A Novel Creation www.WatersWords.com

Refurbish or Reimagine?  Or is it Revise and Rewrite? Mike and I are in the midst of remodeling our house. The kitchen was gutted and now sports new cabinets.  We've had to eat out a lot.   Step 1? Tear Everything Down Everything will soon be painted. Every ceiling. Every wall. Inside and out. We’ll move out a few days for some of that.   The floors will be changed from the “almost looks like wood” linoleum to a durable manufactured "luxury vinyl" wood plank floor. The lights will be brighter and more up-to-date. I could go on and on, but I won’t.    We’ve taken this on at the same time I am crafting a new novel. I can’t help but note how the remodel of our house is like writing a book. We have the core elements in place. Now that we’ve lived here for a bit, we are ready to revise.   In my current novel, my main character, Will, runs a growing business in a small town. He purchased an old house and engages a contractor by the name of Jess Torres to bri...

Weather or Not...Here We Come I generally pray for sunny days whenever company comes our way from up north. They expect it. And, we generally have great weather during the winter months here in Florida. February in Florida rarely disappoints.     My youngest daughter and her two little girls planned a short trip to see us over President’s Day. Mike and I watched the weather. It was not looking good. Though February is normally a mild month with plenty of sunshine, forecasters were predicting an onslaught of rain over the holiday weekend.   Rain it did… and it was cold .   We picked up the girls from the Orlando airport late Saturday evening and made our way through the rain back to our home on the Nature Coast. (Yep, the Nature Coast was last week’s blog topic.)    Our house is in total disarray as we are remodeling. No kitchen with lots of drywall work and such. The fireplace front is gone and we have new lights and outlets in or going in…you get the idea....

  The Nature Coast   When I was growing up in Florida, geography was easy. Our part of Florida was defined as the West Coast (meaning on the Gulf of Mexico) with the Panhandle to the north. There was the East Coast (all along the Atlantic Ocean), and the Florida Keys to the south. Large regions in the middle were labeled North Florida, Central Florida, and South Florida. And of course, we had the Everglades, which were a separate entity altogether.  Sunset on the Nature Coast In the early 1970’s Florida added “Disney World,” or as my husband calls it, “The House of the Mouse” as a Central Florida landmark.  Weather forecasters would say, “We’re expecting some rain this afternoon here on the West Coast, but folks at Disney should have clear skies all day long.“   I moved to Ohio in 1978. I’m now back in Florida and trying to figure out what happened to the state I knew in my youth. Yes, it has grown in population, with houses and condos seemingly sprouting up eve...

Soup Night...Spanish Style   If you follow my blog, you know I am once again “a new bride.” Our first anniversary is coming up in April, but until then? We are still Newlyweds!     As Mike and I have both been widowed and we are both past our, uh, …let’s say “past our fifties…uh…okay…past our sixties.” I’m not exactly learning my way around the kitchen as I did as an eighteen-year-old bride to Tom Waters.     Still, I am learning …or at least trying new recipes for foods Mike likes. A few have been new to me. (If you missed my blog on making picadillo, I’ll put a link at the bottom for you.) Picadillo is now one of our favorites. I don’t always make it with rice. We like it with mashed potatoes as well. It is quick and easy and remains one of Mike’s favorites.   Another favorite food he mentioned to me recently, now that our Florida weather has cooled a bit, is Spanish Bean Soup. (By the way, if you live in the north, don’t ask what “cooled a bit” mean...