- Addison Horner
- Posts
- Pruning
Hass or green?
If you immediately know your answer to that question, you’ll appreciate our situation.
Our yard came with two avocado trees. They’re thirty feet tall, somewhat temperamental, and one of our favorite aspects of the house we bought five years ago this week. They’re also the namesake of my publishing imprint.
What do I mean by “temperamental”? I mean that the avocado part of avocado tree is somewhat in flux. Some years, we’ll get six avocados. Other years, well over 100.
And these avocados are amazing. Imagine the taste of a Hass avocado mixed with the size of a green avocado. Seriously, the pits are nearly the size of baseballs. I’m so spoiled that every time I walk past avocados in the grocery store, I think, “Aww, how little!”
One of the tools in my severely undersupplied tree-care knowledge base is the idea of pruning. When a tree has too many branches, water and nutrients are spread too thin, and it can’t bloom the way it’s meant to.
(Get your plate ready, ‘cause this metaphor is almost ripe.)
By snipping off some of the branches, we can help our trees maintain their balance and nutrients and ultimately flourish.
My life is an avocado tree. And my creative mind has approximately 3.24 billion branches trying to grow at any given time. Like, I designed a board game this weekend—not that anything’s ever going to happen with it, but my brain compels me to follow through on these ridiculous ideas.
But there are other, stronger branches. Family, friendships, faith, career, and so on. And the most beautiful little branch on that tree turned four months old this week.
Baby H deserves to flourish. And we learned this week that he’ll need weeks or months of medical support and intervention, more than we thought. He’ll need all the support he can get.
I’d set a goal for myself to draft two novels this year. The first, SPOOKY THREEQUEL, is on track to be finished before June. Even Baby H’s surprise early arrival didn’t change that.
But with my editing calendar full until August, SPOOKY SEQUEL to revise, and a human child to stare, care, and be there for, I have enough to focus on. I can do a lot of things well, but I can’t do too many things well.
I’m pruning VESPER from my goals for this year. It will be written, and I still hope to start drafting in 2024. But I believe in the power of saying no so I can say yes.
Snip, snip.
(P.S. The answer is Hass. Obviously.)
Baby’s First Event!
(It’s me. I’m the baby.)
I’m celebrating my first-ever author event at Spellbound Bookstore’s Indie Bazaar on Saturday, April 27 in Sanford, FL! Join me and a gaggle of Central Florida authors for signed books, merch, and some pretty fun activities.
Seriously—if you’re in town, stop by and say hey!
Writing Updates
SPOOKY SEQUEL // Now that I have my editorial letter, I can confidently say that I’m pumped to take on these edits. My goal is to make a comprehensive list of edits, complete a video call with my editor, and implement the big-picture edits by the end of the month.
In May comes the part I’ve been dreaming about since I booked it six months ago: cover design!
SPOOKY THREEQUEL // As mentioned above, I’m trying not to pressure myself to rush through this. But I’m in the middle of drafting from other characters’ perspectives for the first time in this series, and it’s really fun. So much angst to be explored! I particularly enjoyed this snippet from drafting on Thursday morning:
Seele opens her eyes. Scooting out from the shadow of the alley, she holds her hands up to the morning light. Though her palms bear fresh indentations from her nails, and though dry blood speckles the skin of her right hand, she can see no open wounds from the glass. A few tiny fragments of glass stick to her palm, but she brushes those away in an instant.
“How . . . ?” she whispers, turning her right hand to study it more closely. Perhaps the ointment has done its work exceptionally quickly. More likely, Seele had exaggerated the pain in her mind, treating it as more serious than it was.
You can’t even hurt yourself correctly, the voice says.
“Go stuff yourself in an oven,” Seele replies, climbing to her feet. She’s spent enough time feeling sorry for herself. There are still White Caps in the city and Source-knows-what waiting outside the walls.
If all goes well, I’ll wrap up this draft in May! At between 80k and 90k words, it’ll probably be the shortest first draft I’ve ever written.
