WRITING AND FEET

Last week-end I went to visit my daughter in Nashville, TN. One reason was because my granddaughter will be going off to college in a couple of weeks. Although she's going to college in Nashville, she'll be living in a dorm. I knew when I saw her later in the fall, she would have changed. It's amazing how much parents learn in the first couple of months your child is in college. We experienced it twice. The other reason was to try to find shoes.

Now, how do we connect writing and feet? It's really easy to do.

I have a narrow foot and no department stores carry narrow shoes. After a couple of hours being told the stores wished they carried narrow shoes, but the they were never sent any, we decided to go to a "shoe store." The shoe store we chose, and I'll do a commercial for them, was Jensen's on White Bridge Road. This is an orthopedic store with very expensive shoes. Those $300 and $250 shoes felt wonderful. The first thing the clerk did was to look at my feet. He told me all my problems, then he measured my foot. I had to have been a teen since I'd had my feet measured, but it felt good to know what size I wore, and I'd been wearing shoes too short. It feels good to wear shoes that are the correct size. I could only afford one pair, but they are so comfortable. The picture is a little dress flat I ordered for $21.00, and it fits!

It's also a wonderful feeling when what we write fits us. So many times do people try to fit their writing into the wrong genre, the wrong size. Their writing hurts like my feet hurt. They are not fulfilling what they can do. They come up short and they feel cramped.

I have a friend who started out writing historical fiction. After about four books, she started writing suspense. that's her niche. She's a wonderful suspense writer and an all right historical writer. She's selling books right and left now, but she had to try on historical fiction before she found the right genre.

Our life is like that. We don't always fit in a place. We have to find our friends who encourage and support us. I thought I wanted to write, but now I know I'm meant to publish books for other people. I enjoy it so much more, except getting it together to print. I'm a nervous wreck on that day, so everyone stays far away from me. I know where I belong and the shoe fits.

If you're a writer, try other genres. Try to find the right fitting shoe. When you do, you'll have no pain, but hours of enjoyment.