A Novel Creation www.WatersWords.com

It’s New Years Day. The first day of 2014. I’ll keep this brief. I retired from the teacher education program at Cincinnati Christian University at the end of 2013. The time seemed right to begin a new career in writing. One year ago I launched this blog, A Novel Creation . My goals were simple: I wanted to be a writer . I wanted to help other people who want to write. That’s the “teacher” in me. When I started today’s post, I thought I would share the statistics for the year: How many people have visited, which post was the most popular, which was the least appealing, and so forth. That’s the “researcher” in me. I looked everything up, analyzed the data, and chucked it all. The data was good, but interesting only to me. And not all that helpful to anyone else. So I took another avenue. I sat down and read through every post I’ve written. I liked some of them. Some of them actually made me laugh. But this is what I find most interesting: I wrote t...

It was a BB gun. I was sure. It was in a long slender package wrapped in red paper with my name on it. If I tilted it on end, I could actually hear the BB’s roll from one end to the other. My grandparent’s house was in a hollow nestled between the mountains in rural Kentucky. We lived in Ohio. It took us hours to drive down Old 25 and through the southern Kentucky town of Barbourville. Several miles outside of town we turned onto a narrow, rutted dirt road that hugged the side of the mountains as it wound its way through the hollow to their house. We didn’t often travel in the winter to see them. That is part of what made this Christmas so special. That and the fact that a box in the trunk of our car held an assortment of brightly wrapped presents, including the one I had already concluded was my very own BB gun.        The hour was late by the time we turned on the dark, snow covered dirt road. My dad drove carefully, his way lit onl...

December 18. A special day. Today she would marry her high school sweetheart. Today. One week before Christmas. Exactly one week. The Florida sun warmed the day. The azaleas bloomed. Oranges dotted the trees like small sun kissed ornaments on a southern Christmas offering. He worked hard to clean the car and help set up the church reception hall. He didn’t eat all day. It was a special day. Today he would marry his high school sweetheart. Together they would finish college. Together they would build a life. Eventually, they would raise a family. Today was the first day of fulfilling their dreams. They said their vows. Friends and family stood beside them and bore witness to their commitment. Yes, they were young. They only thought they knew what love was –or could be. Later, they would admit that. Later they would say they grew to understand what true love is –not the romantic notion they held as high school sweethearts. They would finish college and graduate school and al...

Following weeks of editing and revision, I received the best ever email from my editor. She told me my book was ready. All I needed now was to write the acknowledgement page and the dedication. All? This could be the toughest part of the book to craft. Where should I begin? Asking a new author to acknowledge those who helped in bringing a project to fruition is a bit like asking a first time academy award winner to offer a “brief speech.” I had a rough idea of some of those I should include. My dynamite editor, Bethany Kaczmarek, would of course be included. And there’s Eddie Jones from Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas who gave me my first contract for my very first book. No brainers. I would acknowledge members of my family. For example, my husband, Tom who refers to me as a writer. That’s powerful. He supports me beyond belief. He has cooked dinners for me when I was in the throes of revision and read my story from page one. Over and over… 1A, 1B….you g...

Friends often ask me what it takes to successfully write a novel. That's a tough question. I decided it's easier to tell you how to   NOT   be successful. Here are my tips on how to fail as an author. Do not turn on your computer . This also means you should not pick up any kind of writing instrument or tablet of paper. Picking up a pen or turning on your computer is the first step to making sure you get words down on paper. If you want to bomb as an author, you must never do this. If you accidently turn on your computer, you can make sure you will not write your novel by engaging in social media or online games. I have found online Sudoku helpful in wasting time on the computer and put off actual writing. Do not write every day. Talk about writing. Tell people how you want to write. You can even go so far as to talk about your novel. But do not write. Do not set writing goals such as word counts or a set time of day to write. Be aware, if you...