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Dear Reader,
I've found my passion. I love to write and most of the time my passion is right there on the surface. I feel every word. It's easy to get lost in my thoughts and when I've finished a column, the best part of me is right there in what I've written.
I love it when my passion is burning--when it's difficult to close my eyes at night, because I don't want to waste time sleeping, and when it's not a problem hopping out of bed in the morning, because I can't wait to "begin." But the heat of passion comes and goes and that's frustrating for me.
I want to be able to grab ahold of that passion anytime, anywhere, but sadly it doesn't always work that way. When I have to dig deep, when things don't come as easily as they usually do, my first thought is, 'It was a good ride and now it's over.' But the other day, when I was looking at my Coleus plants, I discovered a new way of thinking about passion.
One of my flower gardens is under a big oak tree and I always plant a lot of Coleus there. Coleus plants like a little sun, but mostly shade, and that's the climate underneath my big oak tree. The setting and the soil in that garden are the perfect match for Coleus and they thrive. Big, huge, overgrown plants fill up the space. The Coleus plants get so big and are so passionate about doing their job that their roots come up right out of the ground. Instead of staying buried a couple of inches underneath, when the Coleus are in full bloom, the stalky stems, with the sinewy roots, actually lay on top of the soil.
The Coleus is so determined it keeps on growing for months and months, nothing stands in the way of that plant. It knows its purpose. It thrives and is a thing of beauty to look at. But eventually, it starts to look a little ragged, not enough so most people would notice, but I've seen the Coleus at its best and I know it's time to cut the plant back and give it a rest.
And I've decided that's the way of passion.
Most of the time the words will flow and be a thing of beauty, but sometimes the writing will be a little ragged--not enough so most people would notice--but I won't let it bother me, because like the Coleus, I just need a little time to renew my passion.
** Anyone can enter and I'm ready to bake, so be sure to enter this month's Chocolate Chip Cookie giveaway. To see smiling faces of the last cookie winners and to enter the drawing, go to: http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/cookie-02-25-16.html
* Congratulations to Pat H., the winner of a copy of In Another Life by Guest Author Julie Christie Johnson.
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
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(NonFiction)
LUST & WONDER: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs
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TEASED: A Dark Protectors Novella by Rebecca Zanetti
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DEVONSHIRE SCREAM, Tea Shop Mystery #17, by Laura Childs
(Fantasy)
THE GODDESS OF FORTUNE by Andrew Blencowe
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* This month's Penguin Classics book is IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT by John Ball. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin tote bag:
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