How does a flower farmer become an author? A bit of backstory . . . about me, not Carli of Clean Sweep
Some reading this post already know I spent the last ten years growing hundreds of thousands of flowers on my small, suburban flower farm – Butternut Gardens—in Southport, Connecticut, USA. They were the kinds of flowers one puts in bouquets or table centerpieces. Not the kind you plant around a house. I loved it. The beauty. The fragrance. The warm sun on my back and soft soil waiting for my hands. In a word, it was Heavenly.
But one thing farming teaches a person is there are seasons. To flowers, and to a person’s life. With 2020 presenting challenge and uncertainty unknown for generations, I decided to put flowers on hold for the better part of the year, and pulled out my laptop. It wasn’t the first time I had reinvented myself. Before Butternut Gardens came into existence after all, I gardened, but I had not farmed. There’s a big difference. With a bit of determination, I took on the learning curve of farming and was soon working sixteen-hour days, seven days a week, sowing seeds, harvesting blooms, delivering to stores, growing and designing bridal bouquets, and getting a few bee stings along the way. Yes, that’s farming, and it is an outdoor “sport” from March into December. In the winter months – the “off-season” (hah!) I worked, albeit at a slower clip, planning the next year of flowers and events.
Deciding to put words to paper, and finally pull from a drawer a manuscript I had started writing years ago, was simply a new challenge; the start of a new season and another steep learning curve. Seeing as you are now sharing in the writing life of E. B. Lee, you surely know I have embraced this challenge. Another reinvention of self. For as much as I loved flower farming, I now love writing. The bottom line: I want to tell stories, create characters, and share them with you. I want to touch you, wonderful reader and friend, in some emotional and intellectual way. I want you to enjoy the words and the stories of life and lives. So, read and enjoy . . . and let me know what you think.
Best,
E. B. Lee
P.S. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you would do, or how you believe you would feel, if you were in Carli’s position, and had come upon Lucy in her tent. Reach me at eblee.author@gmail.com or through the contact form on this website www.eblee.me/contact or by direct messaging me on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
E. B. Lee is an author of fiction. Her first novel Clean Sweep has a July 20, 2021 release date.
