How Herbs Inform My Writing

Plants and their uses have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. As a child, my maternal grandmother helped me harvest spearmint sprigs for an iced tea garnish from her mini-garden along the house’s foundation, showing me which stalks should be cut, and which should be left. I delighted in making flower chains from the white clover that grew abundantly in their back yard. Although she never cooked them, she told me her mother made fritters from clover.

From her, I learned how to use herbs in cooking, although the cuisine I grew up with (mostly German) isn’t very spicy. But a sprinkle of thyme here, or a zest of lemon there, lent flavor to an otherwise bland dish. Her recipe box is one of my most cherished items.

In my early 30s, I discovered not only the magical uses of herbs, but the medicinal properties, too.  I started studying. First, reading any book I could get my hands on regarding what’s known as Western Herbalism. Then formally, in a Master Herbalist program. Books on magical uses were rarer (and many well outside my budget) but eventually, the internet became a thing. I could read old texts online and extrapolate from them.

Sometime in the late 2000s, I mentioned to online friends that I’d built a rather extensive database on herbs and their uses. My brain doesn’t retain things long anymore, so some way to easily and quickly look up uses was needed. I spent hours typing notes from 3-ring binders into the computer. Those friends asked me to share my knowledge in the form of a book. To my surprise, Herbs: Medicinal, Magical, Marvelous! was picked up by a publisher. I had never imagined myself as an author but here I was! Three more nonfiction books about herbs followed.

Nonfiction writing is easy for me. Research, then putting that information into a format people can follow is a logical endeavor and I am a stereotypical Virgo. (I am an accountant during the day – logic reigns there!) But, I was thinking about my former boss one day and a short story popped into my head. I wrote it down, mostly just to get it out of my brain. My husband read it and said it had the makings of a book. I expanded the story, not without some teeth-gnashing, and now I was a fiction author, too!

Many authors include small parts of themselves and/or their lives in their fiction books. I’m no different. When I started writing fiction, there was no way I could leave herbs out of my writing. One of the side characters in my Ogre’s Assistant series is an Earth witch and uses herbs in her magic. An older wizard, who also works for the ogre, uses herbs in some of the things he does as a side job. The main character, Amy, after discovering her magic, has to learn about the properties of herbs as part of her required studies. What and how she learns is very much how I would train a young witch.

Then I started writing paranormal women’s fiction. Writing about older women is much easier than imagining the lives of characters younger than my children. Reinventing Herself’s main character, Ellen, has a garden, growing not only food but herbs. Some of my grandmother’s use of herbs in cooking sneaks in there, but it’s not the main thrust of the story. 

I started a second book with one of El’s friends as the main character. But my heart kept saying I wanted to write a book about a witch. Anne is not a witch. The thought was so insistent, I tabled Anne’s story, opened a new document and Jo, a late-blooming witch, came to life in Reclaiming Herself. 

Jo learns about her magic from her two witchy BFFs, one of whom works as a clinical herbalist. Just as a real-life herbalist would here in the state of Georgia, Abby works under a chiropractor and an acupuncturist. I think my disgust at the State’s dislike of herbal medicine might come through a bit…

Jo discovered she’s pretty good at making magical potions and when her attorney-boss retires, starts a business selling her concoctions. Although my books are fantasy, all the herb uses are based in fact. I had to know what her recipes were before writing so created them. They may not be in the book but they are all in my notes.

I can’t seem to get away from herbs: I had thought to return to Anne’s story after Reclaiming Herself was done, when another character, also a witch, popped into my head. Herbs will play a large part in the third book of the Herself series. Perhaps more than before as Mary Beth transforms herself from a medical nurse in the big city to a country wise woman. She will follow in her grandmother and aunt’s footsteps, practicing what is known as granny magic here in Appalachia. Herbs will be used to heal…and maybe harm. Flip sides of the same coin so who knows?

—

A semi-retired accountant, Master Herbalist, author, and witch, Deborah J. “DJ” Martin abandoned frozen Minnesota many moons ago and now lives in the woods of the southern Appalachian Mountains with her husband, four cats, and numerous woodland creatures. If you can’t find DJ in the garden or visiting her grandchildren, check Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/authordjmartin, Twitter @authordjmartin, or her website http://www.authordjmartin.com. 

RECLAIMING HERSELF

After three decades of marriage, Jo catches her husband in bed with a much younger woman. To add insult to injury, her anger makes the magical powers she had repressed at puberty abruptly flare to life. She has to learn to control the magic while holding down a full-time job and going through a divorce.

Jo is lucky in that her best friends are both witches and are able to help her learn about these new-found abilities. While waiting for the divorce to finalize, and under the tutelage of her BFFs, she discovers she’s a good magical potion-maker.

When her boss decides to retire, Jo not only takes her potion business full time but makes a move to a cabin in the mountains. More surprises await her there: she has a familiar – a snarky crow named Esme; and her neighbor, another fifty-something single woman, can speak with animals.

All is not bliss, however. Jo is accused of murdering a woman she has never met, and the investigator assigned to the case refuses to listen to reason. It’s up to her to prove her innocence and bring the investigator to his senses. Can magic help her?

BUY HERE

 

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing