New Year's Music
So it is left to me to have the auspicious honor of ringing in 2010 on Word! The topic this month is regarding the use or lack of use of music in writing. Now, to be sure, I am participating in this blog in the context of a reader much more than a writer. For reading I pretty much never put on music. It doesn't bother me if music is playing in the background, but it's never a purposeful act on my part. In terms of writing I have been known to launch some tunes in order to help me stay focused on the task at hand. For this reason, it usually matches the topic (eg. writing a biblical studies paper? throw on some contemporary/alternative worship songs; writing an article for a self-published mag with a friend, some indie rock is called forth; writing toddler lesson, time for Veggie Tales Rocks or other kid selection). I also resort to classical (primarily some Bach fugues or assorted piano concertos) or jazz (Herbie Hancock, John Coltrane and Miles Davis fit the bill) at any time if focus is becoming a very great problem. I occasionally avoid heavily stringed arrangements as they can enrapture me too much! I think classical and jazz are the go tos primarily because of the lack of lyrics. This is not a very musical insight, but I am a lyrics person and if the music doesn't stay background it becomes a distraction rather than an aid. By the same token, I have my songs I really like and because I value the lyricism in these I believe they can subconsciously aid in the flow.

testing...
OK! Experiment time! The above was written in silence. What will follow is written while my iTunes is on random shuffle.

What is Calling?
I am to address another question (p.s. "Love and Some Verses" by Iron and Wine is playing in a currently DISTRACTING manner...it's total chill music...very difficult to be productive!). The other question is whether writing is my calling. There is a way in which this is easy to answer since writing is not my passion in any true sense (argh! why does iTunes hate me? Regina Spector is maintaining a totally chill mood!!). Still, I think the very idea of "calling" requires some serious defining. First of all, where do we get the idea that calling is diversified? Clearly gifts are different for each person, but I cannot find where calling makes reference to anything other than being called into covenant with God reconciled through Jesus Christ. Romans 11:29 speaks of the Israelites as a nation being called; 1 Corinthians 1:26 speaks of calling as a universal and 7:20 is interesting because circumcised and uncircumcised are spoken of as two distinct callings, but still reference is made such that calling is to be understood as being drawn into covenant with God. Also check Ephesians 1:18; 4:1-6; 2 Thess 1:11; 2 Timothy 1:9; Hebrews 3:1. All of these indicate to me that there is only one way to speak of calling and this is in reference to the fact that God has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Period.

Calling vs. Giftedness
Now why do I think this is important? Because I think confusing calling and giftedness sets people up for a faulty relationship with God and others. Calling is by definition an external act (God calls you) which does not have any guards on it (if you say God called you to preach, how can I speak to that? No other person has input on this) whereas giftedness is more internal and much more able to be assessed from the outside. Additionally, a study on giftedness quickly reveals that gifts are always operational within the context of community and for the purpose of edifying the church. One cannot (should not) operate in their gifts in a vacuum. Thus if one speaks about writing as a calling there is room for that person to think of writing as an activity which exists solely between him or her and God; however, what I would deem a more biblical definition of calling indicates that the only thing which exists solely between a person and God is salvation and the relationship engendered through this. Speaking of writing as a gift (which I think would be more appropriate) necessitates interaction with and feedback from other members of the body. There is a purpose for which one writes when this is one's gift. It is "for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love." According to these criteria then, one's writing can be judged.

That's Enough!
So apologies always for the jumble-iness!! The music was fun to have on, but the only time I think it really worked as an aid was Nick Cave's "Song for Bob" which...does not have lyrics and is not thoroughly chillaxed (which characterizes nearly all the other songs which played!). So let me know if you think these distinctions are 1. correct and 2. meaningful!

P.S.
The pic features my new glasses!

Writers Only! Join the Pact

The Ultimate Story
One of the most beautiful ways to celebrate Christmas is to read the Christmas story. Certainly there is a spiritual dimension there that is incredible. In light of this forum, I also thought about how reading the text underscores the power of story.

We know that this post-post-modern generation is programmed to love narrative, but beyond that, I think there is something in our human nature that is drawn to stories because they connect us as readers to others, whether from history, reality, or fantasy. All of this to say, Christmas is a wonderful time to remind ourselves of the importance of Apostolic writers having a voice in the world through the medium of the written word.

