Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now

I almost missed it. This checkered lily (Fritillaria meleagris) with its slender stem and bright down-facing blossom is no show stopper at The Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island, where I found her a month ago. This time of year it’s the rhodies, azaleas, and dogwood blooms causing traffic jams on the paths. Checkered lilly sits in the shade in the Japanese garden area. a landscape more about shapes than plantings, I was noticing the beautifully structured paths through perfect shrubs, a slip of stream here, a waterfall there, a carved wooden bench almost invisible under towering bamboo.

But I didn’t miss her. I didn’t hurry.

I blame thirty years as a journalist and four completed novels, one published, one coming later this year, one queued up and ready to go, one in final polish. The cliche we all know is that the devil is in the details. A life of writing has taught me that’s where the magic lives.

This summer I’ll be teaching a workshop in Eugene focused on three specific writing tools designed to build noticing skills. It’s meant for writers and anyone interested in noticing as a creative practice. Whether you’re new to writing or a veteran, these tools can be deployed.

Why bother? Well, imagine having three colors in your pencil box and being handed thirty more. Your creative options just opened out enormously. The more you notice in the real world, the more real your fictional world becomes. Plus, fun.

Maybe this checkered lilly will never land in a story of mine. But I loved meeting her, learning her name and knowing where to find her again. Maybe one of my characters will like meeting her too, somewhere down the line.

I hope you’ll join me Saturday June 20 1-4 p.m. sponsored by Wordcrafters. Register for the Practicing Writer online.