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The symbolism of flowers

Flowers have a long history of symbolism that you can incorporate into your writing to give subtext.

Symbolism varies between cultures and customs, and these particular examples come from Victorian Era Britain. You'll find examples of this symbolism in many well-known novels of the era!

Amaryllis: Pride

Black-eyed Susan: Justice

Bluebell: Humility

Calla Lily: Beauty

Pink Camellia: Longing

Carnations: Female love

Yellow Carnation: Rejection

Clematis: Mental beauty

Columbine: Foolishness

Cyclamen: Resignation

Daffodil: Unrivalled love

Daisy: Innocence, loyalty

Forget-me-not: True love

Gardenia: Secret love

Geranium: Folly, stupidity

Gladiolus: Integrity, strength

Hibiscus: Delicate beauty

Honeysuckle: Bonds of love

Blue Hyacinth: Constancy

Hydrangea: Frigid, heartless

Iris: Faith, trust, wisdom

White Jasmine: Amiability

Lavender: Distrust

Lilac: Joy of youth

White Lily: Purity

Orange Lily: Hatred

Tiger Lily: Wealth, pride

Lily-of-the-valley: Sweetness, humility

Lotus: Enlightenment, rebirth

Magnolia: Nobility

Marigold: Grief, jealousy

Morning Glory: Affection

Nasturtium: Patriotism, conquest

Pansy: Thoughtfulness

Peony: Bashfulness, shame

Poppy: Consolation

Red Rose: Love

Yellow Rose: Jealously, infidelity

Snapdragon: Deception, grace

Sunflower: Adoration

Sweet Willian: Gallantry

Red Tulip: Passion

Violet: Watchfulness, modesty

Yarrow: Everlasting love

Zinnia: Absent, affection

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𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦

𝘣𝘪𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴

[openbookreading]

I do not have ADHD or anything like that, but the third tip works really well for me. I could never write in multi-hour blocks of time. 30 minute writing sprints are the best thing ever: long enough to get a decent amount written, not long enough to become bored or complacent or distracted. I'll ALWAYS get more done in four 30 minute sessions than one 2 hour one.

Breaking 3 Writing 'Rules':

If you have ADHD or ASC or are some other flavor of neurodivergent, the 'rules' many big name authors post about how they've reached success can actually make you feel REALLY BAD because you can't always do the same thing.

Building a positive relationship with writing can make all the difference in getting you writing more.

'Write every day.' - Don't write every day, write when the mood strikes. But you can trick your brain into work mode by trying different things. Put on your shoes when it's time to write. Light a candle. Put on the same playlist every time. After a while, it'll be like a light-switch. When you light the candle, your brain will find writing easier. Just don't force it. When you try to force writing, you build up frustration and resentment if you don't get anything out. Some days just won't be writing days. That's FINE, lots of authors don't write every day (even if they say they do).

'I write 1000 words every day!' - Well, if you WANT to write and are struggling, a goal of 1000 words seems really far away. So do incremental goals. One sentence. One paragraph. 100 words. Usually by then you're in the flow of things and you can write 1000 words pretty easy. And again, celebrate every single one of those goals so you want to keep doing it. If you have to? One sentence, walk away, come back later, add another, GOOD JOB, two whole sentences!

'Sit down and block out x hours every day just for writing.' - Actually, the best way I've found to write is to tell my brain the deadline or end time is really, really soon - so I write in 20-30 minute chunks, and then walk away or take breaks and come back if I want to later. By setting that arbitrary shorter deadline, my brain can see an end and will work harder and focus more because it knows it's just for a little bit. If 20-30 minutes is too long, start with 15 minute chunks.

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Camp NaNoWriMo Update!!!

#CAMP NANOWRIMO #camp nano july 2022 #Writing #writeblr

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Camp NaNoWriMo Update

Currently at just over 43,000 words across 11 short stories. Pretty sure I’m going to hit 50K in week 3.

#camp nano july 2022 #CAMP NANOWRIMO #writing

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nature therapy. x

[openbookreading]

Camp NaNoWriMo Week 2 Begins!

Most of my writing from yesterday was by hand, so I typed it up today - about 1,800 words total. I also wrote an additional 2,000 words today. So far I’ve been well ahead of my daily goal each day.

Here’s where I am with the various short stories I’m working on:

Far future science fiction, cryostasis and terraforming. 4,900 words, first draft finished.

High fantasy, a city under siege by an evil empire. 3,600 words, first draft finished.

Far future science fiction, space battles, escape pods. 700 words so far, in progress.

High fantasy, a twist on the Chosen One cliché. 6,700 words, first draft somewhat finished; rushed ending will need to be revised/expanded on, possibly taking it beyond short story length.

Near future science fiction, cybernetics. 300 words, first draft finished.

High fantasy, same setting as stories #2 and #4. 600 words, first draft finished.

Fairy tale retelling, Snow White. 2,000 words, first draft finished.