The New Year and Those Pesky Resolutions

As we move toward the new year, there will be the familiar talk of new year's resolutions along with the cliched non-resolution resolutions. Despite all that, I've spent the last few weeks truly rethinking my calling and my priorities. Not to get too-dear-diary, but honestly, I'm at a stage in my life where my first priority is my teaching ministry, which thankfully I'm blessed to also have as my vocation. But since it justifies every second I can spare, if I'm truly going to pursue writing as a calling, it's to the point that I'm going to have to make a sacrifice of my time and cut away some areas of my personal life.

Now why, gentle readers, am I unburdening any of this to you? It's because I imagine each of us writers coming to this crossroads sooner or later. I think this new wave of pioneering a path in the creative arts will call upon us as individuals to reassess and re-prioritize our lives around our callings. But also as a community, it will call upon us to jointly hold ourselves accountable to our callings. While I could justify giving up on my writing ministry right now were I going it alone, I am bound to a network of people--we're in this together! I'm blessed with friends who are walking with me down this journey, and it helps keep me committed to you all as well as our common goal. It's encouraging and challenging, and I'm thankful for it.

The Expatriate Writers 1920s Europe
If they could do it....

The Pact
I believe through this blog and the many conversations we writers are having with one another we have established:
1)the need for Apostolic writers,
2)that the market is open to our work,
3)that the only limitations are those we place upon ourselves through doubt or failure to practice, refine our craft, and take the vulnerable step of submitting,
4)and most importantly, we've created a system of support and idea exchange.

I believe that we are in the process of forming a pact--a commitment to God and to one another. This means first deciding within ourselves if we are really ready to sacrifice time and priorities to make this happen. That in itself forces an examination of motives--why do we want to commit to something so sacrificial in the first place? It may necessitate entering a fast to seek God's direction in prioritizing callings. We are not just writers who happen to be Apostolics; we are Apostolics who are called to write. There is a distinct spiritual component. If we are going to launch this ministry and blaze a trail for generations of Apostolic writers after us, we must do so with His unction and direction.

If God Be for Us...
I know I need your help and support--hold my feet to the fire, call me on it when I've gone weeks without writing, share your successes to lift me up when I'm discouraged and ready to give up on this effort, share ideas when you've hit a wall and figured a way over it. We form a pact to walk this journey together. And the beauty is that this is what this blog is all about. It's a pact to all pursue His will, which we believe to be a calling to write across all styles and genres.

Appreciation
Thanks to all who regularly share posts and comments. I for one can say that it is much needed and much appreciated. Happy New Year, and may God bless us each in our effort to establish an Apostolic voice through the printed word.

Appendix
Just read: Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
Currently reading: On Writing by Stephen King

An Apostolic Arts Movement?

In 90&9’s year-end cover article, we asked Apostolics of every rank and demographic to evaluate how the last decade changed the Apostolic movement, to name a highlight, and to describe the next decade’s biggest challenge. It’s a great read.

I defined the biggest change as follows: “After virtually ignoring them for our first 100+ years, there is a glimmering interest in unleashing the arts to share the Gospel. There are undernoticed efforts throughout our movement (writing, video, graphic design, live theatre), going on right now. I’m optimistic this will blossom in the next decade. After all, we have the better story.”

Artistic Revival?

Frankly, if there’s a blossoming of the arts within Pentecost over the coming generation or two, I believe they’ll look back and notice the essential seeds for that growth being planted in this first decade of the new century. For that to be true, it will take creative pioneers willing to sacrifice time, talent, and energy toward an end goal without a promise of success because that is their calling. (Yet, how different is that from Abraham’s mad wanderings through the desert because of his calling from God?)

If there’s one truth my recent trip to Italy drove home is that the arts alone provide universal access to anyone interested in story or beauty. Unbelievers cannot resist beauty. That’s why we must be contributing to its creation.

Unappreciated Calling
It also occurred to me that most of the artistic beauty in Italy is by unknowns. For every Michelangelo and Da Vinci masterpiece, there are hundreds of best efforts by the long-forgotten, yet they still touch people hundreds of years later. True, it’s easier (in one sense) for the visual and musical arts to be transported across the ages, but words are the most portable art form invented. English is in ascent, as close to a universal language as we'll have this century, guaranteeing an available audience. Words are my calling.

