A modern wooden beamed building nestled in the middle of a vineyard was our first stop—the entrance, light-filled and airy—showcased California style. We met Carl, a retired engineer white-haired gentleman with a ponytail and wide-brimmed hat, who took us into the vineyard. As he led the walking tour among the vines, Carl taught us that the key to yielding flavorful, robust grapes is making the vines struggle for nutrients.

I thought optimal water and space conditions would make the best grapes, but the opposite is true. In the wild, grape vines send their shoots and attach to bushes and trees with tendrils where they seek easy access to water and sunlight. If the vines have abundant resources, they produce watery, flavorless grapes because they use all their plant energy to make shoots and leaves. However, a stressed grapevine will make tastier grapes to entice birds to ensure its seeds are spread and it will be able to reproduce. So, the best vineyards allow grapevines to do only what is necessary, and the vines yield better grapes in small quantities.

Back home, I want my writing life to feel like the grapevines in the wild, like summertime, and the livin’ is easy. In my dreamy writing life, each day, I would sit up in my private writing cottage in the woods, surrounded by sunlight and birdsong. Thousands of words would pour out of my pen, and these words would never need revising. My creative energy would be ever-flowing and never forced to contend with resistance. But my reality is anything but idyllic; I struggle to write every day. I squeeze writing around the whirlwind of daily responsibilities that come with managing a family of five and working outside the home. I try to write in a house full of other people and often hear lawnmower noise instead of birdsong. Even when I have the space and quiet, sometimes I just sit without writing any words. Some days, when I manage to actually write, I  hammer out a few words while fighting discouragement, asking why I am torturing myself. 

But now, when I struggle with words on the page, I remember Carl’s lesson about grapevines: Though they struggle to grow in suboptimal conditions, they will yield delicious grapes that make superior wine. So I fight through resistance, noise, and busyness—writing and hoping for beautiful work at the end of it all.