. Sherry, and others who have blogs, what have your experiences been? The other is that blogs seem all to be richly illustrated with photos, and I really want to write without pictures. Perhaps there's an element of defeatism in this, as I don't use a camera and don't want to learn, at least, not more than is needed to document my garden. But I also love words and have a great belief in language and its possibilities for communication, and that's what I'm interested in developing; that's where my heart is.
Jeri, I took a look at the articles from 'Rosa Mundi' that are available on HRG's website, and was not encouraged. The authors all sound so knowledgeable! They research; they collect; they sound like expert rosarians. I'm just a gardener, though I have more roses than most (and mostly old and older varieties) and happen to live in Italy. Would there be room for what I have to say in such a publication? This is a serious question.
(to be continued later)

I still think you should write a book from your personal point of view and not start a blog. This is heresy coming from a Swede, a country of 9 million people writing over 2% of the world's blogs, many by women bloggers if my impression is correct. I don't follow any blog and skip all links to them in the Swedish garden forum of which I am a member but I have happened to see a few garden blogs. It seems that followers of a blog request frequent, if not daily, updates, so blogging becomes a chore after a while. The texts are usually very short and shallow, written on the spur of the moment and the style hardly ever developed.

My most beloved garden book is Christopher Lloyd's The Well-tempered Garden with not one picture in it. If your book should be in any way similar to that it will not need any pictures. Especially if you could give your book some local colour, some feel of Italy, I'm sure it will have many readers.

Melissa,
There are a number of photo-less garden journals/meanderings/essays books, but most of the authors have some pull in the publishing world: Jamaica Kincaid, Katherine White (wife of EB White), Perenyi, Poulsen etc. Also, publishing is increasingly market oriented, which means quality doesn't count unless it sellable. Your best bet would be to get a few short pieces published first. It's all very well for people to say write for yourself and have faith in your talent, but a pile of Dear Johns can be very discouraging. So, keep your expectations realistic.

Re: blogs. You can certainly write w/o photos. Photos just grab the attention (we are, I think, visually addicted). You can also write a blog that does not permit comments back. I don't let people comment on my India blog because I don't want to get caught up answering questions or comparing experiences. If you do welcome comments, I wouldn't worry about trolls. Trolls are confrontational and want a response, and they aren't very literate. A garden blog isn't their kind of meat, esp if there are no photos to pull them in. There is a lot of hype about hacking, identity theft, trolls, etc, and, yes, it all does happen. But fear-mongering is major sport, at least in the US, so take it all with a few grains of salt.

Identifying David Austin roses is not as eaasy as one would think. I have just finished looking through "100 English Roses for the American Garden," by Clair G. Martin. This book only shows David Austin Roses. There are many which look like the ones in your photo. But which one exactly I couldn't tell.
You may want to see if this book is available at your library. It contains pics only of the bloom. It also tells of disease reesistance and size for each.
Good luck.
Jeannie

Melissa, apologies for not responding more quickly. I want to say first that I hope your husband is unharmed, and that he has recovered his equilibrium. I'm sure he was shaken up by the accidents. Please pass along my good wishes.

I think you could certainly write a book, a very good book. Your problem would be the obstacles to getting published. I would second the suggestions made here to getting a two or three shorter pieces published in garden magazines of some sort. You could use these to help you in getting an agent, which is key to getting published. As for illustrations, you don't have to be your own photographer. You need not allow that to trouble you.

Rosefolly

Melissa, I don't believe I've ever received an ugly comment on my blog, and I think I've gotten two spam comments. In the grand scheme of things mine is not a very widely seen blog so I don't know if a really popular blog gets more bad stuff which are easily deleted. You can create a new email account specifically for the blog, so you're very insulated from the public. Personally, I think reading a no-photos journal-type blog would be fine. Come to think of it, that's basically what we have here on the forum. I will say that comments are like the proverbial iceberg. Very few readers comment compared to the number of hits received. I think it's mainly other bloggers who comment on mine. They must sense the personal need for feedback so they are more apt to give it.

The technology is not really that tough. The blog platforms have templates that can be set up almost instantly. What takes time is the tweaking for your personal style, colors, fonts, etc. Many are quite simply done. I imagine you could even design it so it looked like the page of a book. Plenty of garden writers publish collections of their essays/columns in book form after they appear in their original venue. You could do the same via the blog.

