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Say you're writing a story about Flint Flake, an orthodontist. Flint's a gambler. But you can't begin because you just keep staring at the friggin blank page all day. It's like sitting beside the place where a seed has been planted and keeping your eye fixed on it and expecting something to come up immediately, like a bubble to the surface.

Even so, writing is a lot like gardening. Wouldn't you say so? Why, in the same way a gardener prepares the ground a writer prewrites. That is, you as the writer write nonstop and record whatever comes into your mind before you begin any piece, fiction or non. Then the gardener waters the ground well just like you begin to focus your efforts and know exactly what it is you want to say. When it comes time to plant for the gardener it comes time for you to start your first draft, genius. Ah, but did you till the soil?

Anybody who has been around a garden knows it goes something like this. This is only an abbreviated version.

Now then, why is writing like gardening? I'll list just a few ways here in the time-honored style:

1. Pick the type. Is this going to be a flower garden? A vegetable garden? An herb garden? Or do you have a soft spot for perennials, those plants that have shorter bloom times but come back year after year? Good writing starts the same way. When thinking about starting a project you need to contemplate which form of writing it will be and your purpose with it as well as the length and audience. You can tackle journal writing, personal writing, subject writing (searching and reporting). Or do you prefer creative writing, which is the process of inventing something new and different, something made-up? There is also reflective writing (exploring and speculating), academic writing, or business writing.

2. Pick a spot. The sun is so vital to a plant growing that it needs six full hours of it each day. Once you've picked a spot and watched how the sun moves across that space, make sure it's near a water spigot so you won't have to drag the hose to the hinterlands. Some plants tolerate shade. Others do not. As a writer, where you write should be taken seriously. A park bench or a library cartel or a bus stop is a no-brainer. Distraction is the enemy. John Cheever wrote in the basement of his Park Avenue apartment building, but you're not John Cheever; you will do your best work in a place all your own. It doesn't have to be fancy, but it needs to be a serene atmosphere. Wherever

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