A Novel Creation www.WatersWords.com

My thinking when I started this blog was that I am new enough in the writing and publishing world I could be transparent about what I experience. My hope was to expose the ins and outs of what I am doing so others would be encouraged to write their own novels. How limiting! How could I think everyone has this deep desire to write a book? If my only appeal is to those who thought they might be ready to write fiction, I might have an audience of two or three. Quite a few people have an idea for a book, but few are ready to take that plunge. And there are all types of writing out there. Write what you know. Write what is near and dear to your heart. Want to write down all of your favorite family recipes? That cookbook may be the ideal gift for your soon-to-be-wed daughter. Add a family tree to the front, sprinkle in a few family stories and pictures and you have written an award-winning cookbook. Well, at least your family will praise you. Have you traveled the w...

As a teacher of young children, I recognized the strong relationship between reading and writing. Good readers in my classroom tended to be good writers. I also knew that if I had a student who was good at telling stories, I could help turn that student into a good writer and use that to make him or her a good reader. It’s a cyclical relationship thing. Reading, (W)riting, and Risk-taking I used to describe that relationship as the three R’s to develop literacy: reading, (w)riting, and risk-taking. Now I see these are the three R’s of becoming an author. I have always been a reader. I married a reader. I bore “reader-children.” We have so many books in our house people think we are “book junkies.” We are. We buy books, borrow books, load books on our Kindle and own audio books for travel. I tell my husband if he is ever in doubt about a gift for me the motto is “when in doubt—diamonds.” For everyone else the motto is “when in doubt—a book.” Writers must read. It is ...