I do not have aspirations of ever being published. However, the thought has occurred to me that I could "get discovered" by some editor surfing through the myriad of garden blogs, but I think that's pretty unlikely, too. I think if you are pinning your writing plans on being published in book form, your odds are probably pretty low as catsrose seems to be indicating, but if you just want to share your experience in the garden, I think a words-only blog would be great. You could even do it in English and Italian - one tab for the English version and one for Italian written individually since the "translators" leave much to be desired. Your in-depth essays would be of great interest to gardeners, I believe.

As to a book, there's always self-publishing which is basically what a blog is except that it's free for you and the reader. It really is like writing and publishing a book one chapter at a time. The same way your writing would make it hard for the reader to put the book down would keep the readers coming back day after day. It's just the modern "next step" in writing. I mean really, how many copies of the average gardening book are sold. I would think exposure on the internet would be greater, and apparently advertising is more accepted on European blogs than on American, so as you build a following it could bring in income for you.

In blogging you need to comment on other blogs a lot in order to give yourself maximum exposure so people can find you. As to photos, I think they bring most of my hits. People do an image search for a rose (or whatever) and arrive on my blog. (Interestingly, my "most popular" post is the one I mentioned Super Blue Liriope. It gets hits all the time.) Gradually, your exposure grows from others linking to you and spreading the word. The linkages gradually become geometric. For instance, I would place your link on my blog (and others would, too). The Blogger platform automatically updates when you post a new one, and regular readers of mine would see your new one and go to it. In a world where very few people get published blogs are a wonderful thing. There are some excellent writers out there, and there are less serious writers. It takes all kinds, and there's definitely room for your kind.

Oops, sorry this is so long.

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...

Hi Melissa: you have 400+ roses listed in HMF, that's impressive. If you write one sentence of comment for each rose, the book is done. Then another sentence for what each rose does to your life ... which encourage folks to grow roses. Plus pics of your best roses.

Besides Roseseek (Kim Rupert), you have grown the most variety of roses ... please share them with the world. I'm reading in Reader Digest that people who can express themselves are much happier. Writing a book is a form of self-expression, and your rose garden is a buried treasure, please show them to the world. Thanks.

Melissa,

If there is a book in you to write, write it. Do not worry about criticism, commercial success, and especially not about whether or not your voice needs to be heard.

Simply write if it is in you to do so. Once you begin, follow your heart and write what is there. You must take the first steps on a path in order to make the journey. The journey is the important part, not the destination. Write because it is in you to write and see where the journey takes you. If it takes you to a place where you, or others think that your voice should be published, then take that path; agent, editing, criticism and if it is meant to be, publishing.

As the old saying goes: nothing ventured, nothing gained. But always remember that what you write must come from within, let your garden be your muse. The desire for commercial success or worries about trolls and their chatter, critiqueing of your writing are not important. What is important is that you write if it is in you to do so. The rest will take care of itself if it is meant to be.

Write because you love it, and let your creativity flow in writing as you do in your garden.

------------------------------

With respect to the broader question regarding copyright and terms of service with respect to what we write on Garden Web and elsewhere. Copyright is a term of law. Most counties have copyright laws. There are also several international conventions respecting copyrights to which both Canada and the U.S.A are signatories. The primary convention is called the Universal Copyright Convention. The fact that there is a copyright convention means that your rights to your "works" are protected under international law, not just under the laws of the country in which you reside.

If you read the Gsrden Web terms of service as were referenced in the thread above, you will see the term "rights" used with respect to our writings, photos and content posted on the forums. Simply because you post on the forum does not mean that your work can be reproduced in whole elsewhere or used without your express permission. An original writing, photo, art, etc. is considered to be "a work" and is thus protected both within your home country and internationally. This means that if someone uses your work without your express permission, then you in fact have legal recourse to launch an action. Using your photos, and copying verbatum your writen works is illegal under the various conventions. In reallity, it is unlikely that any of us would launch an action in our own country, or another for a copyright violation of work posted on the forum, but never the less, the work is protected under law and such an action is hypothetically possible. So in the simplest terms, an "original work" is protected under law. Ideas, knowledge, concepts, etc. are not protected by copyright law.

Then there are trademarks, which is a whole other kettle of roses and rose names. But I won't go there today.

Cheers,

Rick

Here is a link that might be useful: International Copyright Convention, Wikipedia

Melissa, YES. Write your book. Write like you're writing for us, those who love roses or for those who are just waiting to begin a love of roses. Have fun with it. It will be awesome.

