Mari's kisses were special. She wasn't one to just give them freely. When she did, it meant more than most because of the significance of her comprehending what a kiss was: a form of endearment. She could communicate her feelings or emotions like so many of us can today. Her autism simply didn't allow it. However, over time she slowly came out of her shell. No, not like a typical person, but different than she once was. I loved giving her a kiss goodbye or a kiss good night when we were tucking … [Read more...]
Archives for 2014
The Journey with Peggy Wirgau
Please welcome this weeks guest Peggy Wirgau for The Journey. She answers the question: How have you seen God work in your writing journey? Around the time I learned to read came my love for writing. If I had time to spare during a school day in first grade (and I usually did) I composed little rhymes and stories in my head, then wrote them on a large sheet of blue-lined paper from the stack near the window of my classroom. Writing was a joy; fun and freeing, and I couldn’t get enough of it. … [Read more...]
J is for Jump
I sometimes used to think of Mari as my little jumping bean due to how much energy she could exude. Right before Mari got sick I'd ordered this trampoline for the backyard. When it came in we had invited part of Keith's family over to help us put it up as Mari was going to love having this. As we were laying out the pieces and checking off all the parts, one of the critical pieces you needed to put it together ended up being missing. So we had to put it all back away. And you've probably … [Read more...]
I is for ISBN (International Standard Book Number)
As I sat here thinking toward the end of March what I'd do for each letter of the alphabet over the month of April, one of those letters that's hard to find a word for is the letter 'I'. I wanted to keep my theme going with either literary terms or something writing related and the only thing I could come up with was ISBN. When you're a writer and one day your book gets published, that little number is huge. It's almost like a fingerprint in that an ISBN is unique to each book published. It … [Read more...]
I is for Independent
Little Miss Independent is what we used to call Mari. She had a very big independent personality. She preferred to play by herself, watch movies by herself, just about anything by herself. I could sit there, sometimes, and just watch her playing on the floor with whatever it was she was playing with and be utterly content. That is until something didn't go the way she liked or wanted and then we heard about it. She get all upset, start to scream, and then it usually resulted in her messing … [Read more...]
H is for Hugs
For about the first five years of Mari's life she wasn't one to openly give a hug. It really wasn't her thing. We all know why. It was due to her autism. We all understood that. Then I became a customer of this wellness company and after a couple of years I started to give Mari an antioxidant that this company sells. Approximately within two weeks from the time she started to take this antioxidant Mari's started to change. She was able to concentrate for longer periods of time. She gave better … [Read more...]
H is for Hook
The hook. One of the most important aspect to an entire book is the hook. You have to hook the reader from the first sentence, first paragraph, first page, first scene, first chapter, and even at the beginning of each scene or chapter. It's what catches the reader's attention and draws them further into the story to where they will want to read more and more. However, if you don't have a great hook, the chances are you may have lost your reader before they've even given you story a chance, … [Read more...]
G is for Genre
When it comes to writing fiction, there is a plethora of things we could write about. One of the first things we need to narrow our choices down to is what genre do we wish to write in. Since I started to write fiction, I've heard time and time again that the genre you need to write in is the genre you read and usually you want to write in the one you read the most because you are most familiar with the format. For me that genre would be romance. I like all versions of it: contemporary, … [Read more...]
G is for Gummy Bears
Mari loved her candy and especially gummy bears. She'd get a little smile on her face as she at her sweets. After she was done she be all sticky and have it all gooped in her hair. I'd have to immediately put her in the bathtub to get the stickiness all gone and make her all nice and clean again. There were so many times that after Mari had eaten something that'd you'd wonder if she actually got any of it in her mouth or not because it looked like it was all in her hair, on her face, and all … [Read more...]
F is for “Finding Nemo”
Oh, my, yes! Finding Nemo, one of Mari's very favorite movies. If we'd allow her to she'd watch it all day along with Cars, and Jonah: A Veggies Tales Movie. Her little arms would flap in excitement as she watched one of them play our before her. What I noticed about Mari is she never liked movies that had people in them, or if they did it was very small parts, like all the Disney Princess movies. She just had no interest whatsoever. However, is a movie or a TV program had animals, that was her … [Read more...]
