Plants and Pledges

Well, my Christmas cactus, which is always ablaze with blooms by now, is sporting one solitary flower; I don't think it appreciated the trim I gave it back in the summer. But my outdoor azalea, which is usually glorious for Easter, is in full flower now! And my neighbour's garden is full of daffodils ...

Lovely - but will it flower again at Easter?!

But one thing that is running true to form is Catchword, my writing group. A year or so ago I was at a talk one evening when the speaker, a popular author, said that she had never had any writing success whilst with a writing group and she saw little value in them. I beg to differ in a big way on that one. For me, a supportive group where people give constructive feedback on my writing, introduce me through their writing to new ideas and approaches, share in my successes and commiserate when things don't go so well - that is immensely helpful to me. At our Catchword meeting yesterday we were looking at the individual goals we had set ourselves a couple of months ago, evaluating how far we had got with them and planning for the next few months. I find that committing to something in a group situation certainly improves my subsequent motivation!