A Novel Creation www.WatersWords.com

Early in the 1970’s, my husband took me to the computer lab on the University of South Florida campus. He carried his stack of punched cards to a woman at the desk to run through the computer. He pointed to what looked to me to be a huge bank of metal cabinets. “Look at that, Bec,” he said. “One day we’ll have a computer in our house. Can you imagine that?” I couldn’t.   But Tom was right. We had several computers through the years. None were as big as the monstrosity in that computer lab. In fact, my current computer is smaller than the spiral notebook I carried with me to any of my university classes.    Where is this going?  During my  March Mug Month  I’ve been reflecting on the messages my collection of coffee mugs convey. Last week I shared my “You’ll Get Through This” mug. It seemed appropriate for the pandemic sweeping the world.  Self-isolation may well be the watchword for the long haul.  I’ve e...

Several years ago I participated in a Bible study by Max Lucado called  You’ll Get Through This . In it, he highlighted the story of Joseph (of the Old Testament…not to be confused with Mary’s husband). At one point Joseph is thrown into a deep pit by his brothers. He can only “look up.” That’s the point. Bad things happen to good people, but with God’s help we get through it. My husband Tom died a year after that particular Bible study ended. I copied the words from Max Lucado’s text and tucked the paper in my pocket for the visitation. You’ll get through this. It won’t be painless. It won’t be quick. But God will use this mess for good. Don’t be foolish or naïve. But don’t despair either. With God’s help, you’ll get through this. After the funeral, my friend, Lina, found a mug with the words on it from the Lucado study. It is one of my favorites. It’s a reminder. God loves us, cares for us, is there for us, died for us, and sees us through…everyth...

Last week I declared March as Mug Month. If you missed that post, you can read about it by clicking HERE . Like many of my readers, I have a large collection of coffee mugs. Several of them I’ve received as gifts, a few I’ve purchased. Some mugs I’ve received as part of a business or conference promotion. Then there are those mugs popping up from who knows where. They simply seem to appear in my cabinet. As a result, I must cull through them from time-to-time, donating the excess to my local charity store. Of the many mugs I have, I actually use only a few. Favorites. Ones that hold more than coffee. They hold memories.  For today’s post, I selected one such mug. I call it one of my  Adventure Mugs .  Happy Camper The summer before my husband died in a bicycle accident, we purchased a fifth wheel camper. We planned to spend a few months in the camper in Naples, Florida during the winter of 2014-2015. Tom left this earth three days before our scheduled d...

I decided to declare March as Mug Month. I have two reasons.  Reason #1:  This month is the one-year anniversary of the release of  Libby’s Cuppa Joe . Libby’s is a coffee shop in Door County, Wisconsin. No, it isn’t a real place even though I’ve had several readers report they looked for it when visiting the small town of Fish Creek. When the new proprietor of Libby’s Cuppa Joe arrives on the scene, she cleans everything out of the store’s kitchen. Including a random collection of mugs from area businesses and such.  Reason #2:  In my first novel,  Breathing on Her Own , there is a scene where the main character, Molly, is moving the contents of her daughter’s closet to a new room. She remembers her daughter as a toddler clomping around in Molly’s high-heeled shoes. She thinks of her daughter growing up and the way shoes mark time. There’s a line in the book that reads –“ Shoes tell the story of our lives. ” I always liked that sc...