Word

Food for Thought: Live to Write, Write to Live

2012-02-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

“I shall live badly if I do not write, and I shall writebadly if I do not live.” -Francoise Sagan

Food for Thought: Saved By Mistakes

2012-02-03T07:20:00.000-08:00

"Sometimes all that saves me is beingwilling to make mistakes. There are projects that strike me as so beautiful,important, complicated, or just plain big, that they convince me of my owninadequacy. This awful state of reverence leads to paralyzing brain freeze. Attimes like that the only way out is for me to decide, ‘. . . I can’t doit right, so I’ll do it wrong. I can’t do it well, but I can do it badly.’ Sometimes,with luck, while I’m sweating to do it wrong, I stumble on a right way.” -Katherine Dunn, author of GeekLove

Quote discovered in Poets & Writers, Jan/Feb 2012

It's Not Too Late!

2012-02-02T08:32:00.000-08:00

Sign up for Calvin College's Festival of Faith & Writing (April 19-21, 2012) and you'll get the early registration price of $175.

The speaker /session slate is stuffed with biggies like Marilynne Robinson, Jonathan Safran Foer, & Chinamanda Ngozi Adichie, among others.

One of the fun features of this festival is the Festival Circles, where you spend 2 meal periods on a writing topic of your choice. The choices are immense.

This is the premier Christian writing / reading festival in the country. Because it only occurs every 2 years, save your pennies & make an effort to attend in April!

Not Exactly Writer's Block

2012-01-29T20:59:00.000-08:00

It wasn't writer's block so much as writer's fatigue. Basically a week went by without being able to add more to my large project, so I sat uninspired before my laptop. Often I add a paragraph, reshape some dialogue or a setting, or even skip down to work out a rough outline of the next pages. All DOA.

Then I felt a pull from an unexpected scene, one I had never even worked on, but it felt promising: what if I wrote a scene from the girlfriend's perspective about my protagonist? (Instead of my usual protagonist's perspective.) Focus on what she would be thinking and feeling (even though she's a minor presence in the "real" story I'm writing.) Maybe it would be their first date. A setting occurred to me that I hadn't planned. An unexpected reaction between the two lit my imagination.

The first date I had sketched out long ago was mild and predictable. This wasn't. His reaction to her surprised me in that first impression. I didn't see him as that romantic, even playful, perhaps hard to get. I was intrigued. This was worth exploring. Soon I had her two (unnamed) friends involved. Plus her mother's reaction to their pairing.

Honestly, I don't see this sequence going into my real story, but I'm writing it anyway. Maybe it will be key backgrounding that will give me crucial insights into my characters and their intertwined history. Probably I will only hint at this to readers of my real story, but that hardly matters. It's working. I'll keep writing it for another couple days and see what occurs - though I won't let it eat up an inordinate amount of my energy or become it's own story that sidelines my large project.

This lark is developing my back story, while pushing me to develop a new voice. Whether anyone else reads it or not hardly matters. I'll be a better writer because of it.

(Image taken from TripleCrit.com.)

What's Your 5 Year Plan?

2012-01-20T09:04:00.000-08:00

If you're a freelancer, then you've always got to be hustling to find new projects. Sean Gordon Murphy is a comic book artist, but he's got some great advice for anyone in the creative fields who freelances.

He discusses Talent, 3 Things at Once, Write (or in our case, draw), Branding, Attitude. Most of it is spot on for any creative. Take five minutes and then see if you can answer the question, "What's your 5 year plan?"

What Book Editors Want in 2012

2012-01-17T13:15:00.000-08:00

The Andrew Lownie Agency asked 23 editors what they were seeking this year at their publisher. Vampire novels. Kidding! (I think.)

While some of the answers are sadly predictable, some give writers reason to dream, yes? Check it out yourself.

Food For Thought: Shadows Surround Words

2012-01-16T07:02:00.000-08:00

Most people thinkthat shadows follow, precede, or surround beings or objects. The truth is thatthey also surround words, ideas, desires, deeds, impulses and memories. -ElieWiesel

When the Lights Go Out...

2012-01-13T21:14:00.000-08:00

The Type bookstore in Toronto captures the magic of an independent bookstore after hours.

Englander: Imagine Without End

2012-01-12T21:13:00.000-08:00

If you've never read the short stories of Nathan Englander's short stories, especially his first collection, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, then he's worth your reading time. He writes about the Jewish community--orthodox, ultra-orthodox, Reformed, and secular--in a way that reminds me of our own Pentecostal movement.

Recently, he had a new story published in The New Yorker, which meant he was interviewed for their Book Bench blog. Per usual, he had some solid advice for writers everywhere:

But you’re asking if it was liberating to work with very limited elements, and the answer is: Wildly so. Everything is so much clearer once a world is framed. Maybe it sounds crazy, but with writing it’s infinity that is limiting, and the limited that allows for the truly infinite. Once all those elements are in place in a story, the brain is truly freed up to imagine without end.

American Religious Poetry: The Connecting Thread

2012-01-11T21:08:00.000-08:00

I just learned that Marilynne Robinson reviewed Harold Bloom's compilation of American Religious Poetry in the May, 2007 Poetry magazine.

As they say, if you've never read it before, then it's new. She's always worth the read.

There's great lines throughout, for instance:

Those who try tounderstand religion from an outsider's perspective share the tendency ofanthropologists to mistake the limits of their own comprehension for acrudeness, a rudimentary character, in what they observe. Anthropologists nowacknowledge this error, if they have not yet learned to avoid it. Those wholook from the outside at religion, however, still occupy precisely, andintentionally, the posture of the European Enlightenment, priding themselves ontheir exasperation at finding the natives so intractably primitive. It isimportant to remember that religious thought has had brilliant expressionthroughout world culture, and that the idea of the sacred has refined the senseof the beautiful in every civilization. The very narrow sense in which the wordis understood in the public conversation in contemporary America—again, by manyof its proponents and defenders as well as by its critics—distracts from theprofound resonances of religion throughout history.

What We (Really) Love About Our Favorite Authors

2012-01-10T21:19:00.000-08:00

One reason I love to read a novelist's criticism of another novelist is because the best often start with a fascinating insight into literature, then segue into their criticism. While the criticism might be bracing and insightful, it is often only positive, as if no one will betray the literary brotherhood. (Joyce Carol Oates is said to insist on only reviewing titles she enjoys.)

I mention this because of Martin Amis' brilliant start to a (largely positive) evaluation of Don Delillo's lastest work in The New Yorker:

When we say that we love a writer’s work, we arealways stretching the truth: what we really mean is that we love about half ofit. Sometimes rather more than half, sometimes rather less. The vast presenceof Joyce relies pretty well entirely on “Ulysses,” with a little help from“Dubliners.” You could jettison Kafka’s three attempts at full-length fiction(unfinished by him, and unfinished by us) without muffling the impact of hisseismic originality. George Eliot gave us one readable book, which turned outto be the central Anglophone novel. Every page of Dickens contains a paragraphto warm to and a paragraph to veer back from. Coleridge wrote a total of twomajor poems (and collaborated on a third). Milton consists of “Paradise Lost.”Even my favorite writer, William Shakespeare, who usually eludes all mortallimitations, succumbs to this law. Run your eye down the contents page and feelthe slackness of your urge to reread the comedies (“As You Like It” is not aswe like it); and who would voluntarily curl up with “King John” or “Henry VI,Part III”

I notice he sticks to only English greats. I wonder what he would say about Tolstoy, who mastered both the epic novel and the short story? (The only one ever to do both.) While his later pieces were too often monotonal diatribes, he could still rock the world when he chose.

The entire review is worth your time, but spend time on the first page of the link and agree with his overall point, even if you disagree about his specific examples. (Though I agree with all of his specifics above and am thrilled someone is willing to classify Joyce and Eliot as they deserve. Later, I disagreed, finding Persuasion as one of Jane Austen's superior, not inferior, works.)

2012: New Marilynne Robinson!

2012-01-04T14:36:00.000-08:00

Expect a new book of essays on March 13 from one of the best writers of our time - Marilynne Robinson!

Entitled, When I Was a Child I ReadBooks , it is described as highlighting "the role of faith in modern life, the inadequacy of fact, the contradictions inherent in human nature."

Rejoice all ye people! Rejoice!

Not so strangely, the release date is a mere month before Calvin College's Festival of Faith and Writing, where she will be speaking.

Best Books 2011: My Version

2012-01-02T16:49:00.000-08:00

Only one of these titles was released in 2011, but these are the best titles I read in 2011 (in chronological order of my reading):

True Grit by Charles Portis (Fiction)
The History of theMedieval World by Susan Wise Bauer (History)
The Death ofAdam by Marilynne Robinson (Essays)
Kim by Rudyard Kipling (Young Adult Classic)
Taras Bulba by Nikolai Gogol (Classic)

And thebest lectures I heard was Classics of British Literature by John Sutherland (of the TeachingCompany).

I'd probably rank Taras Bulba and True Grit as my best reads in 2011.

Food for Thought: Beauty Defined

2012-01-01T16:33:00.000-08:00

"Only those things arebeautiful which are inspired by madness and written by reason." - Nobel laureate Andre Gide

A Writer's Needs

2011-12-28T07:33:00.000-08:00

"A writer needs three things, experience, observation, andimagination, any two of which, at times any one of which, can supply the lackof the others." William Faulkner

Beautiful Sentences: Haunting Power

2011-12-17T17:31:00.000-08:00

Ran into some unexpectedly powerful sentences (and literary criticism – or is it evaluation?) while listening to a bio of Nobel-Prize winner Pearl Buck.

Buck grew up as a Presbyterian missionary’s kid in China before the Boxer Rebellion, & devoured Dickens especially, reading his entire ouevre every year for a decade:

“As a prospective writer herself, she responded avidly to the haunting power of an imagination that accesses horrors lurking deep beyond the reach of the conscious mind through symbolic imagery and drama, gluing the narrative together on the surface with the bland sentimentality that soothes and reassures readers. The split between dream-like purity and contaminated reality … would become a crucial part of the implicit bargain she too would make later with her American public.”

-Hilary Spurling, Pearl Buck in China

There’s also a lovely sentence describing the effects of famine:
“Gaunt pregnant women gnawed from within” that grabbed me by its accuracy and its horror.

