There was a time when the little lady you see below would have sent me screaming. Fortunately Margaret Maron taught me to admire the Argiope, or ‘writing spider.’
Yes, like Charlotte in Charlotte’s Web. You can see how the string of Ms or Ws that she’s created look like writing.
This particular Charlotte has taken up residence in my garden, attaching one end of her web to my garden storage box and the other end to a sweet potato vine. As a matter of fact, there are two more Charlottes out there, diligently weaving among the okra and the marigolds (that I’ve found — maybe more) and I’m thrilled by their presence. Like Margaret, I’ve taken the Argiope as a sort of mascot and I hope her presence in my garden is a good omen.
As intricate as her web is, you’d think she’d be finished, but not our arachnid writer! Oh no. Like all writers, she is continually revising. According to Margaret, the Argiope will undo and reweave her web repeatedly. In time she’ll deposit her egg sac full of potential future writers. And then, when her life’s work is complete, Charlotte will pass quietly on to that great web in the sky.
Such is the life of a writer. Always scribbling, always striving to get it exactly right, but in the end we put our babies out there to face the world (i.e. readers and reviewers), and hope that our work will be gently received and achieve longevity.