Even if GW insists that what YOU wrote now belongs to them, I see no reason why you can't reference the posts in your writing. Authors quote other writers all the time or summarize what others write and then cite the other work. Why can't you just do that?

oops...Did anyone notice my post above? It was supposed to be on another thread. I dont know how to move it so just ignore it.
Jeannie

Melissa

By all means I agree with everyone above that you should write your book. I agree selfishly that I'd love to see more of your wise and lyrical perceptions of the garden pulled into a source, but don't let the difficulty of finding a publishing avenue dissuade you. Writing is like music - you do it because it satisfies something you feel that you also want to put into a form that can be shared. And garden writing, like my other interests in folk music, is something that will always be likely to have a small audience (but of course of the highest quality!!) Like most people in folk music I write my own songs too, and I play them in a coffee house occasionally to huge crowds of 10 of my closest friends. The size of the audience for your book is less of an issue than collecting something that you want to express.

And I'd like to advocate for you putting your wisdom into something with more permanence than a blog, though nothing says you can't do both (the same goes to you Sherry and Harmonyp and Paul and whoever else has a garden blog). Librarians everywhere are struggling to find ways to manage the mammoth task of archiving the constantly changing cultural record that is the web. Something on a blog today may not be saved for our grandchildren, but a book (however antiquated that may seem to that generation) has some permanence in a small way. I always love it when Kim and others quote from long out-of-print garden catalogs about roses we know, and we love the writings of Sackville-West or Lloyd. Even if there only a few copies in print, they can be passed down in whatever new media may come to pass in the next generations. We sadly forget to save the same insights from web sources, particularly since we have to hunt down the gems from among so many web sites. Don't stop sharing your insights with us - feel free to use GardenWeb as a test ground for how you want to express your voice, but trust yourself to say what you want in your own way.

Cynthia

I'm back. I had intended to continue my answer Sunday, but we were having the worst kind of weather you can imagine short of natural catastrophe, and my mind was in a state of icy gray lethargy that reflected the landscape I saw out the window. I couldn't get myself to sit down at the computer and think. Today the weather and my mood have both improved considerably.
First, to Marianne, I appreciate your faith in my project and thank you for your willingness to be involved in it. You strike me as a sober person--I don't know if that sounds like a compliment, but it is--and I value your favorable opinion the more for that.
I'm loving all these comments, and not only because they constitute a constructive discussion. It's clear that these issues, of communication, of working from what's in your heart, are important to you all, and being in the company of such people is a pleasure. I appreciate your all taking the trouble to share your information and thoughts.
Paula, DH was amazingly UNSHAKEN up after a day spent shoveling snow, driving on snowy icy roads, trying to get a car out of a ditch, and later being in a nasty collision, with subsequent bureaucratic hassles. When he finally got back in the evening, showing up at the same time as our daughter--I was really glad to have my family back home, and safe!!--he walked in fresh as a rose. He really is a remarkable guy. I've passed on your good wishes: thanks.
The car is totaled, that is, it can't be repaired so as to be legal since the frame got bent, but oddly enough it runs fine. It got smashed in square on the driver's side door below the window and on the frame behind it, but all the rest of the car is intact. So, while we wait for the insurance coverage on the other car to go through, DH is driving our totaled car while keeping a sharp eye out for the police. We have to get our daughter to and from the bus stop for school, and of course run errands, as everything's too far to walk.
I have fairly clear ideas about the kind of writing I want to do: I want to compose essays like the ones I post on the forum. My own favorite gardening writing, what I love best to read and return to again and again, is both informative on the subject of gardening and deeply satisfactory as literature, and it doesn't have photographs. Henry Mitchell above all, and the one volume I possess by Elizabeth Lawrence satisfy these criteria. Christopher Lloyd is of the same stamp. Photography has beyond doubt its place in books and articles on gardening, but not for the kind of writing I have in mind. I agree with catsrose that many of us are visually addicted.
Sherry, thanks for telling me about your experience with writing a blog: that's informative and helpful. I'm not a great blog reader, though I occasionally take a look at yours and some others. I like to read books, as they encourage me to concentrate my attention and invest energy in understanding a text.
Strawberryhill, it's good to see your comment. I'm glad you're on the forum at least somewhat, as you have a contribution to make and have taught me some things I'm glad to know. The kind of book you're talking about isn't the one I want to write, though I would have a lot to say about roses.
My answer here isn't finished, but I've come to a standstill. Could it be a coincidence that the sky has lately turned gray? Rick, Cynthia, catsrose, your comments in particular call for some thought when I respond to them. I'll try to wrap up later.
Melissa

one of the most enjoyable books I have read was using the epistolary form. 'Dear Friend and Gardener' - letters between Beth Chatto and Christopher Lloyd was a delight - perfectly satisfying little chunks of horticultural lore, seasoned with Ms.Chatto's imperturbable cool and Christopher Lloyds witty (and catty) charm. Each letter stands as a sort of mini-essay of the type which you do so well, while also responding to each other as gardener....which I like because it allows for progress along a narrative as connections, some wonderfully obscure, are made. The whole book evolves, very much as gardens do, especially when knowledge is shared. The idea of a dialogue is a very ancient literary device, I think (although my knowledge of classics is dim).

