It’s a good thing I took pretty garden pictures yesterday, because last night a storm blew through and left a trail of wreckage behind. I went out and stood tomato cages back up, inspected the downed corn and decided it would probably stand up again on its own when it dries out, examined torn leaves.

This might seem discouraging, but here’s the thing; if leaves get damaged, plants grow new ones. Uprooted corn can be replanted. Broken off branches get replaced by new growth. Any living thing is fairly resilient.

This is true of books, too. Sometimes a story takes a hit from damaging input from a critique partner or editor, but the roots are still there and it still has life. It can recover, even if that means it needs a little support to do it. Sometimes a beautiful story gets an ugly cover, sometimes it’s marketed wrong and doesn’t find an audience right away. The story still exists and has a life of its own. Time goes on and things change.

Work is always worthwhile. It endures, and when the garden comes to the end of the season or a book is remaindered, that’s not the end. Plants produce the seeds of next year’s garden. Books can be repackaged and resold or even utterly rewritten. And there’s also the enduring benefit of the lessons learned in doing the work; what worked, what didn’t, what might produce better results next time. Right now I’m thinking a windbreak is a good idea.