Death Only Scares Us, Not Them

2011-12-17T11:44:00.000-08:00

I was listening to the Teaching Company’s superb “Classics of British Literature” this week and Professor John Sutherland, while discussing Victorian literature, said (and I paraphrase): 'The Victorians avoided the one bedroom scene (sex) but faced the other bedroom scened (death) straight forward.'

Wow! We’re the exact opposite today aren’t we?

BTW, you could hardly do better than listen to this course to fill in any gaps in your literary learning. It’s well worth every penny. Link (which won't embed), is here:
http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=2400

Best Books 2011

2011-12-13T14:35:00.000-08:00

If you're seeking a killer read as a Christmas present, everyone's publishing their Best Books of 2011 lists, from the New York Times to Publisher's Weekly to NPR to Esquire. If I'm unsure, I like to look at all of them & see which titles appear on multiple lists.

Do you have any favorites for 2011?

Flannery O'Conner . . . Cartoonist

2011-12-12T16:26:00.000-08:00

Yes, we know about O'Conner the short story master, but did you know she grew up wanting to be a cartoonist? Yep, and they're quite funny. The Guardian delves into the story here, as does Austin Kleon. There's a new book celebrating her cartooning talents for the first time that may be worth the purchase for completists. I know it's on my list.

Interestingly, John Updike also had great interest in being a cartoonist, but ended up in prose as well.

Writing to Music: My Current List

2011-12-10T11:55:00.000-08:00

While I'm writing and writing my long story, I'm often listening to something so that the musical creativity feeds my momentum. At present, depending on my mood, it's Switchfoot's Dark Horses, Bach (anything), Miles Davis, and John Coltrane. A listening list never does make sense, does it?

What do you listen to - if anything - when you write? Any idea why you choose the choices you make? For me, jazz creates that happy medium of an upbeat tempo without lyrics to clutter my mind. Then again, sometimes I need to rock out:

Faith-Based Novels: No More Catholics?

2011-12-02T20:50:00.000-08:00

Catholics once helped set the standard for literary excellence, or at least contributed their fair share of classics this century. Think Flannery O'Conner, Graham Greene, Walker Percy, Evelyn Waugh.

This article makes a (not-completely convincing) case that their faith has diminished, as have their novels. Many in the comments dispute that case with facts. Whatever the case, I always find discussions of faith-based novels invigorating.

Christmas Choices: Writing Books

2011-11-29T11:32:00.000-08:00

If you're writing fiction, then put these titles by Charles Baxter on your Christmas list, as they're invaluably insightful:

Both are available at Graywolf Press, which has an impressive library of creative writing choices.

Suggestions I've made in the past include:

Writing Resources 101

Pixar in Print Yields Unexpected Treasures

2011-11-28T07:38:00.000-08:00

One of the joys of print is that it's easier to stumble upon the gems you were meant to read instead of the articles that initially drew you. So it was that I skimmed into "Second Act Twist" (New Yorker, Oct. 17, 2011), a profile of Pixar director Andrew Stanton's latest directing endeavor, John Carter of Mars.

It went from being a creator profile into becoming a primer on creating. The director of Finding Nemo and Wall-E is hardcore on expunging "lazy thinking," revising (scenes in previous films are discussed as why they worked & didn't), failing early (just dive in & "be wrong fast." You can fix it on the second draft, but you've got to have a first draft before you can fix it.) and a striving of artistic perfection ("Any scene that's an eight he'll tear up to try to make it a ten.", "What makes me care?")

More importantly, little throwaways were keepers. He keeps storytelling index-card

Inevitable but not predictable. reminders on bookshelves stating:

Inevitable but not predictable.
Conflict + contradiction.
How they choose is who they are.

Every one of those is vital if you're telling a story with believable characters.

Finally (and there's more worth gleaning), he re-reread Lajos Egri's The Art of Dramatic Writing, which emphasizes distilling stories to "one

crisp sentence before making them. For Finding Nemo it was "Fear denies a good father from being one," and, for Wall-E "Love conquers all programming."

All keepers as I continue to create. And yet another reason to check a pile of print culture from your library and skim anything that looks interesting. Soon enough something you didn't expect will hook you into better storytelling.

Transpositions: C.S. Lewis's Guidelines for a Christian Journal

2011-11-23T04:49:00.000-08:00

Cole Matson has a nice summary of Lewis's thoughts about Christian literary journals. He writes, "What might be surprising here is that C.S. Lewis, famous and outspoken apologist for Christianity, is advocating that a Christian journal not wave a Christian flag."

Do you think Lewis is right?

Food for Thought: Small Men, Big Shadows

2011-11-22T07:10:00.000-08:00

This is a meaty quote for every writer, no matter what your form:

"When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set." -Lin Yutang, writer and translator

Food for Thought: Why Art Needs Science

2011-11-20T13:22:00.000-08:00

"There are two kinds of truth: the truth that lights the way and the truth that warms the heart. The first of these is science, and the second is art. Neither is independent of the other or more important than the other. Without art science would be as useless as a pair of high forceps in the hands of a plumber. Without science art would become a crude mess of folklore and emotional quackery. The truth of art keeps science from becoming inhuman, and the truth of science keeps art from becoming ridiculous." -Raymond Chandler

The Power of Biography

2011-10-31T10:33:00.000-07:00

Book News

So what's the most popular book on the shelves right now? Well, Forbes is slating Steve Jobs' biography to be the biggest seller of the year. There is even a bio aimed at young adults under Macmillan's children's book imprint that is also focusing on Jobs' story.

Steve Jobs Hits China

Shoppers in China stood in line before stores opened and bought all 250,000 copies of the Chinese edition within the day. The story of an American entrepreneur having such an impact in China is noteworthy. Among the cultural, economic, and sociological implications, I am wondering why this is so popular specifically.

What Readers Are Saying

Cheng, Shanghai resident, said:“I am buying Jobs’ biography for my son and I want him to learn about the spirit of the great man.”

Ms. Pan, who took part in an online discussion with users of Twitter-like microblogging service Sina Weibo, said:“We hope reading about his experiences will inject vitality into our hidebound culture, lead young people to dare to seek out change, dare to be themselves, dare to push the limits and pursue creativity.”

Notice the concern with the story educating young people? That's similar to what the children's book publisher creating a young adult bio sought.

"I think Steve Jobs is one of the most important figures of our generation," says Feiwel of her decision to publish the biography. "He is of interest to kids not just for the computers, iPads, and iPods he created, but for who he was and how he lived his life. He was a visionary who was very complicated, and he had his ups and downs, which makes him very human and appealing."

Likewise, a Chinese reader commented:

“I felt like he was talking to me face-to-face, I’ve been touched by his astonishing honesty and absorbed in meditation over his ideas.”

The Pentecostal Steve Jobs?

If the power of biography and personal narrative can be so effective, isn't there a prominent place for telling our stories, especially the early figures of Pentecost in North America?

For me, this is personal. I remember reading Bug and Nona on the Go as a child and it changing my life. I assumed that was a coming-of-age experience for all Pentecostal young people. But recently I asked my English class how many had ever read a book by Sister Nona Freeman. I anticipated a room full of hands shooting up to prove my point on the value of writing as a ministry. Yet only 3 of the 33 students said they had read any of those books.

A generational gap? Perhaps. But what do we do to bridge that? What is the next version to share the power of personal narrative?

Next Steps

Maybe the next wave of biography will come through video? Is it time to turn to film for storytelling?
At the very least we should explore online options. Blogs offer an avenue for anyone to tell his or her story so we can catpure and share personal narratives. Maybe we can start by telling our own stories and also use this to share those of our elders.
Check out UGST's Symposium site for papers soon to come on this year's theme "Telling Our Story." In the words of Dr. Vinson Synan, we should be recording the stories of the older people among us. We have lost many from our first generation, but we can still capture many stories critical to the history of our movement.

There is power in a personal story. It is incumbent on us to use this power. As we tell our stories, we build a bridge to tell His story.

Trophy of Language

2011-10-27T22:34:00.000-07:00

"Language is the armoury of the human mind; and at once contains the trophies of its past, and the weapons of its future conquests." -Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Booker Winner Announced. Betting Endorsed.

2011-10-25T07:52:00.000-07:00

If you missed the shortlisting for the Mann Booker Award (I did), they announced the winner last week - Julian Barnes.

This is the British Commonwealth's most prestigious (and, I believe, best-paying award), so it's always healthy to take a look at their winner, their short list (the finalists) and their long list (the contenders) to see what the Brits consider quality. Of course there's always a clunker now and again, but --hey!-- it's chosen by a committee! What do you expect?

The other aspect I like (but I shouldn't, as a Christian), is that they allow the British Isles to bet on the winner. Of course, for people to bet intelligently, they have to read the books first. So, if you dont' have Oprah, then betting on books gets non-readers to read and that's not a bad thing. (Is it?)

The Perverse Monstrosity of Our Beautiful Work

2011-10-25T06:40:00.000-07:00

Another thoughtful article on writing by L.L. Barkat that helps put criticism into perspective: "It’s important to be realistic in two directions. You need to be realistic about your weak points, but you also need to be realistic about your strong points."

Strange Sources

2011-10-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

I’m still plugging away on a long project, updating it almost daily – sometimes a new paragraph, sometimes a line edit, sometimes 2-3 pages of rewrites. As I do this, I find myself veering into unusual reading terrain, as I know of no working author who doesn’t voraciously read, be it for research or inspiration and instruction.

To dig deeper, I find myself reading music criticism (because the language offers a precision on topics I rarely describe), a book on smiles (because I want to see how a professor classifies the physical difference of a smile of lust and a smile of love; a politician’s smile and a parent’s smile. I can implant this authenticity into my piece.), and even the liner notes from the albums of jazz great Miles Davis (because it’s the background color and history for some amazing music).

My audio book choices have veered as well. I’m suddenly listening to 18^th and 19^th century tales of adventure: Treasure Island, Kidnapped, The Three Musketeers (all choices I now regret passing over earlier in life) because somehow contemporary stories (which I’m writing), especially those with a strong voice, taint my own writing through their influence. It’s terribly hard to explain except to say there’s too much contemporary overlap for me to remain uncorrupted – especially when I’m making progress on my own work – so I must discover founts from other eras.

