The Best Seller

THE LULU CHRONICLES

As I was riding LuLu the other morning I was writing in my head.  I do that a lot. My next book is set during the Second World War. As a history buff, I love digging into the past and writing word pictures of a certain era. My goal is to bring the reader, sometimes gently sometimes not, into the story and make them feel like they are there walking along side my characters or sitting at the dinner table or in this case, living in the dorms in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in 1943.

Do I love to write? As Vinnie Barbarino once exclaimed, “It a bear Catholic? Does the Pope live in the woods?” In other words, Yes! I love mulling over words and constructing a sentence that pricks the heart, soothes the soul, or gives challenge. 

Of course there is one all-time best seller that remains the standard and always will. Its working title is The Holy Bible. Talk about sentences that prick, sooth or challenge. Consider the following:

“As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs for you.”

Or…“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…”

How’s this for a challenging sentence: “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.”

And, we won’t find a better lead sentence than this one: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”

And, finally, has there ever been a more hopeful sequence of words written than this:  “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.”

Yep, I long to write a best seller, and maybe I will someday. But until then, I will keep struggling over just the right verbs and adjectives until I get it right. Riding LuLu helps. I’ve worked out many a sentence while in her saddle. So, I will keep pedaling and keep reading the best of the best to learn not only how to write better, but also how to live better. We can’t ask any more than that from a book, now can we?

Happy reading…

deb