I’m going to make sure this unknown will be helping make the arts in the Apostolic movement more obvious than ever. I won’t be alone. The most popular elective at this year’s Forum was the “My Calling: The Arts—Is there life outside of Pentecost?” session. The room was packed with 20somethings eager to discuss writing, graphic design, music, and other artistic callings. (Frankly, we were shocked at the turn out yet we shouldn’t have been. Too many Apostolics are hungry to use their unusual talents to reach others.)

I’ve set my mind on Writing Conference I will attend, articles I will freelance, and stories I will complete (by set deadlines). That’s the only way I can prove I believe in my calling.

Appendix A: My Top 10 Books Read This Year

My top choice, then the other 9 titles divided by category.

1. Rembrandt’s Eyes by Simon Schama is a tour de force on the artistic temperament (via Rembrandt and Reubens), overlooked European history, and the beautiful paintings that still challenge us today. A thick, beautiful masterpiece full of the mysteries of creation.

Fiction

• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a classic every time I reread it.

• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne purports to be a fable about WWII, but works because it’s a fable. (Don’t see the movie first!)

• Lush Life by Richard Price purports to be a crime novel, but somehow captures the madness and danger of New York City in the Aughts.

Young Adult

• Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney will make you laugh out loud, especially when Halloween rolls around.

• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a rollicking adventure tale about a future North America that requires each region to send a lottery-chosen teenager to an annual reality show—where the teens must kill each other to survive.

Non-Fiction

• Crazylove by Francis Chan challenged me in love to rethink why I serve Jesus; after all, if our lives make sense to sinners, what type of Christians are we?

• The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria captures the geopolitical realities of this generation (and the next) without getting bogged down in minutiae. Grab it if you want to understand our world better.

• God Is . . . by David Adams Richards is the Canadian novelist’s return to faith, and a revelation that all sin’s ultimate goal is murder. Thoughtful and accessible.

• The Paris Review Interviews, Vol. II, edited by Philip Gourevitch is a dynamic collection of long-form interviews previously printed in the lit mag that created the form. Includes Faulkner, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Graham Greene, Toni Morrison, Eudora Welty and 11 more authors.

Future Me

As I was struggling to formulate a timely and interesting post for today, something both writing and end-of-the-year related came to mind—Future Me.

In a previous post, I lamented the passing of the age of letter writing in our modern age of email, IMs and texts. I remain a faithful, nostalgic believer in the power of the penned word. But Future Me, though it is technically accomplished in the form of an email, has the distinction of being a service specifically for allowing one to write a letter to one's future self. Here's how it works: You simply go to the site and write a letter to yourself to be sent at any specified date in the future. When that date arrives, you will receive your letter in your inbox. I wrote my first letter to myself in January 2008 and arranged to have it sent to me on the same date the following year. I did it again this year, so I should receive it sometime soon after the New Year.

It's an interesting type of writing. The you that writes the letter is not the same you that reads the letter a year later. The you writer is curious about the future, sets goals, assesses the present state and ponders how things will have changed. The you reader is a year wiser, has a year more of experience under the belt, and can know whether those goals were met or if any of the projections for the future materialized.

One of the writer's duties is to consider the audience. But what changes when the audience is oneself?

If you've never done Future Me, It might be an interesting experiment to try this year. Each letter becomes a landmark, a testament to the life you've lived and wish to live. It's an innovative way to evaluate the past as well as cast for the future.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Currently reading: The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx

Best Books/ Book Covers 2000-2009

Amazon is offering you a chance to vote on the Best Book Cover of 2o09! It's quite an eclectic collection, but well worth your time in perusing.

To this contest's detriment, they offer almost no design commentary, but use it to (surprise!) sell books. Alas!

Meanwhile the Abebooks crew offers their choices for best books of the Aughts. Of their 30 choices, I've read 7 (my usual percentage on most Best Books" lists, no matter from what era. But I almost read 2 others, does that count?)

What Editors Want

As I try to take the next step in my calling to a writing ministry, I have frequently used this blog to muse about tips from a writer’s perspective I think may work for other aspiring writers out there. Today I want to continue to explore strategies for strengthening our efforts to establish a community of published A/P writers, but this time from a different perspective……

An Experiment in Editing
Recently I completed a six-day stint as an editor for a special project. In a nutshell I had to collect 22 pieces (ranging from 5 to 25 pages), apply an overall formatting scheme, and then do a surface-level mechanics edit. It was extremely eye-opening to be the person on the other end of the email this time—not the lone writer hammering out a down-to-the-wire response, but the person frantically trying to chorale 22 of those lone writers.