In the meantime, these tales by Dumas and Stevenson offer a certain timelessness with tricks (Dumas makes a loooong conversation between the four musketeers riveting because his protagonists bet they can eat breakfast in a battle zone for an hour. It’s a lovely case of moving the story forward, revealing character, foreshadowing, and straightforward action.) I would do well to learn.

New language. New ways of seeing my areas of interest. Writerly insights. If it stops, then my writing is likely to wither away. There’s always something new to discover.

It’s a strange state to live in—but it’s working.

Why Do You Write

2011-10-21T14:39:00.000-07:00

It's International "Why I Write" day! You can add your reasons @ #whyIwrite or read the reasons of others on Twitter!

6 Things Your Writing Must Have to Wow Readers

2011-10-18T12:55:00.000-07:00

Haven't you always wondered what they are? Don't miss L.L. Barkat's sage advice over at her blog, Seedlings in Stone.

Worth Reading: James Wood on Denis Johnson

2011-10-10T19:24:00.000-07:00

New Yorker lit critic James Wood offers some great insights on writing and choosing the best word in this short review of Denis Johnson's Train Dreams.

Like this:

There are continuities with Johnson’s earlier work; the visionary, miraculous element in Johnson’s deceptively tough realism makes beautiful appearances. The hard, declarative sentences keep their powder dry for pages at a time, and then suddenly flare into lyricism. The story’s unaffected tact and honesty are admirable. There are several compactly realized minor characters, caught in a sentence or two; Johnson’s gift for quick, glancing portraiture is evident. Johnson’s fiction has always turned on questions of vision. His characters are often weirdly privileged noticers, sometimes stoned. Grainier is not stoned, but he is a steady noticer of the natural world, and the prose follows his eye with frequent exhalations of beauty, for example, a cluster of butterflies, fluttering “magically like leaves without trees.”

E-Book Readers or E-Mag Readers?

2011-10-06T10:49:00.000-07:00

Great article in The New York Times on the changing nature of book and magazine reading.

“On the one hand, a Kindle or a Nook is perfect for reading a 1,000-page George R. R. Martin novel,” said Eric Simonoff, a literary agent. “On the other hand, these devices are uniquely suited for mid-length content that runs too long for shrinking magazines and are too pamphletlike to credibly be called a book.”

and

"Many of the works sold as e-books are more of a hybrid between a long magazine piece and a serialized book. Each Random House-Politico e-book will be in the range of 20,000 to 30,000 words, and the releases will be spaced out over the course of the campaign."

“We think that the nature of a book is changing,” said Jon Meacham, an executive editor at Random House and a former editor of Newsweek. “The line between articles and books is getting ever fuzzier.”

They Lived Where?

2011-10-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

Narrative Magazine offers fun Tuesday literary puzzles. Recently they offered a look at the homes of favorite authors - from Twain to Louisa May Alcott to Nabokov!

Take a peek! (You'll need to scroll down.)

Writing Tips: New Yorker's Book Bench

2011-10-04T08:02:00.000-07:00

The New Yorker, that bastion of the short story, always interviews the writer who wrote that week’s story in their Book Bench column. Whether or not you’ve heard of the writer, or like their story, they often have great insights into the writing process. For instance, Ben Marcus shared these gems:

On Setting

I first used Ohio as a setting because I hadn’t been there and knew almost nothing about it. It seemed like a perfectly plausible place to live, and it kept me from relying too much on autobiographical details, which would, I was sure, lure me into terrible spasms of sentimentality. I felt that I needed to avoid this at all costs, so I leaned on places totally removed from my experience. I prefer using personal experience that is emotional—feelings I’ve had, feelings I’m afraid of having—rather than experience that is specific to geography. Denver gets this treatment, too. “Write what you don’t yet know” is maybe the motto. I think the vacuum I sense around a place I haven’t been, like Cleveland (I guess I’ve been in the airport), is helpful to me, absolving me from being a tour guide, letting me focus on the story itself.

On Using Real Life

I’ve noticed how flashbacks (childhood causes, memories, back story, etc.) can take the sting out of a story, trading drama for information, mystery for facts.

Character Tension

The reader, by having access to Paul’s thoughts, the little crimes of his mind, has much more information than Paul’s parents and sister. But these characters, in turn, have information about Paul’s past that the reader doesn’t have. Maybe a tension becomes possible because of this, everybody knowing something different, no one on the same footing?

Be sure to bookmark Book Bench for regular visits. There’s always something interesting going on.

Characterization: Radical Uncertainty

2011-10-02T14:40:00.000-07:00

The Guardian (of the UK) has consistently been the best literary spot on the web for the devoted reader for about 10 years now. Apparently, they're also sponsoring Master Classes on writing fiction.

They've got a bunch of short, tantalizing articles on "Creating Suspense," "POV," and this on "Characterization" that I quite liked:

“At its simplest, its barest, characterisation is about a writer's grasp of what a human being is. When we set out to write, we do not do so out of a sense of certainty but out of a kind of radical uncertainty. We do not set out saying: "The world is like this." But asking: "How is the world?" In creating characters we are posing to ourselves large, honest questions about our nature and the nature of those about us. Our answers are the characters themselves, those talking spirits we conjure up by a kind of organised dreaming.”

The Lingering Voice

2011-09-30T07:12:00.000-07:00

Here’s the truth about most of what we read—it’s forgettable. It might be thrilling, fascinating, or earth-shattering at the moment, but somehow it merges into the nether regions of the mind and we often barely remember if we even read the piece months later.

However, that’s rarely the case if an author conveys a powerful voice in their piece. (I refuse to use the word “book” instead of “piece” because Tom Wolfe was famous for the voice he brought to magazine pieces, and certain bloggers are irresistible due to the special angle they bring to a topic.) There’s something amazing about a strong voice that tells a tale in such a way that, in a book, can overcome weak plotting or poor pacing or incomplete characters.

Professionals hem and haw about whether writing can be taught. Some say yea, most say nay. I'm in the yea camp--except for voice. You can't make a bore interesting or a mediocrity unique. To some degree, you can teach characterization and plotting and POV, but I would go so far as to say writing with a strong voice is the one part of writing that can’t be taught—you either have it or you don’t.

Most of the canon—Tolstoy, Dante, Shakespeare—and classics—Raymond Chandler, Harper Lee, Marilynne Robinson—are memorable because of their book’s unique voice, inimitable and clear, that sticks with us like that song on the radio that you just can’t get out of your head.

So it’s a great help to anyone writing that more Intelligent Life is offering evaluations on the writing voice of great authors. Here’s Nicholas Shakespeare on Graham Greene:

"Greene’s prose has the clarity of a pane of glass, yet it creates an air of menace, almost an airlessness, which intensifies the drama. His simplicity makes him appear modern, and two of his novels, “The End of the Affair” and “The Quiet American”, have been re-made for the screen since 2000."

There’s an entire series of these, covering the voices of Joan Didion, W.G. Sebald, Chaucer, and others worth your consideration.

Write What You Know? No!

2011-09-28T08:55:00.000-07:00

Although the much-lauded Atlantic Monthly Fiction Issue always features excellent contemporary fiction (thus the title), what often goes unnoticed is the essays that are also included. For my purposes, sometimes they are worth the price of the magazine alone.

This issue is no exception: Bret Anthony Johnston of Harvard's writing program offers some fantastic insights into separating the real from the true by avoiding that ancient fiction trope of “Write what you know.” His examples and metaphors are perfect for the task, for instance:

Instead of thinking of my experiences as structures I wanted to erect in fiction, I started conceiving of them as the scaffolding that would be torn down once the work was complete. I took small details from my life to evoke a place and the people who inhabit it, but those details served to illuminate my imagination. Before, I’d forced my fiction to conform to the contours of my life; now I sought out any and every point where a plot could be rerouted away from what I’d known. The shift was seismic. My confidence waned, but my curiosity sprawled.

If you’re called to write fiction, then this is a must-read piece.

A Word to Hymn Writers

2011-09-27T05:56:00.000-07:00

"Let this be an encouragement to modern hymn writers—a cause for inspiration to those who are suffering from writer’s block."

I've long admired the music and songwriting of Fernando Ortega. When I say admire I mean that he is among my top favorite musicians of all time, Christian or not. He has classical training but incorporates elements of folk music that suit the the simplicity of the gospel in a way other genres just can't touch. His gentle vocals stir the soul. While, he writes a lot of his own stuff, he has also recorded numerous hymns that were in danger of being forgotten. In this article, Ortega offers his wisdom to modern hymn writers and worship leaders.

"Sing to Jesus" is a hymn written by Ortega in the spirit and tradition of the ancient hymnody. Enjoy!

Image: FernandoOrtega.com

Pentecostal Poets

2011-09-25T16:37:00.000-07:00

This week in World Literature class, we read “Credo” by Maxine Kumin—a reflection on Native American beliefs regarding nature and creation. As I stressed to the class a need for an Apostolic expression of our credos as well, I wondered where we are as Oneness Pentecostals with a presence in poetry.

I know, I know… I discussed the value of poetry last post too. Not sure why I’m stuck on it. I’m still not saying I prefer poetry to prose, but I see its place. And I see a need for Apostolics’ place in published poetry.

An argument for Apostolic poetry:

For readers... We’ve talked before about how reading is mutating in the twenty-first century. Kent mentioned changes in traditional book printing, which I believe reflect cultural changes as much as those in technology. I don’t think people are not reading—I just think they’re reading different types of things—looking to the Internet for “literature in a hurry.” Poetry fits the bill. It’s not overwhelming. Read a poem here or there, skip around, whatever. It is not an intimidating commitment, unlike the shelves of novels the busy North American bypasses. So poetry is a target for readers in today’s culture.
For writers… There’s no evading the fact that writing takes work. I’ll not deny that. But the culinary enthusiast who may despair at the thought of baking a wedding cake may thrive at the challenge of grilling a porterhouse. Instead of months of structuring elaborate plots and subplots, hyper-focus on a stanza or two. Poetry is do-able. (And it doesn’t have to rhyme…. But that’s a post for another day.)
For publishing… The Internet provides new avenues for publishing all genres, not the least of which is poetry. Any given blog could become home to a writer’s collection of poems. But traditional publishing is especially feasible for poets. Chapbooks (think cheap-books) are collections of writings around the forty page mark, and they are just as popular now as they were in the 1400s when they surfaced. They can be printed inexpensively, meaning writers have a workable plan for publishing their work without some of the big questions marks a novel represents.

