Manure Tea and the Art of the Twist
Welcome to Mary's Garden Blog and welcome PJ Sharon. It's always nice to have you visit.
I first came across this
recipe several years ago while listening to a morning radio show in CT, featuring
The English Lady—a wonderful gardening expert who fielded questions from
listeners and offered advice to would-be gardeners. She recommended fertilizing
a few times a summer with “manure tea”—which sounded like a disgusting
concoction but turned out to be liquid gold for my garden. I made and used it a
couple of years in a row, and let me say, it was the best my perennial bed has
ever looked!
Gardening Tip: Manure
Tea Recipe
I first came across this
recipe several years ago while listening to a morning radio show in CT, featuring
The English Lady—a wonderful gardening expert who fielded questions from
listeners and offered advice to would-be gardeners. She recommended fertilizing
a few times a summer with “manure tea”—which sounded like a disgusting
concoction but turned out to be liquid gold for my garden. I made and used it a
couple of years in a row, and let me say, it was the best my perennial bed has
ever looked!
Here’s a rundown of the
step-by-step process from the Gardening
Know How Blog.
The art of the twist…
What makes a good story
become an amazing story? For me, it’s when something unexpected happens that I
didn’t see coming, yet it makes perfect sense for the plot. Although I love all
kinds of genre fiction and read everything from romance to mystery, historical
to fantasy, and suspense thrillers to paranormal, what I return to most often
is YA, since that’s primarily what I write, and I like the diversity of
story lines and the emotional journey of the characters. But no matter what I’m
reading, in my opinion, predictability is the enemy of truly great
storytelling.
As a reader, I love a
good plot twist. I want to be surprised—both by the story and the language used
to tell it. Creating snappy dialogue, original prose, and vivid characters
require a certain skill that not all writers possess. Nor can all writers pull
off the art of the twist. I may want my happy (or at least hopeful)
ending to that romance, but the journey there—to be truly satisfying—needs to
be fresh, fraught with believable ups and downs, layered with a bit of intrigue,
and of course, something has to happen that catches me off guard. If I know the
ending before the half-way point, why keep reading, right?
A twist that forces the
characters into an unexpected direction keeps me turning the pages to see what
comes next. Even better is when there are subtle breadcrumbs the author has sprinkled
in that I can look back on later and recognize. Finally, what makes a twist
really work for me is that it entails numerous red-herrings, which are laid out
for me to follow to a logical, yet—hopefully—surprise conclusion.
My current work in
progress, LIBERTY’S PROMISE, is challenging me to do just that! It may run a
bit longer than the previous novellas in the series, but I’m having a blast
writing it and I’m betting it will be worth it.
In the
meantime, if you’re looking for an action-packed summer-time read with lots of
twists and turns, a sweet romance, and some of that intrigue I mentioned above,
check out my dystopian series, The CHRONICLES
of LILY CARMICHAEL trilogy. Beginning in book one, WANING
MOON, I think you’ll find there are several surprises that are especially
fun and satisfying.
Enjoy!
Peace and blessings,
PJ
Thank you, PJ, for joining us here in the Garden. Always a pleasure having you.
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