Writers should, I think, be aware of the following, written by a writer whom I consider to be the most devotedly and inexorably honest author in all of English literature: "It is no easy task, that of a writer, even in so humble a class as myself, takes upon him; he is scouted and ridiculed if he fails; and if he succeeds, the enmity and cavils and malice with which he is assailed, are just in proportion to his success. The coldness and jealousy of his friends not unfrequently keep pace with the rancour of his enemies. They do not like you a bit the better for fulfilling the good opinion they always entertained of you. They would wish you to be always promising a great deal, and doing nothing, that they may answer for the performance. That shows their sagacity and does not hurt their vanity. An author wastes his time in painful study and obscure researches, to gain a little breath of popularity, and meets with nothing but vexation and disappointment in ninety-nine instances out of a hundred; or when he thinks to grasp the luckless prize, finds it not worth the trouble--the perfume of a minute, fleeting as a shadow, hollow as a sound; 'as often got without merit as lost without deserving.' He thinks that the attainment of acknowledged excellence will secure him the expression of those feelings in others, which the image and hope of it had excited in his own breast, but instead of that, he meets with nothing (or scarcely nothing) but squint-eyed suspicion, idiot wonder, and grinning scorn. It seems hardly worth while to have taken all the pains he has been at for this! In youth we borrow patience from our future years: the spring of hope gives us courage to act and suffer. A cloud is upon our onward path, and we fancy that all is sunshine beyond it. The prospect seems endless, because we do not know the end of it. We think that life is long, because art is so, and that, because we have much to do, it is well worth doing: or that no exertions can be too great, no sacrifices too painful, to overcome the difficulties we have to encounter. Life is a continued struggle to be what we are not, and to do what we cannot. But as we approach the goal, we draw in the reins; the impulse is less, as we have not so far to go: as we see objects nearer, we become less sanguine in the pursuit: it is not the despair of not attaining, so much as knowing that there is nothing worth obtaining, and the fear of having nothing left even to wish for, that damps our ardour and relaxes our efforts; and if this mechanical habit did not increase the facility, would, I believe, take away all inclination or power to do any thing. We stagger on the few remaining paces to the end of our journey; make perhaps one final effort; and are glad when our task is done!" --William Hazlitt, essayist (final lines from Lectures on the Literature of the Age of Elizabeth, 1820).

That said, I'll repeat what some others have in essence already said. You must write because you want to write. You must write because you feel you have something to offer, and because you love the subject so much that you want to bring progress to its study no matter what. To write a book, to offer kindred spirits--or those whom one hopes are kindred spirits!--something to engage their minds, something to clarify their thoughts, something which will help them understand and interact with their mutually beloved subject better is an act of generosity almost to the point of altruism. From others, you will never get out of it what you put into it, because the way in which you have touched the reader's soul is something so intimate, so remote from the powers of communication that, be there a perfect storm of good will from the reader, a raging tempest of benevolent wishes, barely a breeze will make it as far as the sagging sails of the writer who expects to be borne along by his readership. Rather, the writer's impulsion must come from within: Forget the sails, the writerly sailor must man the oars himself in his voyage. Yes, write--but write because the Muses have inspired you, write because you burn to write.

"Rather, the writer's impulsion must come from within: Forget the sails, the writerly sailor must man the oars himself in his voyage."

Thank you, Odinthor. That's true of most things in this life.

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...

What Brent said - and put in lots of photos of kittens. That's where Brent (and Hazlitt) went wrong.

Best wishes
Jon

Excellent idea, Jon! I've always thought that Hazlitt's essay "On the Pleasure of Hating" would be much more popular were there a plate of a lolcat ("I haz antipatheez?") on the facing page...