So… do we have any Apostolic poets out there? Let us hear from you. Send a link to your blogs/sites/etc. And please pass on any tips you think would help other poets in progress.

What Time is It? Time for Nimrod 2011

2011-09-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

The Nimrod Conference for Readers and Writers is coming up on October 22 at the University of Tulsa. I have attended the past three years, and can attest to its being a worthwhile trip.

I'm thinking of continuing the tradition because one of my favorite contemporary novelists, Ron Hansen, is included in the line-up. Hansen is the Gerard Manley Hopkins Professor at Santa Clara University and is author of a number of novels based on historical figures, including Exiles, a novel about G.M. Hopkins and his renowned poem "The Wreck of the Deutschland". Hansen teaches fiction, screenwriting, and literature.

Fiction I: A Timely Past: Historical Fiction — Ron Hansen, Diane Seebass

Discover techniques for making the past live in your work.

Check out the full schedule. As I recall, registration is $50, but there are some scholarships available for students.

PWF is Free!

2011-09-20T07:53:00.000-07:00

Membership in the Pentecostal Writer's Fellowship becomes free in November. Check out their Facebook page for details. It's a good place to network.

Writer's Group Surprise

2011-09-16T08:18:00.000-07:00

So I joined a writer’s group out of the blue & I’ve been amazed at how my productivity has zoomed. Part of it is that I had a story in my head with a lot of foundation components completed, but part of it was the 2-3 pages I turned in every couple weeks for the others to read forced me to make decisions. Before I was plodding forward, but the tough decisions (names of characters, some key back story moments, the point of their actions) were being avoided “for later.”

No more. Because I had to offer something readable each meeting, I had to name the hotel manager, I had to decide if the main character was going to walk to the Ice Cream Shoppe or drive. Instead of a one sentence “Gets to Ice Cream Shoppe” because I didn’t want to handle these transitional descriptions -- I can write 3 pages of dialogue with the same speed as about 1 bad paragraph of description. Dialogue flows for me. Descriptions of places grind me to a complete halt. – I wrote them anyway.

Plus, because I had my foundation down, I feel like most of the decisions I’ve been forced into have been positive, or at least not detrimental. I’m sure if/when I hit page 300 I’ll look back and groan at some of these choices, but early on, it’s been a huge plus and deeply satisfying.

All of this decision-making has also made my imagination more fecund. Ideas come alive throughout the day. It doesn’t mean I still don’t get stuck or all the ideas are impossibly original – it just means I feel like I’ve been especially productive and fresh and don’t really have anything to atribute it to except joining the group. (Though I am faithful with my audio books, writing daily, and eating smarter, too. So those factors can’t hurt.)

If you haven’t joined a writer’s group, try one. (Ask around or Google for local groups or check out the bulletin boards around a university or in a coffee shop.) It might make you take your writing more seriously – and help it become more rewarding.

That said, no matter how fast I write, it seems like I never complete that many pages. Oh well.

Updates All Around

2011-09-15T21:07:00.000-07:00

Collideoscope discusses the Facebook Church, while Momo's Musings returns with weekly evaluations of college and pro football. It's fun, educational and uplifting! Don't miss out!

Snapshot: eBook Sales Rocketing 161% . . .

2011-09-12T07:23:00.000-07:00

...while paperback sales crash 64% (year over year). Galleycat shows a great chart of current sales in all areas, thanks to the APA. No word is offered on whether Borders crashing into bankruptcy and oblivion is directly related or not.

Meanwhile, The Economist offers an article on book digitalization, pointing out that crime blockbusters and romances have been especially successful in ebook format.

If you love to read or write, both articles are worth your time.

$5,000 Writing Prize

2011-09-11T18:44:00.000-07:00

From The Missouri Review:

Dear Writer,

I wanted to remind you about an exciting prize and publication opportunity available through The Missouri Review. There's one month left to submit to our Jeffrey E. Smith Editor's Prize Competition -- for which we offer over $15,000 in prizes. We accept submissions in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Winners in each category receive a prize of $5,000, plus a feature in our Spring issue and paid travel to our gala reading and reception. Contest finalists will receive cash prizes and have their work considered for publication as well.

While the contest has a postmark deadline of October 1^stof this year, we encourage early submissions. We accept submissions online or by mail. Winners will be announced

In January of 2012.

Don't forget that your $20 entry fee gets you a one-year subscription to The Missouri Review. Subscriptions are available in print or digital versions. Our downloadable digital subscription includes a full-length audio version of the journal.

You can find more information about the contest through our website: http://www.missourireview.com/tmrsubmissions/editors-prize-contest/.

Interested in reading a past Jeffrey E. Smith Editor's Prize winner? Check out the essays "Big Jim," "Letters to David," and "My Thai Girlfriends" on textBOX, the Missouri Review's free online anthology: www.missourireview.com/anthology

Thanks very much for your help in making this year's contest a success. We look forward to reading your submissions!

Best regards,

Claire McQuerry
Contest Editor
The Missouri Review
357 McReynolds Hall
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211

contest_question@moreview.com

Typing in Tongues

2011-09-06T07:17:00.000-07:00

Sister blog Collideoscope offers some thoughts on a Pentecostal woman who types in tongues. Seriously.

Pleasant Surprise: Writing Convention Appears

2011-09-05T07:26:00.000-07:00

So if you really love writing and reading, you need to tap into writing conferences/conventions to learn more about the writing process (and your genre), publishing realities, and maybe even meet some giants in the industry. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that BoucherCon is in St. Louis this month. The Mystery/Thriller con rotates host cities and now it’s at my doorstep.

You might find yourself equally fortunate, by Googling your genre of writing or “writing conventions” and getting on some e-newsletter lists!

Happy writing!

Insight: "A Way of Talking"

2011-09-01T07:47:00.000-07:00

I always go out of my way to read arts criticism (from the usual suspects: The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Vanity Fair, anything by Joseph Epstein, Christopher Hitchens, & James Wood) because often the insights expressed, no matter the art form, are startling adaptable to my writing.

So in the same issue of the New Yorker (August 1, 2011) where music critic Alex Ross penned the envy-inducing phrase "sonic decor" in regards to the composer Bruckner, David Denby had this great comparison between some classics and today that seemed especially true:

“In the remarriage classics (The Awful Truth, The Philadelphia Story, His Girl Friday), the former partners have a way of talking and being with each other that they don’t have – and couldn’t possibly have – with anyone else. That sophisticated metaphor for sexual compatibility made for uniquely satisfying romantic comedy. But Crazy, Stupid, Love holds to the boring modern convention that good people are inarticulate, and Cal and Emily mainly stumble around trying to fill the silence.”

Someday, you're likely to see a couple I write getting back together, foreshadowed by a magnetic language only they can speak.

2nd Novel Jitters

2011-08-31T09:17:00.000-07:00

When you’re writing your first novel, there’s no pressure because there are no expectations. But for the second, there is pressure because people know you’re an author and expectations abound. Julie Otsuka @Powell’s Books shares her thoughts on successfully tackling the 2^nd book.

Thinking in Metaphors: Bloom, McEwan

2011-08-30T06:08:00.000-07:00

The Browser, which I had never heard of before this week, conducts a “5 Books Interview” with literary critic Harold Bloom, who offers some hifalutin’ thoughts on literature, criticism, a liberal arts education today, and this little gem about metaphors:

“What Angus Fletcher taught me, and teaches others, is a very complex matter of what it means for thinking to take place in a literary work. It’s the question of how Shakespeare thinks in his plays and sonnets, of how Henry James thinks in his late, intricate work, or of how Emily Dickinson thinks in her extraordinary poems. I've tried to extend Angus Fletcher’s way of looking at the mind as represented in art to the greatest American poet, Walt Whitman, who thinks through metaphors. My real subject, increasingly, is metaphorical thinking – which is how Shakespeare and all poets and novelists and storywriters think.”

Constructive Doodles

Booker Prize-winning novelist Ian McEwan, among others, is also given a “5 Books Interview” worth reading:

“Sometimes I experimentally write out a first paragraph – or middle paragraph, even – of a novel which I feel no obligation to write. Those kind of dabblings I always set down in a green, ring-bound A4 notebook. It’s full of paragraphs from novels I will never complete, or hardly start. But sooner or later, one of those paragraphs will snag my attention, and I’ll come back to it asking: why does that interest me so much, why does that seem to offer a peculiar kind of mental freedom? And so I might find myself adding a page or two. It was with a complete free hand, for example, that I once wrote what turned out to be the opening of Atonement – with no clear sense that I was committed to anything at all, I was just playing with narrative positions, with tone of voice, with a certain descriptive moment. Or I might decide that what I’ve written belongs to the middle of a novel, and then I’ll spend some idle time tracing out a beginning. Then abandoning it. It’s a way of tricking myself into writing novels.”

The Browser's Literature and Writing sections are definitely worth examining when you get a moment. (Haven't poked through the others sections to offer an opinion, so that's not a back-handed compliment.)

Why Poetry Matters

2011-08-26T20:05:00.000-07:00

So when it comes to poetry, most of us either love it or hate it. Well... maybe we don't "hate" it, but we just don't "get" it. It doesn't click. Doesn't resonate. We get lost in the metaphors and frightened by the lack of structure.

You've probably sensed from that I'm more of a prose person. I like to think I have an appreciation for both. But just like the American Lit vs Brit Lit (I prefer American) and the Hamlet vs Macbeth (I prefer Hamlet) either-or's, I prefer prose to poetry.

But occasionally I'm reninded of why poetry matters. This was one of those weeks. A friend was showing off a book she just picked up to check out a poet named Czelaw Milosz. Milosz was a Nobel Prize winner in literature after having been part of the Polish underground literary community during the time of World War II.

As my friend was telling me this, I began flipping through this particular volume of his collected poetry and stumbled upon something I'd like to share with you today:

"On Prayer"

You ask me how to pray to someone who is not.

All I know is that prayer constructs a velvet bridge

And walking it we are aloft, as on a springboard,

Above landscapes the color of ripe gold

Transformed by a magic stopping of the sun.

That bridge leads to the shore of Reversal

Where everything is just the opposite and the word 'is'

Unveils a meaning we hardly envisioned.

