Lots of moving/organizing going on in the office this week (will explain in next week’s blog). No news on the release date, but I should hear something very soon (yeah, I know I’m starting to sound like a broken record). In the meantime, I’m motoring through Book Two and planning Escape from Differe’s big shindig. See you next week! 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!

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As far as professions go, if you haven’t noticed, speech therapy and writing aren’t really related (unless you count writing boring letters to doctors and insurance companies). When I got the idea for Escape from Differe, this former speech therapist put it in a file titled “story” on my computer. I knew I was a good storyteller, but was hardly ready to call the idea a “book” or, least of all, me a “writer.” So, the what-would-later-be-book sat there as the “story” file for quite some time. Perhaps my reasons were twofold: 1) if I called the file a “book” I’d have to pursue the publishing process, which felt like I would be agreeing to learn Chinese; 2) if the idea really was a book then what did that make me?

I couldn’t claim the “writer” title for a really long time. When I looked at myself in terms of writing I saw zero formal training, a C+ (the last grade I’d received on an English paper), and the VERY close relationship I had with spellcheck. Lest you think I’m exaggerating about my dire grammatical skills, the earliest feedback I received went something like – “The story is awesome, but I think if it’s going to be a book it’ll need to be more than one paragraph. Oh, and remember those things called ‘commas’? There should probably be a few of those in there too.” (Paragraphs and commas are still so overrated in my mind)

In the spring of last year, I had ten readers and a writing coach telling me I was a “writer.” This was good news considering I’d finally decided to change the file name from “story” to “book.” It was time to start thinking about changing professions, which would mean changing my job title as well.

Sometimes you’ve got to see and say things a few times before you believe them. Hence the following:

My Work Outfit –

Stand in front of the mirror and it reads – “You’re an awesome writer. Now get back to work.”

My Cup –

My Clock –

I somehow discovered I’ve got a knack for writing, but a few weaknesses in the areas that make writing great. But you know what…who cares? Those weaknesses don’t make me any less of a writer. In fact, they just give me the opportunity to become better at what I do.

So, what is it I do?

I am a writer.

So, people ask me (sometimes nervously) if they might end up in one of my books somewhere.

Meet Jeff & Lyndsay

Lyndsay was my college roommate and a bridesmaid in my wedding, and, well, I was named after her mom, so we go way back. We met Jeff our freshman year and quickly befriended the golfer extraordinaire. Jeff and Lyns tied the knot exactly two weeks after my husband and me. Like many, Lyns, of course, picked up a new last name -“Rutherford.”

I know most folks don’t typically keep up with their college friends, but thankfully my college buddies and I haven’t been the norm. I text or chat every couple weeks with these two and make an effort to see them once a quarter via football games, beach trips, birthdays, and any other excuse we can conjure up.

Okay, so something you should know about Jeff, is that besides being an excellent golfer, the guy can make a joke off nearly every word that comes out of someone’s mouth. This is one of the key reasons I keep him around. He tells jokes for my personal entertainment, and I show my appreciation (no matter how corny) by laughing at every single one…though I have been known to have a delayed response at times.

These two found out about my book series long before most people. During one visit with them I was explaining the process for naming my characters and mentioned that I lacked a few names, the shopkeeper in particular. Jeff suddenly piped in, “How about Old Man Rutherford?” He was absolutely joking, but I knew right away the name was perfect.

Meet Miss Josephine and Miss Mary Katherine

Now I know it’s not polite to ask a woman’s age and worse still to reveal it, but I have to brag on these ladies. Miss Josephine is 95 and a half (I’m told you count the halves when you get to this age), and Miss Mary Katherine had a big 90^th birthday bash late last year. Thanks to these ladies (and practice sessions with my father-in-love), I’m becoming quite the bridge player. These two set up the card table, spread out homemade desserts, and dish out lots of good advice during their once a week bridge club meeting.

It’s an amazing honor to play with these ladies, and our conversations range from friends passing away to friends having babies. We also take occasional jabs at one another’s generation – they can’t quite understand my blue hair, and I don’t see why it’s a big deal that the church organ was recently locked up in a closet.

You’ll see soon enough that the North and South in Waiz have issues getting along. Old Waiz versus New Waiz could be translated into the traditional, older generations versus the progressive, younger generations.

There seems to be a wider and wider gap among generations in our society today. I take this to heart when I play with these special ladies, and I’d imagine our friendship will have an impact on the rest of the series….