I’m glad I decided to use Camp NaNoWriMo to explore a lot of different ideas via short stories. It’s helping a lot to get the creativity flowing, and while I am primarily interested in writing novels, I’m enjoying it a lot.

#camp nanowrimo #camp nano july 2022 #writing

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Day 7: I wrote mostly by hand today, so I guess we'll see what it comes out to when I type it up tomorrow. Twelve handwritten pages in my writing notebook, plus about 500 typed words.

Doing Camp NaNoWriMo this month

NaNoWriMo was a great experience last November, so I’m going to be following up by doing Camp NaNoWriMo this July. I’m not working on a single novel for this one; instead, I’m going to use it to work on several smaller goals. I have a lot of ideas that aren’t big enough for a novel but that I think could work well as novellas or short stories. So my goal is to write at least 50,000 words of short fiction by the end of July.

Day 1: I’ve written about 1,700 words so far.

#camp nano july 2022 #camp nanowrimo #writing

[openbookreading]

Day 6: 14,900 words. Still working on story #4. It’s still technically a short story, but yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s headed straight for novella length. Now there’s a whole romantic subplot going on.

Doing Camp NaNoWriMo this month

NaNoWriMo was a great experience last November, so I’m going to be following up by doing Camp NaNoWriMo this July. I’m not working on a single novel for this one; instead, I’m going to use it to work on several smaller goals. I have a lot of ideas that aren’t big enough for a novel but that I think could work well as novellas or short stories. So my goal is to write at least 50,000 words of short fiction by the end of July.

Day 1: I’ve written about 1,700 words so far.

#camp nano july 2022 #camp nanowrimo #writing

[openbookreading]

Day 5: 13,000 words. Still working on story #4 and still nowhere near being done with it, though it’s still (for now, at least) a reasonable length for a short story. It now takes place in a different part of the same world as story #2, which I had no idea about until all of a sudden the city under siege became part of an important plot point.

Doing Camp NaNoWriMo this month

NaNoWriMo was a great experience last November, so I’m going to be following up by doing Camp NaNoWriMo this July. I’m not working on a single novel for this one; instead, I’m going to use it to work on several smaller goals. I have a lot of ideas that aren’t big enough for a novel but that I think could work well as novellas or short stories. So my goal is to write at least 50,000 words of short fiction by the end of July.

Day 1: I’ve written about 1,700 words so far.

#camp nanowrimo #camp nano july 2022 #writing

[openbookreading]

Day 4: Total of 11,150 words so far. I worked on #4 today, which is feeling like a much bigger story than I expected. About 2,000 words and still setting things up.

Doing Camp NaNoWriMo this month

NaNoWriMo was a great experience last November, so I’m going to be following up by doing Camp NaNoWriMo this July. I’m not working on a single novel for this one; instead, I’m going to use it to work on several smaller goals. I have a lot of ideas that aren’t big enough for a novel but that I think could work well as novellas or short stories. So my goal is to write at least 50,000 words of short fiction by the end of July.

Day 1: I’ve written about 1,700 words so far.

#camp nano july 2022 #camp nanowrimo #writing

[openbookreading]

Day 3: about 1,900 words today, over 9,000 total. It's nice to start out ahead, but I seriously doubt I will maintain this sort of pace all month.

I finished my second short story and wrote the first couple hundred words of two new ones.

Story #1: far future science fiction, cryostasis and terraforming. 4,900 words, first draft finished.

Story #2: high fantasy, a city under siege by an evil empire. 3,600 words, first draft finished.

Story #3: far future science fiction, space battles, escape pods. 700 words so far, in progress.

Story #4: high fantasy, a twist on the Chosen One cliché. 200 words so far, in progress.

Doing Camp NaNoWriMo this month

NaNoWriMo was a great experience last November, so I’m going to be following up by doing Camp NaNoWriMo this July. I’m not working on a single novel for this one; instead, I’m going to use it to work on several smaller goals. I have a lot of ideas that aren’t big enough for a novel but that I think could work well as novellas or short stories. So my goal is to write at least 50,000 words of short fiction by the end of July.

Day 1: I’ve written about 1,700 words so far.

#camp nanowrimo #camp nano july 2022 #writing

[openbookreading]

Day 2: I used the same strategy that I did on Saturdays last November, which is to write for eight 30-minute chunks of time with hour gaps in between. I started at 10:30 AM and finished at 9:30 PM. This once again worked very well for me. I was able to write over 5,000 words today, putting me at about 7,500 total so far. I have now finished my first short story and started my second one.

Doing Camp NaNoWriMo this month

NaNoWriMo was a great experience last November, so I’m going to be following up by doing Camp NaNoWriMo this July. I’m not working on a single novel for this one; instead, I’m going to use it to work on several smaller goals. I have a lot of ideas that aren’t big enough for a novel but that I think could work well as novellas or short stories. So my goal is to write at least 50,000 words of short fiction by the end of July.

Day 1: I’ve written about 1,700 words so far.

#camp nanowrimo #camp nano july 2022 #writing