Lessons Learned
The project had bumps along the way, and as I look back in hindsight, I realize there are some things to be gleaned from the process to apply to our publication efforts as writers. Here goes:

1. Grammar matters. Editors love, love, love clean copy that we can breeze right through. An editor should not be your personal proofreader; instead, she should be able to focus on the content and message of the piece without being distracted by careless mechanics. In addition to the extra time it adds to the editor’s job, it sends the message that you didn’t care enough about what you were saying to take the time to really read and perfect it.
   Moral: spend the extra time it takes to create error-free grammar and have others read your work to make certain it’s perfect.
   
   
2. Follow the rules. In my case, writers didn’t have any instruction or specific house rules, so submissions ran the gamut of citation styles, formatting, etc. It took quite a bit of time to try to bring them together in a uniform look for the project. From this I realized how frustrating it must be for editors who do have house rules and yet get submissions from writers who didn’t take the time to comply. I would imagine editors get so tired of correcting things that house rules clearly specify that they don’t even bother reading submissions that aren’t compliant at first glance.
   Moral: Before submitting your work to any publication or publishing house, scour its website for submission guidelines / house rules and follow them to the letter.
   
   
3. Be on time. Sigh. The hardest part of the project was hounding overdue writers. For this project there were some extenuating circumstances, which I understood, and I certainly didn’t take the overdue cases personally. However, again I got a glimpse into the life of an editor and how exasperating it must be to beg writers for files. The end result is the editor sitting up all hours of the night because the writer cut into the editor’s time before print deadline. It can come across as selfish of the writer, and after experiencing the pressure of print deadlines, I can see now why many publishers will not get anywhere near a writer who has a reputation for being bad with deadlines.

What else?
We’ve got to keep our editors happy and do all we can to make their job easy since they control our destiny with the publication or publishing house. After doing the hard work of writing, we don’t want to then turn around and blow our chances by handling the submission process poorly or antagonizing the make-or-break editor. So I’d love more insider tips from any editors out there who know the joys and frustrations of working with writers. What have I missed? Anyone out there who’s not necessarily an editor but could thing of other checklist items to add?

Recreating Acts 2:38

If you ever visit Italy, you'll return intoxicated by art. It's everywhere in every variation, but mostly visual: sculpture, fountains, mosaics, paintings of every type, statues, and students made up like interactive statues.

We recently returned from an 11-day holiday throughout central Italy, mostly in Roma and Firenze, and I returning burning with a couple of observations that apply:

Beauty will always elicit an unconscious response from the soul--Michelangelo's David is breathtaking. Neither pictures nor reproductions do it proper justice. We spent about an hour circling it from every angle, largely in awe. A few days later we were craning our necks to inhale the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Again, there's nothing like the original.

In both cases, despite my fatigue (we walked 5ish miles daily) and jet lag, different praise choruses (another art form) start circling through my mind in response to both. Nothing was in my mind, then I was suddenly singing. My soul yearned to praise the One who invented beauty just as my dazzled mind appreciated the artist's creation of beauty.

No matter our artistic abilities, they should always strive to form something beautiful so that the reader/viewer/listener's soul will respond anew to the original Creator.

Acts 2 Opportunities
The Catholics know how to reach believers and unbelievers through art. We could learn a lot from them.

The Galleria della Accademia in Florence is a small, second-rate museum with the world's most famous sculpture (David). As we were wandering through a room of unimpressive altar pieces, I spied one with flames. A large Mary sat in the middle with 6 tiny disciples on either side. It was the Day of Pentecost. The explanation below the altar piece explained that even though Pentecost was a major moment in church history, it was rarely translated into art.


I later saw a lovely bronze sculpture in the Vatican by Lello Scorzelli entitled "Pentecostale" (1967-1973 if I read it correctly). I was enraptured by the explosion over Mary and the disciples. My heart quickened. We were anxious to get to the Sistine, but this sculpture . . . it stopped me.