Here is a link that might be useful: Hazlitt's Essay

Melissa. When I moved from England to Crete, the most important things that I insisted came with me, were my gardening books.
I have rather a lot.
Reference books, which I use when needed.
Coffee table books with glossy photos, which I occasionally flick through.
But the ones that I read the most, are those books written from the heart, with a personal perspective.
These books have little or no photos in, but they are not needed.
Authors like Gertrude Jekyll, Vita Sackville-West, Margery Fish, Anne Scott James, Beverley Nichols and my favorite authors,Christopher Lloyd and Beth Chatto.
I agree with Campanula, Their joint book, Dear Friend and Gardener is delightful. You just want it to go on and on.
These are the most important books.
Books written from personal experience and from the heart.
We need more, so go for it.
Daisy

There are never too many GOOD books.

Cath

Melissa, have no professional advice, but I hope you will continue to write in some sort of venue that pleases you & that you will also include photos.

There are many fine popular books that are episodic, or in the form of journals--A Year in Provence, e.g. I enjoy the writings of "amateur" gardeners besides those of professionals. I can empathize more with the mistakes they make & treasure the satisfaction of useful discoveries.

When I read your posts, I feel like those ladies in "Enchanted April" --like I'm being lead through a lovely garden of flowers.

I'll expect a personally autographed copy with my purchase :)

I was taking a break after an hour or so writing my answer, and DH waltzed in to check something on the computer and casually canceled my text. I'll try again later today.
I know, it's the adult equivalent of "the dog ate my homework".
Snarl.

To recapitulate what I was writing:
I thank you all for your comments, all of which reflect much thought and feeling;
Rick, I particularly appreciate the warmth of what you wrote and your information about legal protections of intellectual property;
Cynthia, thanks for the observations on books and preservation of the written word, an interesting topic;
catsrose, thanks for a realistic survey of the obstacles involved;
and, really,
THANKS to you all for the encouragement, literary quotes (Odinthor), book mentions, factual information, discussions about the value of illustrations in books, and everything else that you all have put in your answers.
Concerning myself and my book project, I came up a few days ago with a provisional answer to the question I asked in the title of this thread. There's nothing in the way of my starting to write--unless it's my own fear or sloth. I don't know whether I have the discipline it takes to write a book; I don't know whether I'm a good enough writer to write a good book. I do have one quality needed to tackle this task, and that's a healthily stubborn faith in my own ideas about gardening and writing.
Many of you make the point that such a book as I'm talking about needs to come from passion, and you're absolutely right. I already have a lot of practice working long and hard on a task for purely personal satisfaction, as opposed to applause or money: it's called my garden. Should I write a book, then if some people like it, and if I even make a bit of money from it, that will be great. But that's not why I'm thinking about such a project, and these considerations wouldn't be enough to make me undertake it.
So, all I need to do now is sit down at the computer and begin writing.....
Melissa

Good luck, Melissa. I am sending anti "writers block" vibes your way. Also, don't forget to "back up" and save your work if that is still needed (maybe computers these days do that already)? And, let your husband know what you are working on so he doesn't accidentally cancel your text again!

I have enjoyed reading your posts as I have come across them while researching various roses. I have always imagined simple line drawings accompanying them.

Anne

We had National Novel Writing Month back in November. Even though it's called Novel Writing Month, the way it works you can write nonfiction, any thing you want really.

Participants join up at their website (nanowrimo.org) and the challenge is to write 50,000 words by the end of the month. The daily goal is 1,667 words. You keep track by entering the number of words you write each day, and the calculator at the website lets you know where you stand at that moment. How many words are you ahead? behind? How many would you need to write to reach the goal? Etc.

Nanowrimo emphasizes that the goal is just to get the words in. Revision is for later.

Periodically, pep talks from well-known authors appear in your nanowrimo mailbox. It's also very encouraging knowing that there are many other people around the world participating and writing furiously just like you. Also, local groups form and get together to write and encourage each other to meet the goal.

You may not want to wait until November to write your book, but if for some reason you put it off, think about Nanowrimo.

I wish you much success.

Brent, Many thanks for the pleasure of revisiting Hazlitt's incisive essay. It seems especially apropos in the aftermath of all that transpired during the season just passed. The surprise of finding your link here made finally opening this thread worthwhile afterall.

I agree that an appropriate lolcat plate might indeed spice-up Hazlitt a bit. Personally, I've always found sobering truth and beauty in the musings of apocalypticat.

Thanks! Hazlitt can be pretty strong stuff; but he was honest and dedicated to saying what he felt had to be said--and often in the most vigorous way possible. People like pleasant truths, perhaps a little too much; but the unpleasant ones people avoid are necessary truths no less. Hazlitt did his best!--and I have a go at it now and then too . . .