A Novel Creation www.WatersWords.com

You May Be a Writer If… You Sit Back at Parties and Create Scenes in Your Head With the People in the Room as Characters Ever at a boring event where you don’t know the people? Seated at the table where everyone else only speaks Italian?  You Can’t Help But Mentally “Edit” Facebook Posts Need I say more? You Look at Troublesome Moments in Your Life as Possible Tension Points For Your Next Novel Every life has them and every novel needs them. Not to mention this perspective helps you endure the frustration of the car not starting or the electric going off.  You Watch a Television Show or Movie, Noting Inciting Incidents, Arcs…and the Resolution of the Story  Watch the old western series called Wagon Train . The stories are perfectly formed. You Rewrite Endings to Movies or Books You Wish Had Different Outcomes All the time.  You Study People in Line While Waiting to Renew your Driver’s License and Mentally Craft Biographies For...

You’ve likely seen the movie with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicolson. Fighting cancer, both men know they have a short time to live so they form an unlikely alliance and set out to do all the things they would like to have accomplished before they die. Interesting. You may even have your own bucket list. This past summer, my six-year-old granddaughter had it in her heart to see Mount Rushmore. “It’s on my bucket list,” she told me.  “Exactly what is a bucket list?” I asked her.  “It’s everything you want to do before you grow up,” she answered solemnly. That may be a healthier concept. We would likely get more done in our lives if we didn’t put off our dreams to “someday.” My daughter and son-in-law surprised my youngest granddaughter with a trip to Mount Rushmore. In the picture you cans see the pure joy on her face. (As an aside, she also had the Statue of Liberty on her list. They made sure that happened this past summer as well.) I can’t say I ever h...

People often speak of “birth order.” When people speak of family, I often hear them grouse about their position in the family.  “I was the oldest so I was responsible for all my brothers and sisters. It wasn’t fair.” “I was the youngest. I never got to do the stuff my brothers and sisters got to do because I was always ‘too little’ or ‘a baby.’” But the pain and suffering of “the middles” must be the worst. According to them. I can’t actually speak to any of this since I’m an “only.” Then again, there is  one  person I’ve known all my life who says she always thought she was the luckiest person in her family because she was…are you ready…the middle. Yep. She was smack dab in the middle of seven, count them, seven children. She had an older sister and a younger sister. She had two older brothers and two younger brothers. The middle.  With My Mom 2019 Why did she view herself as lucky? She had the best of both worlds. Mature enough to be in...

A Re-Directed Life I’ve had this notion rolling around in my head for a while now. It is the changing of life’s path. In fact, I spoke to a church group about this very subject in September. Last month, I wrote a post about the university where I taught closing its doors. I suggested that the students who had to complete their studies elsewhere would be “uniquely qualified” to live in our ever-changing, Plan B world.  In August, I penned a post about reinventing or refining our lives. It is true. We all must do it. I simply don’t know anyone who is living out Plan A. In fact, I’ve been through so much change I’m not sure I remember Plan A. I may be on Plan D, E, or F by now…I only trust I’m not to Z. Yet. My youngest daughter and I talk about this. We talk about how change happens and how we respond to it. Sometimes we change our direction to follow a dream. It is our choice. That’s what happened when I left teaching to become a writer. Writing had been a dream...

QUIET…My 2020 Word for the Year As many of my readers know, I choose a word each year. It’s a practice I picked up from author Debbie Macomber. I don’t always know how it will play out in my life, but that’s part of the fun. Last year I chose the word “hospitality.” It came from my study of Romans 12 where we are instructed to practice hospitality. It was a great year. I enjoyed having people in my home for breakfasts, dinners, parties, and desserts. I appreciated cooking meals or dishes for others in need and for friends at Bible study. I found myself reaching out to others more. I made new friends. I opted to be more generous. I started a collection of books for women in prison. I visited people who were sick or hurting. Sure, some of that I would have done anyway, but clinging to the word “hospitality” brought focus to my actions. As I said, it was a great year. Now a new year looms ahead. I’ve been thinking and praying about the word I would choose. The one that ke...