A Novel Creation www.WatersWords.com

In our culture we talk a lot about being thankful. We strive to be appreciative of what we have and even set aside a day for it.  Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is not exactly a true celebration of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth in 1620. Nor is it a true representation of the reported celebratory dinner shared by the English Pilgrims and Native Americans in 1621.  Thanksgiving has come to mean different things to different people: A day or two off of work or school, a home cooked family meal, football, or the start of the Christmas season.  In truth, we should be giving thanks every day.  For everything. When our daughters were young, like many other parents, we gave our girls the opportunity to pray. We all took turns praying at the evening meal. Allison, our oldest was articulate at an early age and was always ready to pray. Our youngest, Kendall offered simple, sweet prayers for the food…if it was something she liked.  But ...

My maternal grandmother made quilts. Often they were created from scraps of fabric left over from other sewing projects. I can remember my mother saving remnants from dresses she made for me and taking them to Grandma.  As a child I would lie on my back under one of grandma’s quilts in the early morning as the sun would shine through the window. I would put my feet and arms up in the air, stretching the cover over me as a sort of tent. I could see all the colorful patterns on the walls of my makeshift dwelling. Sometimes I pretended I was in a cave where my ancestors, the Cherokee Indians had painted colorful markings on the cave walls. At some point, each time we visited my grandparents, Grandma would take me and my mother to one of the bedrooms and one by one show us the quilts she’d made since our last visit. I would trace the patterns on the quilt tops naming the fabric I recognized. “That was my Easter dress!” I would say. Or, “I remember that red material! Mommy...

Several weeks  ago I invited readers to enter a writing contest based on the names of Yankee candles. Today I'm pleased to announce the winner, Ellen Burton of Ohio! Congratulations to Ellen and thank you to all entrants and judges! In addition to a $10 Amazon gift card, Ellen's story is featured below. Enjoy! Seaside Woods  by Ellen Burton Erica stood on the pier breathing deeply. She closed her eyes, imagining the cleansing ocean air filling every space in her body. The sun would be up soon. Erica watched as an older couple made their way up the sandy beach. Few people were out this morning. You could always tell when the school year started. The beach was calm and quiet. Young families were nowhere to be seen.  Erica sighed. If Rob hadn’t left her totally out of the blue six years ago, they might be one of those young families. And then one day they would have been that older couple, simply enjoying each other. Past the hustle and never in a rush....

I'm excited to have my friend and fellow author, JPC Allen as my guest on today's blog. Enjoy! Writing YA Mysteries by JPC Allen I’ve loved mysteries since I first sat down in front of the TV on Saturday mornings to watch Scooby Doo. In the past two years, I’ve had two crime short stories published in anthologies from Mt. Zion Ridge Press. I could have written my short stories from any point of view, but I felt most comfortable writing from the POV of a teen. In the process of writing “Debt to Pay”, a country noir, and “A Rose from the Ashes,” a Christmas mystery, I learned some important lessons about writing mysteries for teens.  Meet Author JPC Allen Teens make great amateur detectives. Stories with amateur detectives have always attracted me because they are the ultimate underdog in mysteries. And I love underdog stories. Who could be more of an underdog than a teen, especially one who isn’t even a legal adult yet. Without the aid of offic...