“And the marigolds,
They show me
That peace can still bloom
Even where grief
Was planted.”
Taylor Blayse
Dear Readers,
I am so honored to have a space here on Rita’s blog today. My first book, a collection of poems, is being released this year. I am so eager to share what the writing process has been like and what exactly this book is about.
Like any good story, I suppose I should start from the very beginning.
I grew up on a very small farm in Missouri. When we moved into our home when I was three, there was nothing but a small, cozy home and five acres of grass. No trees, no buildings, no fancy landscapes or patios or porches–no, just grass. But with my parents’ imaginative minds, that sea of green quickly transitioned into something beautiful. Something that helped me grow–something that taught me important lessons about life.
And that something was greenhouses.
It started with two commercial sized greenhouses next to the house. These two gentle giants became comforters and friends as I was growing up. As a child, I spent countless hours helping my parents’ plant flowers, vegetables, fruits, herbs, and more. Not only did I work in these greenhouses, but they were also a place of refuge. In the bitterly cold months, when the Missouri temperatures get into the negatives, I would curl up in those warm greenhouses with a good book in my hands. I would sit in the midst of the greens and the seeds that were just beginning, and I would pretend that it was spring. My heart has always been in love with spring and summer, though I do appreciate what fall and winter often teach me. But those greenhouses were a little slice of spring even in the midst of the snowy February landscapes that loomed just beyond their doors.
When I was in college, my parents’ business started to take off. They found that they needed even more space for the plants they were growing–in addition to that, they thought, “why not open a retail store, right here on the property?” And with that, four more greenhouses were built. Two that act as a retail store and garden center year round, and two that provide more space for our plants. What started as a blank slate of green grass slowly turned into a business with six greenhouses.
In some ways, I feel like the greenhouses and I grew up together. They almost feel like a living thing–like a fellow sibling or family member that has been there through it all with me. And I suppose in a way they are living–they nurture and provide for living organisms, in the same way that they so often provided for me.
In college, I pursued a bachelor’s degree in English. During my studies, my emphasis area was creative writing. I had the opportunity to take three creative writing classes (though looking back, I wish I would have taken more before I graduated!), and it was those classes that inspired my book. It was those classes that gave me the tools to tell the story of my life–to write my love letter to those beautiful greenhouses.
My poetry collection is about that. It’s about hope, heartache, and growing pains. It’s about childhood, about awkward transitions, about feeling like you don’t fit in. It’s about first heartbreaks and the many that come after. It’s about love. It’s about how the garden and the greenhouses taught me to make sense of these complicated things. How watching things grow correlates to my own growth as a person. But most importantly, this book is about Hope. Hope almost feels like a character as she is written in between the lines, even in the poems that are a little sadder than the rest.
My prayer for those who read this book is a newfound friend written on the pages. I pray readers feel comforted, seen, loved, and full of hope for the life that God has called them to live. I hope they feel encouraged through hard times, through seasons that don’t make sense, through heartbreak that feels never-ending. Truly, I pray that my book is a soft space for your soul to land.
The writing process has been a long and winding journey, but one I won’t soon forget. I started writing poetry when I was fifteen, though I didn’t know it was poetry at the time. Really, it was just simple journal entries about lessons I had learned and things I was beginning to realize about life. I love going back through those old journals and reminiscing on the things I was just starting to understand at fifteen, at twenty-two, at twenty-three. Some of the poems are older ones that I wrote nearly ten years ago and have since edited, and others are poems that I wrote now, at twenty-five years old. I started drafting the very early stages of this book in 2021, and now, in 2024, it is finally being released. It has changed so much over the years, but I am so happy with the book it is today and so grateful to God for the opportunity and the words to write it.
If this sounds like something you would enjoy, I hope you’ll give it a read! I can’t release the title yet, but if you want to keep up with my updates, feel free to follow me on instagram: @taylorblayse
To read more of my writing, you can find my blog at taylorblayse.com
Happy Reading!
Taylor Blayse
Author Bio:
Taylor Blayse is an author, writer, and greenhouse manager for her family’s business, The Garden Party. Taylor writes about growth, hope, and childlike faith. Taylor is a lover of books, coffee, plants, and music. When she isn’t writing, she can be found reading, perfecting latte art, spending time with friends, and enjoying the outdoors. To read more of her writing, visit her website at www.taylorblayse.com
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