Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Part Two: Stories from the Waiting Room

Another post from the series Stories from the Waiting room that I wrote a couple of years ago.


Stories from the Waiting Room

In my post yesterday, I wrote about my tendencies to avoid conversations when I'm around strangers, especially in waiting rooms in doctor's offices.  There's other places too, like shopping malls and grocery stores.  Not only have I felt that I'm giving up my privacy but I'm intruding on the privacy of others.  My husband will see someone in the aisle of a grocery store buying a product and he'll begin a conversation with them telling them whether he likes that product or not.  I just walk on down the aisle and pretend I'm not with him.  Recently he did that to a lady from the retirement community nearby and she told him she had never had so many complete strangers talk to her until she moved down South.  She said it in a "bug off" kind of way, but he didn't seem to notice.

Because of an experience last year in the dentist's office, I've realized that sometimes you can't avoid conversations without appearing rude, and you may as well just talk back.  Now I wouldn't go back to my old ways - no siree!   It's a great way to get writing material.

If you didn't read my post yesterday, I was in the VA hospital waiting for my hubby to have his colonoscopy procedure.  Hubby had just gone back to the procedure room when an elderly couple came in with their granddaughter in tow.  She was their designated driver and looked to be in her early thirties.  Age is a touchy subject - some don't mind telling and others do and I've learned by appearance who to ask and who not.   If they're over sixty and wear a lot of makeup, have a scarf around their neck to hide the neck wrinkles, have lots of jewelry and aloof mannerisms, don't ask.  That could be me on some days.   If they look grandmotherly and smile a lot, feel free to ask.  That could be me on other days.   Walter, Lillian and Kelly were their names.  Walter was seventy-seven,  Lillian seventy-five and smiled and spoke to everyone in the waiting room.  They had been married fifty-eight years.  Long enough to finish each others sentences.  He would start talking and then pause, waiting for her to finish....and she did. They seemed to know each others thoughts.  Not only were their thoughts in unison, so were their feet.

Have you ever seen someone cross one leg over the other and roll their feet round in circles.  They had opposite legs crossed so their toes were pointing toward each other.  They were in perfect unison as they circled their feet - when he stopped, so did she - then they would start over again.  It was very amusing.   After her husband went back, she kept hinting for her granddaughter to go get her a cup of coffee, but she was engrossed in a book.  I quietly got up, went downstairs to the canteen and got both of us a cup.  She was thrilled but I told her I had needed one too....and it was true.

Lillian wanted everyone to know what a good catch she had in Walter.  "He sweeps, vacuums and makes the bed every days" she said.  "You shouldn't tell us that", I said.  "We'll be all trying to steal your husband".  She beamed.  "I won't let him get away", she said and laughed.

The room filled up quickly.  The others who came in joined in the conversation.  Each person had a story to tell except one.  She was mid-fifties and sat alone pretending to read her book.  She looked anxious - maybe the way I once looked when I played the part of a hermit.  Her story is tomorrow.  I think it's sad.

Monday, April 28, 2014

Love....In Unexpected Places.

I was looking back through some of my old blog posts today trying to see which ones had been viewed the most. This is the first of a series of posts I called Stories from the Waiting Room.  They were among the most popular posts at that time. I thought I would re-post the series over the next couple of days since I seem to have acquired a serious condition called Writer's Block on both my book and my blog posts. All should resume as normal as soon as I get rid of some stress in my life right now.

Love ..... In Unexpected Places

The Gastroenterology waiting room was full ..... full of wives, daughters and granddaughters brought along as chauffeurs to drive the husbands, fathers and grandfathers who after having been cleansed and purged were in the clinical rooms having the dreaded colonoscopy procedure performed.  There was a camaraderie amongst these women, especially the wives.  We all had something in common.  We had sacrificed and shared a small part of our husbands to go out and protect and fight for all Americans.  There was an undercurrent feeling of pride, love and respect for our veterans that trickled down to the children and grown grandchildren in the room.  We were in a good place - a place that now takes care of the men and women who have taken care of the rest of us.

A little over a year ago, I wrote a post about conversations in waiting rooms that you can see at this link.  Until that time, I had been somewhat of a waiting room snob, wanting my privacy so I could write notes or read a magazine and be in my own little world.  That waiting room experience changed all that.  Now I take my magazines and notebooks along, but I only use them as conversation starters.  I discovered that you can't write about life if you're not giving yourself the opportunity to experience the complexities of other people's lives.  My life stories are boring so it's hard to pull imaginative writing out of thin air and make it interesting, but conversations with total strangers can send my fingers flying over my keyboard with enthusiasm and creativity.   My book gets a boost of energy instead of laying flat and stale in a drawer beside my bed.

Tomorrow, I'll share tidbits from the "chauffeurs" - the women who were waiting to take home their veterans.   I loved their stories.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Writer's Block Anyone?

Do you ever have writer's block. You don't have to be writing a novel to have it. My blogs have suffered lately, but I confess it's more from working on other projects than the inability to think of something to write. But what about emails to your friends - or business letters - or, in the world of social media, responses to the Facebook posts of your friends. We all suffer from it at one time or another.

Although I'm making a lot of progress on Book #2, I'm finding that I'm getting stuck pretty often. I wrote Book #1, Sweet Tea and Southern Grace, in what I thought was a pretty unconventional way - just writing scenes as I thought of them. It worked reasonably well, but it was a bugger to go back and put it in chronological order! There was an awful lot of filling in to do and making sure the apple cart wasn't in front of the horse.

This one I've written straight through from Chapter 1 through now (Chapter 19).  I can see there are pros and cons whichever way you decide to do it. As far as keeping up with the events unfolding in the story, I'm finding writing straight through to be beneficial, but I feel as if I'm losing something in the process.

This morning I read a bit of advice from award winning author, Richard Ridley. Hmm...maybe I'll go back to my old method of writing after all. I think my create juices flow a little better that way. Thankfully, I am way ahead of schedule, so I can go back and expound on the little areas that need help. Here's what Ridley has to say:

"There is no law that requires you to write a story chapter by chapter in the order in which it will be read. You are free to write the book out of order. Don't force yourself to muddle through a chapter just because you want to get to the next part of your book. Simply leave the chapter unfinished and move on to the next chapter. 
Writing in a non-linear fashion may be just the thing to finally cure your writer's block."

How do you write? Linear or non-linear? I would love hear what works best for you. 

Saturday, April 5, 2014

A Breath of Spring


Good morning to my blogging friends! It's such a beautiful day in the Carolinas today, I thought I would share a few photos of Spring blossoms in our yard.



Above is a flowering cherry tree beside our house. I love to sit under it and look up at the cloud of white and pink blossoms - and it's fragrance is heavenly!



Picture above and below: I was checking out my rose bushes and noticed a splash of orange up underneath and behind one. I don't remember planting this. I think it's a tulip that has flattened out. If it is, it's much more beautiful this way than holding tightly to it's petals. Such a breath of sunshine hiding under a bush!




 Using my lens to get an upclose view of my neighbors flowering trees in her yard through my iron headboard "gate".


Can't remember what this little bush is called, but the flowers look a little like Baby's Breath.



And I love the wild violets that spring up everywhere in our yard.


The yellowbell bush.




I was hiding in the yellow bell bush, trying to sneak a peak at the pair of birds building a nest in this bluebird house. They certainly aren't bluebirds!


Got a great shot of this little guy with nesting material in her mouth! You can enlarge this last picture by clicking on it.  It's definitely Spring when the birds and the bees get busy.

Hope wherever you are, you're enjoying some nice Springtime weather too! Have a beautiful weekend!