A father enrolled his son in a private Christian school, but soon became frustrated. He approached the schoolmaster and queried him regarding the child’s lack of immediate spiritual growth. “Oaks require decades to reach maturity,” said the schoolmaster. “Cabbages, only months.” The same is true about good writing — it takes time. Unlike cabbages, most [...]
I’m in the process of updating the Links section of my site. When I made the switch to Thesis several months back, that was one of the projects I kind of put on hold. I’ve renamed it Resources (as you can see in the Tabs above the header) and the categories include Writing & Publishing [...]
Over the course of writing “The Resurrection,” questions and speculation regarding the nature of a certain character — let’s call him a “ghost” — have repeatedly been proffered. Some “test” readers went so far as to suggest that Christian publishers, because of the ambiguity of the character, might hedge on the book. Once again, I [...]
This week, my friend and critique partner Merrie Destefano‘s debut novel, Afterlife: The Resurrection Chronicles hits stores. Merrie is a terrific writer and a wonderful person. And her book’s getting some great reviews. I recently had a chance, rather impromptu, to sit down with Merrie and ask her a few questions. Here’s some snippets from that [...]
“So is your novel plot-driven or character-driven?” I was asked that question recently and, after fumbling around a bit, said, “Well, it’s about a character who finds herself in a plot. So what would you call that?” Okay, so I have never quite gotten my mind around the plot versus character debate, nor have I [...]
There is much discussion about formulaic book covers. And the Christian publishing industry is not above such criticism. Nevertheless, there’s still some great cover art being developed for Christian novels. Here’s ten of my recent favorites from just released or to soon-to-be released novels. Any you would add to this list? Any that you would [...]
I suppose I should be glad that young adults are reading Christian speculative fiction. But the truth is, I’m disheartened. Why? It’s not translating into more adult Christian speculative fiction. My friend Becky Miller sponsors The Clive Staples Award (CSA), a readers choice award recognizing the best in Christian Speculative Fiction. She recently unveiled The [...]
This morning, my best friend and I are off to celebrate a rather remarkable feat. You see, Lisa and I have been married thirty years! I’m not sure how anyone can reach this point and not attribute it to divine assistance. Folks, this is truly a “beauty for ashes” story. We were two lost kids [...]
So I’ve been working on the Acknowledgments section for my novel. It’s a little more difficult than you might imagine. You see, the longer you think about people who have helped you get to where you are, the bigger the list will grow. This is interesting for one simple reason: Writing is typically portrayed as [...]
Designer spirituality is en vogue these days. No longer must we be pigeon-holed by creeds or traditions. In our postmodern age, “spirituality” can mean just about anything we want. Case in point: “Spiritual” atheists. In USA Today’s Spirituality Can Bridge Science-Religion Divide, Chris Mooney author of Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future, argues [...]
