A Novel Creation www.WatersWords.com

  Life is a Puzzle In this case it is an actual puzzle. My third novel,  Corners and Straight Edges , will officially release mid-September. The release of a new book is something akin to the first day of school.  There is this feeling of excitement in the air and the anticipation of meeting new friends. Or in this case, new readers. The timing is perfect. School is starting and the book is about a first-grade teacher named Katharine Gilmore. Every Sunday, Katharine and her husband spend the afternoon with her widowed mother, Mimi. Together they work jigsaw puzzles. As they piece the puzzle together, Mimi shares sage advice on life. “Life is like a puzzle. You have to find the corners and straight edges first. Then everything else will fall into place.” So…I took the cover of the novel and turned it into a jigsaw puzzle. A five-hundred piece puzzle. It sounded like a great idea at the time.  But when you dump five hundred puzzle pieces on the dining room table and th...

  Writer’s Roost… a Newfangled Place to Find Rest…and Words Mike and I started a new venture this past week. We found a place I can call my writer’s retreat. Most of the time. We will likely have snowbirds who would rather wait out the cold here with a beautiful lake and a great pool than to see it through up north.  The house is small, but well appointed. We decided to take the plunge (not in the pool…the financial plunge) and invest in the property.  Yep...the Pool Calls "Take the Plunge!" We thought we were being smart. But… for a minute I thought the house was maybe a bit smarter than us. Mike and I are from a different era. So was our inspector. When he tried to test the stove that is actually new and gorgeous, he couldn’t get it to turn on. Someone said something about it was the newfangled kind …wow I sound old using a word like “newfangled.”  Anyway, the thought was that maybe it had to have a pan on it to turn on. I ran home and brought back a pan....

  The Smell of Fresh Crayons I walked into a local store the other day to a barrage of school supplies. When you’ve been a teacher almost half of your life and a student of some sort all your life, the smell of fresh crayons and the colorful notebooks lining the store shelves feel like something akin to Christmas.  My husband would disagree.  But I loved school. I loved it so much I spent most of my life as either a student, a teacher, or a professor in a college preparing teachers to serve. When each of my daughters started school, I was thrilled. I knew what an exciting adventure was ahead of them.  While I was in college, I taught preschool part-time.  I did my student teaching shortly after my second daughter was born (Thank you Kathie Fuller for being our “nanny” of sorts.) When we moved to Ohio, I signed up to substitute teach. It was the best way to get to know the community and determine where we would purchase a house. One of my first jobs as a substitu...

  Of This and That The Umbrella Factor : Last week I posted about our drought. I shared how old timers often said, “What we need is a good hurricane.” (That is, a hurricane that brings a lot of water without much destruction.) I even posted pictures showing the low water table we’re experiencing. (If you missed that post, you can find it  HERE .)  Mike and I have been praying for rain. I’ve often felt like God’s favorite… but this week? Wow! We’ve had rain! Lots of it. It is beautiful! This is one of those weeks when I can honestly say “When it rains it pours.” Our water table is rising. Slowly, but steadily. The Media Kit : My new novel,  Corners and Straight Edges  will be released September 25 th .  I’m really excited about it, but writing the book is only part of the work. My publishers have a publicist, so now I have been putting my “media kit” together.  I had my new “headshots” taken and chose the ones I’ll need for various uses…like the ba...

  Of Hurricane’s and Waterways Mike and I live in Florida. I want start by asserting there is more to Florida than “the mouse house” in Orlando.  Florida is known for access to wonderful sandy beaches…lots of them. Our state is a peninsula. You can easily witness a sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast and take a leisurely drive over to the west coast to view the sunset over the Gulf later that evening.  But saltwater isn’t the only recreational source of water fun. Florida hosts clear, spring fed, icy cold, and crystal-clear rivers, springs, and chains of freshwater lakes and waterways. I’ve floated in innertubes down some of those spring fed rivers and skied and fished in the freshwater lakes. The Lake in Floral City a few years ago. Of course there is more to the state I call home. Florida is known for the large production of citrus fruit, strawberries, and farm produce. We also host cattle ranches and huge chicken farms. Our economy is far more than touris...

  Ever Feel Discombobulated? Discombobulated. I’ve always wanted to use that word. Not live it…Use it. Authors like to throw things at their characters. Actually, we may not  like  to do so, but it is necessary for our characters to grow and essential for our readers to turn the page rather than put the book down. So, we have everything going along smoothly for our hero, then throw a monkey wrench into the situation. Books, movies, and good stories depend on tension.  And tension comes when things don’t simply glide along without a glitch in the life of the character. Red Riding Hood  is merrily skipping through the forest to see her grandmother when a big bad wolf appears out of nowhere and wants her basket of goodies. Tension. I often feel a bit discombobulated. Star Wars: A New Hope   starts with a battle.  Tension. Even  Shakespeare’s  Romeo and Juliet   begins with a description of the feud between two families.  Tension. ...