Notice: I say we; there, every one, separately,

Feels compassion for others entangled in the flesh

And knows that if there is no other shore

We will walk that aerial bridge all the same.

Prayer: a velvet bridge leading to the shore of Reversal. Have you ever thought of it like that? I hope if I'm ever questioned by a nonbeliever, like the speaker of the poem has been, that I can convey it with that much beauty, that I can liken prayer to something so charged and hopeful.

And that's what poetry does and that's why it matters. It's the quilting of words not otherwise 'entangled' to itself weave a bridge leading from our tangible world to others. I hope you find a poem this week that takes you there.

Bridging the Gap Between the Arts and Worship

2011-08-25T08:02:00.000-07:00

Image Journal offers a web interview with thought-provoking Duke Professor Jeremy Begbie. It's short & worth your perusal.

Words to Live By: Faster!

2011-08-24T07:36:00.000-07:00

"There is more to life than increasing its speed." -Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Snapshot: Book Editor Salaries

2011-08-23T10:21:00.000-07:00

Galleycat has an interesting take on what Book Editors Earn. The sample is (very) small, but still illuminating, especially if you contrast it against the Comments below it.

Rick Warren, Atheism, NAYC & More

2011-08-22T14:12:00.000-07:00

Sister blog Collideoscope offers some takes on Rick Warren in Europe, whether "fun" should be in fundamentalist or atheism, North American Youth Congress, and other cultural topics.

Dilbert, Goethe, and Creativity

2011-08-19T14:20:00.000-07:00

Dilbert creator Scott Adams has an interesting take on how boredom leads to superior creativity. Not everyone who comments afterwards agrees, but that doesn’t make the article less relevant.

I would also say that times of great ugliness can create an unexpected climate of creative productivty. I just escaped extended months of ugliness, but was surprised at how the last six weeks of that season was accompanied by an unexpected bonanza of disciplined creativity.

Too often in the past I got bogged down or allowed unhappy circumstances to grind down my writing progress. This time (perhaps because I was so desperate to flee parts of my reality?), it was the opposite. I flew to the laptop at every opportunity to see what my muse would reveal. (Frankly, I was shocked she was showing up so often.) Sometimes time and circumstance would allow me only a paragraph, sometimes it unleashed pages, but at every point my story progressed, producing a great peace within me, probably because it was something that went right as everything around me exploded.

I’m not sure I’d choose to continue that combination of progress through explosions, but I suddenly understand how Goethe (family man, lawyer, politician) could write despite too many responsibilities. It was yet another lesson to be learned through creating. I’m sure there are so many more.

TV Shortens Your Life....

2011-08-16T00:38:00.000-07:00

...so go read a book!

A new study says watching TV over the age of TV can cut up to 5 years off your life! Wow.

Researchers believe it's probably due to activities related to television (overeating, lack of exercise) than the actual TV itself, but it's still worth investigating.

Other studies have shown mentally curious people who read daily are less likely to get Alzheimer's, than those who don't, so here's yet another reason to ignore the plasma screens and pull a classic off the shelf!

I Snagged Mine on Saturday

2011-08-15T07:50:00.000-07:00

If you haven't perused the most interesting part of every contemporary bookstore - the magazine section - then you might have missed The Atlantic Monthly's 2011 fiction issue. It's always a mix of new and established writers, often covering issues of faith.

For a snapshot of current short fiction, I find this the most reliable available. (Maybe because The New Yorker too often relies on established writers sticking to the famed New Yorker style, while The Atlantic Monthly has no such limitations.

Or check it out on The Atlantic's site.

London Rioters Ignore Bookstores

2011-08-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

Another sign of the Apocalypse: the UK rioters hit every type of store possible - except bookstores.

Maybe that proves the rioters weren't Pentecostal..?

Words to Live By: Creating Your Future

2011-08-10T07:15:00.000-07:00

"Goals are the way we time travel into the future that we want. You can drift, or set goals and get to where you want to be." -Kennon Sheldon, professor of psychological sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia.

So what type of future do you want to live in every day?

If it's writing related, then it will include writing daily, creating an adequate support group for your efforts (local or via the internet), sources of inspiration, moving out of your comfort zone to attend local author visits and writing conferences, reading author interviews for tips, and finding internet sources for regular feedings.

Words to Live By: Circumstances

2011-08-09T07:04:00.000-07:00

"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them." -George Bernard Shaw

So what do you want your circumstances to be soon? Whatever it is, I guarantee it will push you out of your comfort zone to achieve it!

Appendix A: Favorite Summer Reads

2011-08-08T06:22:00.000-07:00

Despite the sun setting on Summer 2011, Maud Newton (whose thoughts are not to be missed) & others of note share their favorite Summer reads.

I'm wracking my brains as to what I would include in this list (most of which I've never even heard of, much less read), and so far have come up with nothing.

Do you have a suggestion to add?

FFW: It's All About the Awards

2011-08-05T14:03:00.000-07:00

The latest on the "shouldn't-be-missed" Festival of Faith & Writing at our sister site Collideoscope.

If you're wanting your writing to include Christian themes, then follow FFW.

On The Pretensions of Poetry

2011-07-18T07:16:00.000-07:00

Am I pretentious because I know the names of two living poets and enjoy their works? Or am I pretentious for pointing it out? Or am I just a passionate reader who’s willing to share his passions even if the passion happens to be poetry (ewww!) now and again?

Whatever the case, Scott Cairns is a former Baptist who is now a Greek Orthodox. His work carries more formal properties (to my mind), while Christian Wiman is the former atheist who was raised by fundamentalists and now finds himself amazed to believe in God. Wiman has a new book, Every Riven Thing, that’s quite amazing (and accessible).

There’s a great review here and an audio interview here.

If you write, you can learn from anything – even poetry. (Wiman’s precise word images can startle you alive.) If you haven’t given poetry a shot lately, try it now. You might get to know the name of a living poet.

Appendix A: We've Lost the Ability to Tell Stories

2011-07-15T14:14:00.000-07:00

Screenwriter and former nun Barbara Nicolosi has a brilliant post on storytelling on her blog, that begins an interview. It starts like this:

"My opinion is that we have nearly lost the ability to tell a good story.

Don't miss the rest.

Your Writing: Give It a Chance to Exist

2011-07-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

If there isn't a reader, the text doesn't exist: that's the premise of reader-response criticism. It's fun to think of all the books in the world that don't exist because I haven't read them, starting with most of the books on the list "100 Greatest Non-Fiction Title s." (Thanks, Kent!)

But what about your text? Is what you've written being given existence by others? There are several stages at which existence can be thwarted.

For those of us who have trouble transmitting the text from our brains to the page, a group of other committed writers may help. You know they're going to ask you about your project; it becomes easier to work on it than it is to dodge the questions. It also helps to know that you have an immediate audience. Granted, your text at this point is still in the embryonic stage, but it does exist because what you've written has been read by other eyes.

Others of us abort our text at the publication stage. You've written something, your writers' group has helped nurture it, but you haven't delivered. Publication can be scary. You have to accept that the editors might hate your child and throw it back at you. You have to give your baby a chance to live.

If there isn't a reader, the text doesn't exist. How are you giving your writing a chance to exist in the world?

Photo Credit: My amazingly intelligent niece at four months

Hey Kids! Christian Comics!

2011-06-28T06:59:00.000-07:00

Looks like someone else is jumping into the Christian comics realm. Publisher's Weekly offers a nice profile of Kingstone Media Group's new venture.

While Kingstone's site has many comic previews on Elijah, Revelation, Pilgrim's Progress and even biographies of a Baptist pastor on the Titantic.

Confessions of an Ex-Bookworm

2011-06-24T16:50:00.000-07:00

Rebecca's summer reading woes plus Kent's news that The New Yorker Fiction issue is out led me to discover a delightful essay this week: Salvatore Scibona's "Where I Learned to Read."

There's no twist for me to spoil; it's more or less a personal look at one writer's track to his future as a writer and, importantly, a reader. But as I read, waves of nostalgia (ugh, the cliche!) rolled through my mind--I remembered when reading was fun and magical. I remembered when I was "a bookworm."

Now beside my bed sits my one-year Bible alone--nothing else. Nestled in my still-packed vacation bag is a literary novel of notable critical acclaim I got 7 pages into. On my desk sits the unread 6 or 8 self-help books I ordered over the course of the year to magically transform me into a better teacher, disciple, and time-manager (ha), which I never cracked open.

I have always heard you make time for the things that matter. But I remember a time when I didn't have to "make time" for reading. I am not sure when I stopped reading. Did I lose the "bookworm" bug or was I ever truly a "bookworm" to begin with? Oh you know, the people who would rather be left alone with a book than... well, anything. Maybe you don't have to fit that cliche to be a reader; maybe you don't even have to be a voracious reader to be successful at... whatever it is you pursue. So why do I feel guilty?

These are questions I don't have answers for today. What I do have are some fantastic quotes from the essay that spawned this ramble:

About the writer's childhood: "The television stayed on day and night, singing like a Siren in the crowded house. 'Come sit by me and die a little,' it said."
"As long as nobody had assigned the book, I could stick with it. I didn’t know what I was reading. I didn’t really know how to read. Reading messed with my brain in an unaccountable way. It made me happy; or something."
About working to pay his way through a literary-driven college: "I carried bricks and mortar to rooftops during the summers, but if I hadn’t made time to read the night before, my legs wore out by noon. Even my body needed to read."
Upon the reading immersion he grew to love in college: "The gravity of the whole thing would have been laughable if it hadn’t been so much fun, and if it hadn’t been such a gift to find my tribe."

What "tribe" do you claim? Are you a "bookworm" or at least the casual reader? However you define yourself, I hope you never outgrow reading. I wish for you the time and inclination to read and enjoy it this summer. Even if it's just the little occasional gem like this essay, I am determined to do better personally. So here's to our "tribe" at Word, helping bring out the "bookworm" in all of us.

100 Greatest Non-Fiction Titles

2011-06-23T08:25:00.001-07:00

The (UK) Guardian offers an impressive list of the 100 Greatest Non-Fiction Books of all time. It's a great list of classic and contemporary titles. Sadly, I've only read about 12 of them (partially or en toto).

How many have you read?

Our Twitter Feed

2011-06-22T06:20:00.000-07:00

...is acting up off our blogs, as we're not getting picked up. Joel opines on Kafka and Derrida, thoughts on the (Pentecostal) teensbeing all right in Word, while Momo has some good stuff on theNBA Finals.