That night, I saw a rather unimpressive painting of Pentecost at the Guerrieri Chapel atop Roma's Spanish Steps (see top photo), but nothing else recreating Acts 2 in these two major cities of art.


Despite 1700+ years of artistic endeavors by the Catholic Church (and other religions), art has yet to create definitive moments of Pentecost. This is our opportunity. Acts 1-2 are our touchstone scriptures. We should be all over this.

Beauty Makes Believers
Art gives us the opportunity to make Christians and non-believers see Christ as we do--and be changed by the experience. It is through these cracks of artistic experience that we can touch unbelievers and help make them believers.

It's like the true story of the English professor who said (paraphrase), "I am an atheist, but when I read Flannery O'Conner, I beieve."

My writing must unveil interesting situations with real people of all stripes, including Pentecostals who are living the difference of Acts 2. It must surprise and entertain and provoke response while still attempting to create a beauty I'm not even sure I'm capable of producing. My artistic vision has a better opportunity to shine through because of art history's oversight. So does yours.

"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." -Leonard Cohen

My Mother Is a Fish

Ay, ay, ay. It's been quite a week. I planned to have my post up this weekend, but after a delayed flight and a night stranded in Houston, alas, it was not to be.

Gaping holes to be filled

I call myself a lover of literature, and I am, but it still pains me to realize how much of the greats I have yet to get a taste of. There's still a gaping hole as far as the Russians are concerned. Dostoevsky and Tolstoy are still highly-regarded yet dusty and untouched statues on a pedestal in my literary gallery. I keep saying I'll get around to them.

As I Lay Dying

But I've finally made a decent effort on filling my William Faulkner hole. Faulkner being American and Southernly connected as I am, I had no excuse not to. In my defense, I have read a few Faulkner short stories here and there, but As I Lay Dying was my first Faulkner novel experience.

I won't sit here and give a book review, and I won't talk about stream of consciousness, or how Faulkner deftly weaves the story through interconnected perspectives, or existentialism, or the famed "My mother is a fish." I'll let you read it yourself if you haven't already. But I will say that an interesting detail to me is that the main characters, "country people," perceive their speech differently than the way the "town people" perceive the country people's speech.

The power of perception

What I mean is, when the country people of the story are reporting on their own dialogue, though it is simple and sometimes ungrammatical, words are spelled correctly without consideration of accent. It's clear though colloquial. On the other hand, when the town people depict the country people's speech, 'it' becomes 'hit,' 'can' becomes 'kin' and 'where' becomes 'wher.' Just the way the town people describe the "country" dialogue makes it clear that they view the country people, if not condescendingly, in a different way than the country people view themselves.

Here it comes . . .

I like the idea of applying literary postulations to things outside of the text. I wonder about the power of perception, how there is often a disconnect between the way we perceive ourselves and the way we are perceived. I wonder if that has any implications on us, as people who strive to be Christlike. Should others' perceptions of us hold weight?

Random Assortment of Literary-ish Things

First: Thanks Chantell for cluing me in to reading "The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible--as Literally as Possible" by A. J. Adams. For general book reviews (and purchase), click here. The thing I primarily appreciate about the book is the exposure to what a fresh read of the Bible affords the reader. A further benefit, is that it underscores the truth that religious knowledge comes by means of DOING (this is amply illustrated in Adams experience with prayer). In addition to the interesting content, the book is well written in an accessible (and often tongue in cheek) humorous fashion that somehow carefully avoids any mockery or belittling of anyone's religious beliefs. This is a feat in and of itself.

Second: UGST hosted the 9th (10th? I should know this...) Symposium last month. Various papers were presented and can be accessed from the UGST website here. I did not go to all the sessions, but the paper I most highly recommend is the "Apostolic Chaplaincy in a Pluralistic World" as well as the response to this paper by Patrick Dotson. On a side, but related, note, this paper was presented concurrently with the Bernard-Segraves session on 1 Corinthians 11. Help me, but I am slightly concerned with the fate of our movement when there was far more buzz and excitement around this latter session (2 men discussing women's hair in the church) than the former which addresses how we can be "in the world, but not of it." I'm not saying there isn't or shouldn't be a place to re-examine 1 Corinthians 11, I'm just wondering about the disparity in the level of hype (my perception) around the two topics. Am I too sensitive?

Hopefully, I'll get an opportunity to add more info to things later...or maybe now's the time to have conversation!