A Novel Creation www.WatersWords.com

 The Cedar Cove Book Exchange I am a writer. It seems I have always been a writer. I have always enjoyed books. Before I could write, I made up stories for my dolls. By second grade I was penning my own stories. In fact, if you follow my posts or have heard me speak on becoming an author, you know that my first fiction piece was published when I was in second grade. (Okay, it was the school newspaper, but the school housed several classes of each grade… kindergarten to grade eight, so the audience was pretty big for a seven-year-old.)    And…I am a reader. I think I inherited that gene. My maternal grandfather loved to read and my mother devoured the printed word the way most kids eat corn flakes. I don’t know if Grandpa ever read much by the way of fiction, but I can still see him sitting in a chair on the front porch reading his Bible. I’ve actually known him to read the dictionary! He loved the printed word and he loved to learn.   When Mike and I married and move...

Of Sunsets and Salt Air I am crafting this post on the last evening of our stay at the Kon Tiki resort in Islamorada. Mike and I stayed here last year for our honeymoon. This year is our anniversary trip. One of the things I love about this place is the fact it is not a fancy-schmancy high-rise hotel.     Kon Tiki is a cluster of villas on the Florida Bay side of Islamorada. (Islamorada is one of the Florida Keys) The unit we stay in reflects what Mike and I tend to call “old Florida”…and we love it. It is the bathing-suit-and-cutoff-jeans sort of vibe we experienced in high school. Yep, that's our villa in the background. We came prepared. We brought everything we needed. Swimsuits and sunscreen.    I’m pretty sure we used very little sunscreen in high school, but we certainly do now.  Of course we packed a few other necessities like beach towels and clothes to go out to eat.    The eating thing is interesting. The unit we stay in has a kitchen,...

Missing the Girl Already Ever since Mike and I married, Tiki, Honeybee, and Roxy have been part of our family.   Tiki is a cat. She is cute and cuddly when she chooses… but aloof and independent at other times.    Honeybee, or “Bee” for short, is an Australian Blue Heeler. She is beautiful, about sixteen years old, and fully dedicated to Mike. She puts up with me.  I can give her a treat and she’ll gently take it from my hand. She lets me scoot up next to her and scratch behind her ears. But Bee’s eyes are failing and so is her hearing. If I approach her without warning she may snap. Once she knows it’s me she calms down. I  always try  to warn her first.   Then there is Roxy. I never expected to love Roxy. She is a full-blooded pit bull, though I understand her official breed is Staffordshire Bull Terrier.    Meet Roxy I had heard stories…horror stories…about pit bulls. I understood them to be mean, ferocious animals ready to tear the head o...

  Doing Life Together   This week my oldest daughter and her sweet husband celebrate twenty-six years of marriage. They are a good team. Good to each other and good parents.    Allison and David are good at “doing life together.”   April 14th marks the one year-anniversary of my marriage to Mike. It is   a wonderful and unexpected adventure for this time of life.    Our Wedding Day with Allison, David  & Grandsons Joshua and Spencer Both Mike and I had good previous marriages. Both of us were widowed. He at a young age. And me? Well…not so young. His wife, Betty, died of cancer in 1987 and my husband, Tom, died in 2014 from injuries incurred in a bicycle accident.    Though Mike and I have known each other since ninth grade, we never dated until catching up via our high school class reunion in 2022.    I have a few readers who have watched my journey as a wife, mother, grandmother, teacher, professor, author, wid...

  Tell Me You Love Me…Or Not   I heard a joke once where a woman looked at her husband and said, “Why don’t you ever tell me you love me anymore?”   The husband didn’t even look up from his newspaper. “I told you once and if I change my mind I’ll let you know.”   No, this post isn’t about marriage or romantic love. It’s about…are you ready? It’s about book reviews.    It is a bit heady to have someone come up to me and say, “I just finished reading your book and loved it!”  Seriously, that is pretty cool. But although the author experiences a “feel good” moment, leaving a book review on Amazon, Goodreads, or any other widely read source is like gold to any writer.   A Review My 10-Year-Old Granddaughter  Gave One of the Novels in an Epic Series She Usually Loves! You don’t  have to think it is the best book you ever read. It doesn’t have to have been the book that changed your life. Post a review.   Yes, a series of raving revi...