So we're posting, but there's a feed disconnect. Running a test now.

Unbearable or Unbelievable?

2011-06-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

A very simple lesson that too many seem to ignore hit me upside the head earlier this week.

I'm reading a couple different series with the 8th grader with diametrically opposed results.

He expressed interest in The Looking Glass Wars, so I snatched up an audio copy in advance to see what it's about (& to be able to discuss the title later). The concept is cool: What if Alice in Wonderland were true, but Lewis Carroll didn't believe Alice's telling of the real story of a mean queen named Red, card soldiers, Hatter Madigan the bodyguard, and the Cat assassin. This is the real story. Sadly, the real story is dull, predictable and unbearable. It reads more like an outline for a movie than an actual story. It's what's wrong with most Young Adult (YA) literature. There just isn't much imagination thrown into the characters or situations or settings that haven't already been covered (though I'm almost at the point of the Looking Glass maze, so that might change my evaluation somewhat).

The other series we're reading is The Asterix Adventures, a French comic collection that has spawned movies and even a theme park outside Paris. It's the story of a small Gaulish village that continually prevents Rome from conquering it due to smarts and a magic potion that makes the villagers super strong. It is witty, fun, and hilarious (those aren't the same things). The creators wring every bit of creativity out of every panel. (See example.)

The Same Limitations

Honestly, there are only about 7 plots in the entire history of storytelling (some say fewer), but it's the imagination you put into the story itself that makes the difference. It doesn't even have to be original. It just has to surprise.

Now go check out Asterix The Legionary for the start of a very long and happy reading season.

The (Pentecostal) Kids Are All Right

2011-06-18T14:39:00.000-07:00

So the older brother told me his sister, who graduated from high school in May, decided to read Anna Karenina for the summer before she moved off to college. Turns out she liked a couple short stories she read in a lit class and saw AK on the library shelves, so she picked it up.

I checked with her to make sure it was true. Yep. All 900+ pages by a teenager who is heavily involved in her local church just because.

I told her I'd been given opportunities to share Christ because of doors opened by sharing a love for books. She nodded. I also told her to read at least 10 pages a day or she'd lose track of everything going on in this classic. She laughed. It's a wonderful, lively masterpiece that you must put on your bucket list if you haven't read it yet.

In the meantime, don't fret about all the Pentecostal teenagers who don't seem serious enough to handle today's world. There are always those who choose the narrow road, they just might not be getting noticed.

New Yorker Summer Fiction Issue ...

2011-06-09T17:44:00.000-07:00

...is on newstands now. Or check out their web site at the many big names who are writing in this issue. I'm not sure this issue is all that daring (I haven't read it yet), but it's always worth examining to see what many feel like is the finest publisher of short fiction in the Western world.

Appendix A: You Can Read What You Like

2011-06-08T08:53:00.001-07:00

Some of us still don't have a summer reading list finalized because we're scrambling to keep up with an estimated 3000 pages of assigned reading in a class on church history at UGST.

But whatever else we can't squeeze into our reading schedule, let's make time for J. Mark Bertrand's essay, "I Know What You Read Last Summer." He writes: "As much as I agonize over summer reading, you can't get it wrong. High-brow or low-brow, genre or literary, timeless or trendy, you can read what you like."

It's a good thing I like church history.

Photo: The C.S. collection at Covenant Theological Seminary, Saint Louis

Mind Games

2011-06-05T20:17:00.000-07:00

Is it just happening to me, or is there a voice narrating your life, too? In the film Stranger than Fiction, the protagonist is an obsessive guy who has followed the same routine every day of his life. One morning, though, he is standing before the mirror and hears a voice describing the way he brushes his teeth. Soon he realizes that the narrator isn't just describing his actions; she is actually plotting them, and she seems to have a vendetta against his life.*

My narrator isn't so deranged. I'll give you an example of the kind of stuff she writes about me:

It was Sunday evening, night really, and she was home from church. The clock on the wall behind her was ticking persistently as she sat at the kitchen table typing on the black Dell. The strains of easy listening instrumental music were playing on Pandora. If only she'd written this blog post earlier, she thought.

Ms. Narrator's voice is pleasant enough, her tones lending a seeming significance to the mundane.

But it suddenly struck me a few nights ago that this voice lending significance to each and every action is only one of the voices vying for a place in my mind. There is definitely another voice, belonging to a deep-sounding, worldly-wise man. Think: Screwtape.

You really think you matter? That you can make a difference? The world is a big place, and you are just one out of billions. Who's to say you have a better life than any one else? Is there really such a thing as truth?

The skepticism of Narrator II is intimidating. The questions he asks seem as vast as the universe. (He calls it a "multiverse.") You hear him, too?

But Ms. Narrator's endless chatter strikes me as naive. Yes, my life and actions matter, but perhaps not to the extent she imagines.

I've come to believe that somewhere between his skepticism and her idealism lies the reality of it. There is yet another Voice narrating, a still, small voice. And I'm so often wont to tune It out because I like to play this game with Ms. Narrator and Narrator II. Yet the Voice is speaking all along, overriding others' narrations, to imbue my each experience and very existence with meaning.

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb. 12:2).

*Disclaimer: Illustration from film not to be considered an endorsement.

Free Literary Stuff for the Summer

2011-05-30T08:42:00.001-07:00

A Not-so-Mid-Summer Night's Activity

Last night some friends and I took in a great Shakespeare production. The kicker: it was free. As I contemplated the impressive set and production in general, it made me wonder what else is out there that we literature-lovers can enjoy no matter your budget.

Here are a few ideas; please share others!

Theatre | Keep an eye on the events calendars for your area. Many areas offer free community productions; you may be surprised at what you find, especially if your city has a nice park system. And if you have a college or university in town, you can sometimes find affordable dramas of various genres. A quick google will usually tell you if something is Christian-friendly.

Library Readings & Bookstore Events | We've mentioned on the blog several times the readings offered at libraries. The size of your city will affect the popularity of the writers you meet, but at any rate, what an interesting way to spend an evening. Likewise, your local bookstore will frequently host an author promoting his/her latest book. Yet another venue to hear from writers on the front lines making it happen.

Online Resources | How long has it been since you've set aside some time to research whatever you're writing about or interested in writing about? The word "research" sometimes scares us, but it can feed your writing interests and be fun when you find new articles, pictures, interviews, etc. on your subject. The internet offers a variety of impressive resources all from the comfort of your own home. On an Edith Wharton kick? See what's available online. For most classic writers you can find a website sponsored by a society devoted to that writer with tons of great resources.

Writing Groups & Book Clubs | Almost every city or town has a book club (or several) as well as writing groups. Have a special interest in a certain genre? There's probably a group just for you that is offered through your local library for free. Maybe joining would help you pursue your reading/writing goals?

Why?

Why not? I would argue despite the dumbing down of America, our culture generally gets the "why" of art. Whether through the rise of mass media or educational trends, this generation is familiar with art appreciation. I rarely have to "sell" Shakespeare when I teach World Literature. But suffice it to say, the arts broaden our horizons and enrich our experience.

For the writer, it's even more crucial to stay connected to literature. It keeps you committed to your craft and it recharges you mentally. And I submit that summer is a great time to recharge--even on a budget.

Recently Read: N.T. Wright's Simply Christian - an apologetic crafted in the vein of C.S. Lewis

Top 20 Literate US Cities

2011-05-27T15:42:00.000-07:00

Amazon released an interesting list of the Top 20 Literate Cities in America.

The Top 5 are University cities, but after that it gets interesting, with major metro areas stealing the spots - though not as major as you might think. It's a fresh way to evaluate our country, that's for sure!

Eugene Peterson Article: In Print At Last!

2011-05-27T12:38:00.001-07:00

Almost nothing on Earth feels better than finally seeing your article from month's ago appear in print (and on the web) with a nice check. That's the feeling I got to enjoy today!

I snagged the interview at Calvin College's Festival of Faith and Writingin April, 2010.

The next festival is April 19-21, 2012 and Marilynne Robinson (among others) has already agreed to attend. Don't even think about missing it!

Freelancing is Not Writing

2011-05-24T21:00:00.000-07:00

The weird thing about freelancing your writing / editing skills is that even when you're freelancing, you're not actually writing because it's not what your heart yearns to write. Oh sure, you're typing out lovely sentences or remolding other people's efforts into shiny attractions, but it's not where your heart beats. It enhances your craft immensely (a must) and creates cash flow, but it's not your deepest calling.

For whatever reason, it's often difficult for me to switch from freelancing mode to deeper calling writing. I can zip out the emails, scribble down cool stuff the kid did, and create marketing materials at work while freelancing, but the undercurrents of hope and desire demand an immersion that often frightens me. This immersion demands an effort I may not be able to enact--so it's easier to choose lesser pursuits (or chase distractions) than to face it.

Nose-to-Nose

Maybe that's how everyone feels when standing nose-to-nose with their calling, but when you're alone with the laptop, there's no one to cheer you on. That's why reading author interviews, author biographies, literary journals, and writing books is essential for my well-being--it maintains my perspective.

This little "Best Advice" tidbit from Narrative Magazine is what is pushing me on at the moment:

“We were talking about our creative writing students at Stanford, when the poet Alan Shapiro told me, “The most important talent is the talent for work. Without that, nothing else much matters.” Over the years I have found that advice increasingly persuasive." - Ron Hansen

Hmmm

Not "quality work," not "immortal sentences," not "stunning characterization," but work.

Freelancing may not be writing, but maybe it isn't a waste either. Maybe it's what my life needs to add texture and humanity to my deeper calling. Maybe I just need to learn to live with the fear so that the work can accumulate into something greater.

Though I cannot glimpse its completion now, I must continue to compose it in faith.

Dead Authors Tweet!

2011-05-23T13:48:00.000-07:00

But of course they do!

The Atlantic has a fun slide show on Flannery O'Conner, Charlotte Bronte, Shakespeare, Chaucer, and this gem from Mark Twain:

Typical tweet: If the world comes to an end, I want to be in Cincinnati. Everything comes there ten years later.

Lost C.S. Lewis Revealed!

2011-05-22T20:39:00.000-07:00

Turns out a partial translation of The Aenid by C.S. Lewis has surfaced! Since most felt like his exhaustive catalog was complete, this is an unexpected addition. Naturally, it's getting more than its fair share of scrutiny.

