{"id":239,"date":"2026-05-26T15:18:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T15:18:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/?p=239"},"modified":"2026-05-26T15:54:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T15:54:38","slug":"weeding-the-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/?p=239","title":{"rendered":"Weeding the Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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I\u2019ve been elbow deep in my garden, which became so overgrown I\u2019ve had to take drastic measures. It\u2019s a little bit meditative, and a little bit cleansing, to uproot the sprawly woody lavender, and tug out the encroaching weeds until they give with a satisfying little pop.<\/p>

My roses, like my brain, need breathing space.<\/p>

Mental clutter, just like dirty dishes, or persistent weeds, always accumulates when you aren\u2019t paying attention. And the work of untangling it is a lifelong chore.<\/p>

Still\u2013these cyclical, brief respites are a pleasant place to sit and reflect in.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I\u2019ve had a few new acceptances for poetry (my first micro poem!!) and short fiction, so I\u2019m looking forward to having five (I think it\u2019s five, anyway) new pieces published in June.<\/p>

I\u2019ve also been doing weekly chapter swaps of The Patron<\/em> with my CP \u2013 which has been extremely motivating and really helped focus the story. I was doing something while writing this one that I don\u2019t normally do; hopscotching around to write my favorite scenes first and skipping the ones I was less enthused about.<\/p>

Now- I am dealing with the consequences of my actions. Having gaps in my story is unreasonably painful to bridge, and I am never indulging this again. I regret everything<\/em> and from now on I\u2019m forcing myself to be disciplined and finish this draft linearly like a good writer.<\/p>

But it did make me notice something structurally that I might have otherwise overlooked- and I\u2019m going to try a little experiment. I do so love a little experiment.<\/p>

It\u2019s been pointed out to me that I categorically struggle with my male characters. There is this inevitable phase where I realize I\u2019ve been restraining them too much\u2014and in doing so the reader fails to truly connect with them.<\/p>

Case in point: Silnan originally had six lines of dialogue in my first draft of The Last Dawn<\/em>. That\u2019s it. Kind of hard for a reader to empathize with a character who has the charisma of a sentient rock.<\/p>

I\u2019m learning, and trying to allow them more space. Since The Patron <\/em>is quintessentially a romance, I really can\u2019t have the dynamic feel like a one-sided conversation\u2014as entertaining as Toby can be. So, I\u2019m going to experiment a little with my narrative structure, and see if we can\u2019t give dear Bastien a bit more stage.<\/p>

Doing the damned thing \u2013SMH <\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Currently Reading:<\/h6>
Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch<\/strong><\/em><\/h5>

This deserves more credit than pop culture would have you believe. I was expecting some sort of bloated male-centric fantasy, but instead I found it to be a compelling examination of power dynamics as well as masculine and feminine archetypes.<\/p>

Also, I’d have to say that Sacher-Masoch presents one of the most empathetic depictions of female psychology I’ve ever seen. Bravo sir.\u00a0<\/p>

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick S\u00fcskind<\/strong><\/em><\/h5>

I think what I found the most compelling about this story, was that while Grenouille is ostensibly the main character, the narrative is structured to orbit him like dark matter. He is unknowable, and presented so supernaturally, that the story only becomes truly understandable through the perspectives of the supporting characters.<\/p>

There is also a movie from the 90s, which while enjoyable enough, wasn\u2019t nearly strange enough to do credit to the source material.<\/p>

Flying High by Cletus Crow<\/strong><\/em><\/h5>

A new release from one of my favorite current poets, I can\u2019t say enough about how blunt yet prescient, crass, and utterly honest his poems are. Pick up a copy- you will not be disappointed: https:\/\/newritualpress.com\/flyinghigh\/<\/a><\/p>

Disquieting Levels of Egg by James Donald Forbes McCann<\/strong><\/em><\/h5>

I\u2019ve always been interested in the intersection between comedy and poetry, and I really did not expect this to work so well, but of course it does. As a comedian and poet, McCann delivers a clever mix of satire, observation, and dry humor.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been elbow deep in my garden, which became so overgrown I\u2019ve had to take drastic measures. It\u2019s a little bit meditative, and a little bit cleansing, to uproot the sprawly woody lavender, and tug out the encroaching weeds until they give with a satisfying little pop. My roses, like my brain, need breathing space. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,19,13],"tags":[34,48,42,68],"class_list":["post-239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-creative-process","category-poetry-short-fiction","category-writing-life","tag-author-updates","tag-poetry","tag-short-fiction","tag-writing-craft","post-preview"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}