Small Moments and Waf Hou

My son hates to write about small moments. They are part of his school work on writing non-fiction. He hates to come up with them and thinks they are a torture made up just for him.

As a writer I appreciate the technique the teacher is trying to teach him. I’m still working on the concept of small moments too in my writing.

Here are small details for small moments from my road trip:

• speed limits in some states on the interstate are 70 mph which means most people are travelling between 75 and 90 mph.
• if the Waffle House sign is broken and only says “Waf  Hou” you should probably not eat there.
• a coffee cup is a good thing to throw up in if you have nothing else available though it’s better to stop the car and avoid throwing up instead if you can.
• passengers can do a lot of things on road trips but drivers can do only one – drive.
• an iPad is an excellent travel aid but you do need to get the 3g service or you will be stuck hopping from wifi station to wifi station on the interstate and no matter how fast the iPad drive is it just can’t keep up.
• engine lights will go on only while you are taking short cuts to avoid traffic while you are in the middle of nowhere, travelling in darkness, with your iPad on the 2% battery indicator.
• engine lights will go off while you are not watching and while things are going well.
• you can only drink so many cups of coffee before your hands start to shake.
• when visiting bookstores in the south, smile, show them your book, mention Kelly Justice’s name (thank you Kelly!) and see what happens.