'It's the seeds that you plant'

 

“Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

In his short life (he lived to just age 44) Stevenson became one of the world’s most versatile and “translated” authors.  Born in Scotland on this date in 1850, he left us everything from Treasure Island to Kidnapped to The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, creating a host of great characters like the pirate Long John Silver, and Jekyll and Hyde (also a lasting descriptive phrase).  

 

Stevenson’s creativity also included essays, short stories and poetry (A Child’s Garden of Verses – with lasting poems like My Shadow.  “I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.”).   An accomplished pianist, he wrote or arranged more than 120 pieces, including 10 songs written to his own poetry. 

 

Stevenson’s many travels led to his connection with American Fanny Osbourne – their love story becoming one for the ages (For a great read about this tale, check out my good friend Mark Wiederanders’ terrific novel, Stevenson’s Treasure).

Stevenson’s writing connected with readers from all walks of life making him one of the world’s most popular authors of his time.

 

“The difficulty of literature is not to write it, but to write what you mean,” he said.  “Not to affect your reader, but to affect him precisely as you wish.”   And so he did.