Great Writing Quote: Memoir

2011-05-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

"Because everyone 'has' a memoir, we all have a stake in how such stories are told. For we do not, after all, simply have experience; we are entrusted with it. We must do something--make something--with it. A story, we sense, is the only possible habitation for the burden of our witnessing."

Patricia Hampl, "Red Sky in the Morning"
from Janet Burroway, Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft

P.S. I hope you enjoyed Lee Ann's interview with Kris Newman last week. Wasn't that great? I had to go look up her blog (of course), and now I've added it to my blogroll.

What are you reading and/or writing these days? Any must-reads to recommend for the summer?

The Kris Newman Interview

2011-04-29T20:13:00.000-07:00

This blog has long been focused on promoting our effort as Apostolics to establish a presence in print. I am excited to report one of our readers has finished and published a book! The interview that follows shares her story.

Lee Ann (LA): Thanks for taking a moment to share an update with us. You've been a friend of ninetyandnine and the Word blog for years; how did your journey as a writer begin?

Kris Newman (KN): I have always been a writer, of sorts, or at least a storyteller. As the oldest of the “cousins” in my family it was my job to keep the youngers occupied. Reading and making up stories came naturally. I was in 7th grade the first time a teacher called me a writer and encouraged me to put my words on paper. I think my first piece with 90&9 was an interview of the band Plan:Be.

In the summer of 2009, I started a blog (krisanewman.blogspot.com) which has reached a sizable following. The blog’s popularity convinced me I might have enough written works enjoyed by an audience to put together a book. The theme of the blog is the view of life through a writer's eyes; how we experience things and view events. I guess people kind of like it.

LA: And now you've written a book! Tell us about it.

KN: It’s called The Book of Pages About Crossing Bridges. The title is long, but I expect it to be a part of a collection. I write about facing difficult times without becoming bitter or feeling like a victim. Life isn’t always easy, but that doesn’t mean some good can’t result from the difficulties. Bridges encourages the reader to look through a different perspective and learn the lessons of the dark times. In particular I talk about growing up in foster care, being divorced, working full-time and going to college full-time, facing life alone and rediscovering my own identity in Christ as I watch Him continually put my broken life together.

LA: You've found a very successful way to self-publish. What did you do?

KN: I used Createspace.com, which is a publishing arm of Amazon.com. It was very, very easy! It requires a minimal financial commitment, nothing compared to other publishers, and walks you through the entire process of cover art, set-up, editing and even marketing. The customer service is fantastic! They give you as much or as little help as you need. I researched several self-publishing options and found this to be incredibly easy and cost-effective. I highly recommend it!

LA: For many of us, the idea of writing a book can be intimidating or seem overwhelming. What was the biggest obstacle for you and how did you overcome it?

KN: I think I speak for many writers when I say the biggest obstacle was believing that I had an audience interested in my writing. I can believe that someone might want to read a book review I have written, but the idea that my view of life would interest someone else is hard to understand. It was the blog’s popularity and reader response which changed my mind. Readers kept asking me when I was going to put a book together. One of them suggested I take my blog pages and connect them and make a book of pages. Their positive feedback helped me cross that bridge.

LA: What advice do you wish you'd have known when you got started that you could share with other writers out there?

KN: I wish I had known how easy it was to self-publish. I always thought I would have to have an agent’s approval and a publisher’s support to make a book worth reading. That simply isn’t the case. The same with a blog. Once a writer can see they have an audience, publishing is the next natural step.

LA: What is your next writing project?

KN: Finishing my papers for the end of this semester. J As for a published work, I have a couple of children’s books just about ready (except for illustrations) and possibly another Book of Pages. Time will tell!

Great Writing Quote: Beauties of Art

2011-04-23T17:49:00.000-07:00

“Let me say, right off, that I believe a work of art is primarily concerned with the creation of beauty, whether through words, colors, shapes, sounds or movement. But it is impossible to read serious novels, poetry, essays, and biographies without also growing convinced that they gradually enlarge our minds, refine our spirits, make us more sensitive and understanding.”

Michael Dirda, Book by Book

Great Writing Quote: Novel = Humanity's Finest Effort

2011-04-22T17:45:00.000-07:00

“It is only a novel... or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best-chosen language.”

Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

Great Writing Quote: Worship By Wrting

2011-04-15T07:59:00.000-07:00

"My deepest ambition is to harness this fleeting consciousness, this reality that we think of as ourselves, in order to worship by writing. That sounds very different from what I mean. What I mean is that I think finally writing is an act of prayer, or certainly an act of faith. It needs to be done with increasing craft as you live." -Jeanne Murray Walker, Image, No. 68.

If you're interested in writing with a deeper Christian meaning, you must subscribe to Image, a meaty, quarterly journal that's challenges via essays, fiction, and poetry.

Writing about Getting the Holy Ghost

2011-03-28T07:12:00.000-07:00

So I was editing a biography this weekend and arrived at the conversion scene. This brought up an issue perhaps we've touched on earlier in the blog, but we certainly haven't settled....

How Do You Describe God-Moments to Non-Christians?

For the writer trying to target a non-Christian audience, how do you explain those life-changing altar moments we A/P's understand--albeit usually in our own jargon?

Exercise

Try this.... Describe someone receiving the Holy Ghost but don't use any of these terms:

+ laying on of hands

+ stammering lips

+ other tongues

Now obviously it's not that any of those terms are negative in any way, I just don't know readily a 2011 non-Christian audience could understand a sentence like:

"I walked up to the altar where the preacher laid hands on me. I got stammering lips and then started speaking in other tongues. The service turned into a shout-down and I was still talking in tongues an hour later as I was filled with the Holy Ghost."

I know what that means, but how much of my understanding is shaped by 32 years of hearing this language all the time? What about the outsider?

Our

Age-Old Challenge

How do we speak about "joy unspeakable"? I realize from that very verse we are trying to do something even the Apostle didn't feel he could fully describe. But how do we try to relate an experience with God to people around us who are unfamiliar and possibly even reticent about Holy Ghost experiences?

Fire Shut up in My Bones

What does it feel like for a non-Christian to encounter God for the first time or be converted? Jeremiah used the analogy of "fire shut up in my bones" in an admittedly different context. But I believe that analogy is powerful in that it gives the reader a physical sensation to which he or she can relate. We need writing devices like analogies and metaphors to help the non-Christian relate to how it feels in that incredible moment when we encounter God.

But what would this analogy or metaphor be?
Even without a device like that, what should a simple first-person narrative about receiving the Holy Ghost for the first time sound like?
Am I the only one challenged by the task of relating this great experience in accessible 2011 language?

Disclaimer

I understand that not all A/P writers targeting a non-Christian audience will face this issue. Not everything we write will necessarily wedge in an Acts 2:38 moment. Sometimes we'll just share a single aspect of our particular hope with the aim of building a bridge and opening a door. But even then, I hope that bridge and doorway will lead to a point where you will get to share an Acts 2:38 moment. And by then, I hope we'll have established if not a formula or answer, at least a body of writers who are committed to finding ways to relate this experience with the literary world at large.

Walter Mosley on Writing

2011-03-17T19:19:00.000-07:00

Walter Mosley is best known as a writer of the Easy Rawlings detective series, but he's written in many other genres and about politics. Last Saturday (March 12, 2011), he visited the St. Louis County Library to discuss his latest title, When the Thrill is Gone, covering the latest adventures of private investigator Leonid McGill. Around 100 people attended.

Mosley can be brutally candid, but his tone is never harsh and it is leavened by a dry sense of humor. Some quotes, some thoughts, some insights:

With fiction you write what you mean to say. With non-fiction most authors bring an agenda to their subject.
On editing the N Word out of Huckleberry Finn: Better to not read a book than change their book.
For aspiring writers: "Write every day. It's about finding the writer inside of you. Write about the same thing every day."
"If you see what's in store for the protagonists after the end it's a good ending."
On Easy Rawlings: He was a tribute to my father and his generation. But that world of the 1950s Watts was one of certainty and predictability (such as they both were). America is no longer than country and the world is no longer that world, so Easy Rawlings stories were inappropriate to the times. That's why he created Leonid McGill.
He gives short readings so people will buy his books and not feel like they just heard it all.
On Leonid's son: "Twill is my favorite character that I ever wrote. Twill is certainly a sociopath . . . an unrepentant sociopath." Twill sees clearly because that is the world we live in.
He was asked the inevitable "Who were your favorite writer's growing up?" He said all other authors will lie answering this one. He did a delightful riff on how the author will notice the questioner is a black female, so the author will name black female authors through time, ending with Alice Walker and Toni Morrison. (Pause.) "In reality it's Nancy Drew" because the author was too old for Toni Morrison to affect him or her. He said if an 8 year-old read Toni Morrison "she'd kill herself or her mother."
He said he read Marvel comics growing up, mentioning the Fantastic Four before calling Spiderman the first black super-hero because Peter Parker could never make any money, everyone's afraid of him wherever he goes, he got his uncle killed, he saves the city but never gets any credit for it . . .
Most authors don't write about friendships between men. That's one thing he's attempting to do in the McGill series.

All-in-all, I left inspired and excited about writing. Whether or not you've read any of his books, don't miss a chance to hear him if he lands near you!

Naw Man, It Ain't Pretty

2011-03-11T06:48:00.000-08:00

“As far as I could see, the Delta was a collage of earth tones—a vast tangle of waterways—a patchwork quilt of rice paddies, and jungle.”

- Tommy, the Saving of a U.S. Navy Seal

I took a class once, not much more palatable than taking a pill, catalogued as Review of Contemporary Christian Literature, featuring Faulkner, O'Connor, Joyce and others. I never could figure out what was "Christian" about any of those writers, in the Lifeway Christian Bookstore sense of the word, that is. Flannery O’Connor and her blatant pro-Catholic supremism, Flaky Faulkner and his Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi...what's up with that?

The professor would ask every day in my class, “Should Christian literature be ‘pretty?’ Should all the words, and story and characters be nice?” I finished reading Tommy, the saving of a Navy Seal over the last few weeks, savoring this first person memoir of the experiences of ayoung boy who one day becomes a Navy Seal. Loved it. Yet it should be titled, The Nine Lives of Tommy Bracken, due to the harrowing tales of narrow escapes riddled throughout the book.

