The Life of a Writer

The other evening, I sat perched on the staircase in our house, watching for Lon to come home from work. He was scarcely through the front door when I began tugging on his arm, "Lon!" I said.

"Is everything ok, Pen?" he asked me. After 16 years of marriage, he knows about my exuberant, creative, and at times, far-fetched personality.

"Yes, yes, it's fine. I can't wait for you to meet Lucille Granger!"

"What? Lucille Granger?" Lon looked at me. "Do we have company?"

I shook my head and laughed while leading Lon up the stairs and into the office. When he saw me pointing for him to sit in the blue "guest" chair in the office, he nodded his head knowingly. He'd been in the blue "guest" chair many times before. Yep, it was making sense to him now - Lucille Granger wasn't someone visiting for dinner. She was one of the secondary characters in my latest novel.

I read with excitement the chapter where I had created Lucille's personality. She was nosy, presumptuous, and demanding, yet caring and kind. I had waited all day to share my newest creation with the person I love most in this world and now that time had come. Wasting no time, I flipped through the three pages of typewritten text, complete with voice changes to further bring to life Lucille's character. Being the sweetheart that he is and on a quest to earn "husband points," Lon listened as I read.

Ahhhh, the life of a writer. There's nothing quite like creating new characters and watching the words flow on the page. There's nothing quite like pressing the word count button and seeing the words increase at a nice rate. When you write, you come to know your characters as if they are family members, friends, or neighbors. I thank the Lord daily that He has given me the ability to do this job. I owe every word, every paragraph, every page, and every character to Him.

Curious how I come up with names for my books? I check the pages of out-of-town phone books. They are a gold mine for (especially) last names. For first names, I go to a book such as "More Baby Names" or "The Book of Names" or an online baby naming source. It's so much fun to match the characters with appropriate names.

For some inspiring tips on writing, check out my article "10 Suggestions for Sticking With Writing" found at http://www.absolutewrite.com/freelance_writing/10_suggestions.htm. Some interesting interviews can be found at www.womentoday.org/interviews/pennyzeller.html, https://www.cbn.com/livingthelife/guests/index.aspx?sdce=20081026 to name a few.

Well, it's time to go for now. I'm going to be busy creating a new character today - one by the name of Mr. Victor.