I am a sandal-loving Florida native with a passion for my Savior, my family, writing, and travel. Some of my best writing has been done on the balcony of a cruise ship!
After working in the travel and hospitality industry for 15+ years I decided it was time to pursue my writing dream. My novels are relational and character driven and I hope they will always engulf the reader in a great story while leaving them stronger in their faith.
It’s summer which means in early morning it’s light enough and warm enough, to write letters to God on the back porch. Today I heard: an airplane overhead, a cardinal back in the woods, an air-conditioner coming on, the dog next dog barking intermittently, a single cicada, which is unusual, and a tapping from the renovation house next door. A rooster that lives at the end of the street continued to yodel long after he had forced the sun to come up. By the time I finished my letter to God, I was able to add a cat’s plaintive meow (the cat begs to move in with the family that lives next door to him), and a car staring up, maybe to go to the beach.
Where are your writing places and what do you hear from there?
The best bit of advice I ever got was to write a letter to God. Why? Well, it got me started communicating with Him and by default with myself. I’ve written a letter to him almost every day
Sometimes I have help
since about 1970 or so. Some were short, most were several pages long. I learned from doing it that God is always there for me and he doesn’t care what I say or how long it takes me to say it. I’ve learned that He really loves me, and that to him, I’m a unique and special person.
Now some people just talk to him, and I admire that way of doing it, but it doesn’t work as well for me. Maybe I I can’t concentrate, or I get bored with hearing my own voice, or thoughts run away with me and I get distracted. But a letter? That’s different. It’s as if my whole mind, soul, and body gets into the exchange, and exchange it is because God writes letters to me as well, in many different ways. I’ll tell you about some of that later on. For now, though how about you? Are you a talker or a writer?
There are lots of survival shows on TV these days, and many of the people on them probably look crazy,
Wonder if they have a “go” bag?
with their plans for getting out of town fast in the event of a variety of disasters. I’ve learned from these shows though that a “go bag” isn’t just for conspiracy theorists. Living in Florida, I deal with torrential downpours, tornados, hurricanes, wild fires, and highways shut down due to major wrecks. In 1997, I was working the night shift and wasn’t able to get home because all routes were closed due to wild fires. Fortunately, I was working for a hotel at the time and was able to get a room for the night. We wore uniforms so I didn’t have to worry about fresh clothes, but sitting up that night, watching the news coverage of the fires burning, inching closer to homes and threatening to keep the roads closed for days, I vowed that I would never make my commute without at least an overnight bag from then on.
Building my go bag has taken years. It started with a basic change of clothes and a blanket, in case my car broke down somewhere. After a particularly good session working with my technical guru
Mike Thomas My Technical Guru
on the video trailer for Summer Storms, I was too tired to make the drive home and had to be back in to work in only five hours any way, so I crashed in a hotel with my trusty go bag. When I got in the room, though, I found out my bag wasn’t as trusty as I thought. The pants I had didn’t match my dress shoes, I didn’t have any toiletries, contact lens case or solution, not even a hair brush. Fortunately the hotel gift shop was still open and I was able to buy the few things not provided complimentary. When I got home the next night, I made a list of the things I needed to add to my bag.
Now, I feel confident that my bag will get me through just about any spontaneous situation, well, except an invitation to a formal event. I haven’t figured out how to cram an evening gown in the bag. I guess I’ll have to depend on my fairy godmother for that.
I worked on blogs and such yesterday and today gave my work in progress, the final book of The Florida Springs Trilogy, Clear Spring some attention. I don’t know why it takes years to get into good routines, but that’s one of the reasons I’m much in favor of routines, they help me streamline my life. It looks as if it will work to spend a two hour block one day doing marketing, answering emails, writing blogs, etc. and the next day concentrate on the novel. That would be a very loose plan for me. If a blog was insisting on being written right that minute, of course I would write it then.
How about you? Do you favor routine or are you a free spirit?