Bracken lays it all out on the line, well, most of it, and bears out the life of a boy turned man who does indeed seem to have nine lives. He gives us all the details of his life, waiting until the final chapters to bring his conversion story to a brief yet powerful climax, ending one facet of his life to begin a new one, sans Seals work and party animal lifestyle.

Tommy is not some ethereal writer like Faulkner—he puts his feelings up front and in your face.Most of the book is not pretty. But it is indeed a Christian book, with the author’s intention of revealing his innermost desire to find meaning in his life. This is real writing, and I wish there were 100 more books just like it, written by folks baring their soul and life experiences to a world looking for answers.

In a recent interview with Sebastian Junger, who purposely sets himself up in war zones inAfghanistan and other locales, he remarked, “The Iowa Writer’s Workshop [of which O’Connor hails from] is not turning out guys who are going to Liberia. They stay in the U.S. and write short stories, which is cool, you know, but doesn’t interest me.”

In comparison, Tommy Bracken is not a writer by trade, but a missionary to China for the past 27 years, who spilled his guts in the writing of his first book. I wish that he had found a meaner editor to hone it down into a tight, concise story of his experience. Many times I wasn't sure why he was telling me about a particular anecdote, didn't quite get what it was tying to, but in all, it led to this: he had a tremendous zeal for life and the Seals, but was looking for something real in his life and found: Jesus.

Am I inspired? Yes. Is the book an example of pretty Christian writing where all the salty details are edited out? No. Would I recommend this book to anyone to read? Yes, I would like to give a copy of his book to everyone I know. Would I fling my copy of the book out the window like I did Faulkner’s Sanctuary after reading it? Absolutely not.

I hope and pray that Rev. Tommy Bracken’s memoir will inspire many more Apostolic writers to bring their story to life, leaving it raw, yet well edited, but not pretty…unsanitized. And do order your copy of Tommy, the Saving of a U.S. Navy Seal today athttp://www.tommybracken.com/ . It's long, fascinating, has a great ending, and is definitely notpretty. But it gives account of a lonely boy who becomes a successful Navy Seal, serving in theVietnam era, to serve his four years with outstanding effort and accomplishments. And he didn't get killed.

The Appeal of the New Memoir

2011-03-06T05:45:00.000-08:00

The voice of memoir offers its readers an occasion for personal identification so that a reader can find him or herself within the story of another and perhaps borrow the wisdom, healing or insight from similar life threads.
~Stephanie Smith

I like the immediacy of blogging and the peek it gives me into the worlds of so many people. I like to read blogs on certain topics, food blogs, for instance. But I also like those blogs that function as a journal for the world to read. Used to be, you locked your journal up because you didn't want you little sister to read it. Now you hit the "post" button and hope people on the far side of the world are on your subscription list.

Confession: I follow a lot of blogs. Checking my blog roll is a morning ritual, as is my cup of tea and my Bible reading. Most of the people whose blogs I read are not people I know personally. I discovered these bloggers because of googling shared mutual interests. I let these people speak into my life everyday, or at least as often as they post, often because of their honesty about where they are emotionally and spiritually. They help me understand that my struggles are not unique to my own experience, but neither are the victories, nor the blessings that God lavishes upon his children.

Is my interest in reading other people's journals and writing my own online blog an indication of my post-modern narcissism? Or can it be redeemed? Stephanie Smith takes on this very dilemma in "Memoirs: Self-Obsessed or Sacramental?"

Jesus promises in Acts 1:8 "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."

You might just be reaching "the uttermost part of the earth" in your next blogpost. How does God's work in your life figure in the sneak-peek you give the world with your latest pic and existential insight?

Writing for Your Church--It's a Ministry!

2011-02-26T19:21:00.000-08:00

Does your church have an Operations Manual? Do different ministry departments have Handbooks?

I only recently realized how rare documentation is among churches of all denominations. In trying to find examples of church documentation online, I found few. My guess is that for the average church staff member, the task of putting together a Manual can be time-consuming and daunting.

Here's where we come in. Besides the creative writing goals you may have personally (or if you're like me and inspiration-less at the moment), maybe you can serve your church. Here are some ideas.

#1 - Offer to help the pastoral staff compile an Operations Manual for the church.

#2 - Offer to help the different department heads compile Handbooks for their teams.

#3 - Offer to help the pastoral staff with any other documents they may need - HR forms, a Staff Handbook, etc.

#4 - Offer to help create some press releases about church events for your local paper.

All this in addition to any creative projects you write (Easter dramas, Christmas readings, etc.) can stretch your talents, but most importantly, bless the Kingdom.

....What else? What other writing ministries can you think of that could help bless the local church?

Solving Creative Depression

2011-02-22T07:10:00.000-08:00

Whenever I’m creatively drained, but still craving to write, I pull out a book of writer interviews to recharge myself. The best I’ve found is The Paris Review Interviews. They released a new set of 4 books (with an elegant slipcase) a couple years back, but there are numerous inexpensive volumes available from previous years (and free on their web site).

What sets the Paris Review apart from competitors is: 1) they invented the long-form author interview in 1953; 2) most often, they interview the author numerous times over several months or years, so that it takes in a wider expanse of wisdom. The best interviews also capture the idiosyncracies of personality (as in when Turkey’s

Orham Pamuk declares he must write away from his living space because domestic rituals kill the imagination), as well as writing habits and insights. Plus, you're exposed to novelists you've never heard of, but suddenly seem interesting.

Here are a few insights from my recent readings:

“I like details very much. Tolstoy wanted to write the total description; my description is focused on a very small area. When you describe the details of small things, your focus gets closer and closer, and the opposite of Tolstoy happens—it gets more unrealistic. That’s what I want to do.” –Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami

“In the development of every character there’s a kind of emotional entanglement that occurs. The characters that interest me are the ones that seem to pose questions in my own thinking. The minute that you start thinking about someone in the whole circumstance of his life to the extent that you can, he becomes mysterious, immediately.” –America's best living novelist Marilynne Robinson

“When I’m writing a book that takes years to complete, I emerge from the last page totally different from who I was on page one. I learn constantly from my books. This is why it takes me so many years to write a novel, because I do not really understand what I write and why I write it. Only later do I understand what it wants to tell me. I’m not trying to mystify it—in a practical way, I think it is only through writing that I allow myself to experience things I would not be courageous enough for in real life.” – Israeli novelist David Grossman

There are so many more quotes I could share as my books are inundated with yellow highlighting. Don't accept creative frustration when there are numerous inexpensive fountains of creative rebirth so readily available.

Appendix: HarperCollins Watching Inkpop

2011-01-30T13:16:00.001-08:00

Thought this might be interesting to note while we're talking about publishing opportunities. HarperCollins is publishing a novel they discovered on Inkpop.com, a site whose slogan is "the online community of rising stars in teen lit." If you're interested in writing for an audience of young people, here's a forum that facilitates e-publishing with the added bonus of potentially connecting you to a publisher.

5 Ways You Can Get Published

2011-01-27T21:41:00.000-08:00

So one of the major objectives of this blog is to encourage more Apostolic writers to break into print. Yet most of us don’t start out on the New York Times Bestseller List right out the gate. We typically need to take some baby steps. This week I’m sharing some ideas to help you get a few works under your belt, and perhaps minister to others in the process.

Greeting Cards
I thought of this ideas over Christmas. A wonderful lady from my home church has created her own greeting card company—she writes poems and draws/paints the artwork. She uses a local printer and voila—her own business, her own work being published, and a wonderful ministry that has encouraged others and made great connections with nonchurched in the community. Here are some tips.

Songwriting
Maybe the idea of writing a novel or even a story is overwhelming. How about this—keep a prayer journal. Jot down ideas as you pray and meditate. Team up with someone in your church who’s into music. Collaboration is a beautiful thing, and not only can you bless your local church, but I hear there’s this neat thing called youtube....

Drama or Skit for Church
Easter time’s almost here. Is your church doing something special? Ask. Write a drama if not. We have the best story—let’s tell it. Why not help your church? Why not exercise your gift?

Blogging
There’s really no such thing as being an unpublished writer anymore—depending on how you define “published.” Everyone has the opportunity to share his or her message with the world, and blogs are a great venue to do this painlessly (and inexpensively). By the by, why not send in a devotional, a review of a church event, or an article to this blog’s mothership so you can minister to others while you put to use your writing talent?

Local Paper
I know of two separate stories several states apart of young people who were interested in writing and looking for a jumping off point. While still in high school, they volunteered to serve as reporters for their local paper, thus getting to crack into print-print and build a portfolio they’ve each used to later score paying gigs on the staff of larger papers. Not to mention, this is a great way to expand your network of contacts within your community. Who knows what God might later do through it?

Appendix A: How to Read a Poem

2011-01-25T16:00:00.000-08:00

Edward Hirsch has written a book along these lines.
I like the sound of it.

Image: Good Reads

Holy Ghost as Metaphor as Mission Field

2011-01-22T13:44:00.000-08:00

I've been asked to participate/speak in a Arts in Worship class, so I've been mulling over accurately including (non-church) worship into fiction and non-fiction. The text is the justly lauded For the Beauty of the Church, which contains this gem from screenwriter Barbara Nicolosi:

"Artists genuinely perceive spiritual realities, and then they open up their mouths and speak in metaphor because they don't kjnow how else to get through to the rest of us who are so obtuse."

Finding the correct metaphors so that non-spiritually thinking humans can comprehend, then understand, then experience is our biggest spiritual challenge. Placing those metaphors into a fantastic story within beautiful sentences makes it even harder. But I refuse to accept it can't be done.

It's more likely some Christians with writing talent are refusing their mission field because it is hard, frustrating and we have to learn a new language (metaphors) that doesn't come easily and in many ways, is still being created.

Still, what an honor to be part of the team God entrusts to create a vibrant language! It's how we choose to see it I suppose.

Appendix A: Twain is the Day, Mehlville the Night

2011-01-19T23:11:00.000-08:00

Despite the overwhelming applause of the Cognoscenti, I find Roberto Bolano wildly inconsistent. Granted, I haven't tackled any of his novels, but I've read enough of his short stories to not be smitten. That said, there's obviously a penetrating intelligence behind his writings.

This paragraph about North American literature from an interview seems especially astute.