Oh hellooo! I’m Catherine Burgess, and I’m a writer and a horticulturist. You’ll find a little bit of both on this blog, and one day soon (fingers crossed) I’ll have publishing news on here too!

I’m awful at tracking my gardens’ growth throughout the season, and I need a place to start putting snippets of my writing out there in the world. This blog should satisfy both needs. Interested in plants and writing? You’re in the right place.

Mind you, I lean more toward the crop production side of horticulture. I know next to nothing about flowers, but I can tell you how to set up a raspberry trellis, prune fruit trees, set up drip irrigation, and general maintenance. I’m learning houseplants now, and I’m always looking for new tips and tricks. Figured out how to train a monstera? CALL ME!

I’ve written two books so far: THE MARTIAN EXPERIMENT, a speculative fiction dystopian novel, and a rom-com whose working title is ROOTING FOR YOU. I’m in the querying process for the first book and revisions for the second, and a third book is in the noodling and outlining process. More on those later.

When I’m not writing or looking after my houseplants, I’m usually reading. I’m excited to share that on here, too, and while I’m not really a book reviewer, I love talking about books, and I’m always looking for book recommendations!

You might also catch me on here screaming about friends who get agented or get book deals, or have debuts coming out, because I love celebrating other people! We as writers — well everyone really — are too hard on ourselves, always looking for flaws and talking down to ourselves, and we need others to remind us that we’re doing our best, and actually, we’re doing pretty good. That’s the kind of person I want to be.

So whether you’re here for the book talk, writing and publishing talk, gardening talk, or just because you’re a supportive friend or family member (Hi Mama!), I’m glad you’re here, and I hope I see you again soon!