Writing Lessons In A Sculpture Garden

I’d had a post all set to put up yesterday evening about a book I recently read, but then fate threw  a big wrench in my plans in the best way. Sometimes I have to work at inspiration, but other times it just falls into my lap.

I did my final proofread on IT HAPPENED ON NIGHT last week and I thought it would end up taking all weekend. But it turned out that I was finished by late Saturday night, and so my fiancé decided to plan a little day trip for us down to a sculpture garden, Grounds for Sculpture, near Trenton, NJ.

I admit: I was kind of annoyed when we got there. It was $10 each to get in, $1 to buy a map (35 acres, and you have to pay for a map), and they wouldn’t let me bring the cute picnic lunch that I packed. I figured we would walked around in a hot field for an hour looking at the big, abstract kind of art you see in suburban shopping malls, then we’d go on our way.

Boy, was I wrong.

The grounds were what I expected they would be at first. Fields. Heat. There, an exhibit of all granite. Here, some small bronzes.

But slowly, the landscaping and art began to pull us in. Granite passageways. Hidden stairs. Grecian alcoves. Dark water. Bridges. Mist. Flowers. It felt like being swallowed up by another world, bit by bit, as if we were the first and only people ever to explore and discover.

Every corner we turned led to some entirely new place that felt like a new planet. There was so much to interact with, to play with, to be immersed in, and to make the imagination fire. It wasn’t just a sculpture garden as in “a garden full of sculptures.” The gardens-and there were many-were sculptures in and of themselves.

I couldn’t help but think of how much I want my writing to be like this: at every turn, a new and fully realized expression of the imagination for the reader to be immersed in and dazzled by. I want each of my scenes to feel as much a journey of discovery as turning the corner in this garden to find some new and powerful treasure.  I want to carve out revealing spaces (that reveal the reader to herself).

I had such a wonderful time that I took a whole bunch of pictures hoping that maybe you can find something inspiring here too. And, as always, leave your comments to enter my monthly LOVE TO READERS drawing.