Almost 30 years ago, I had the idea for my first book. It was a how-to book for Seventh-day Adventists entitled “Fifty-two Things to Do on Sabbath.” I was just short of 30 years old, and very unsure of myself as a writer. I sent out a letter to three publishing houses outlining my idea, … More Five of Seventy-two
I’ve always loved to write. In fifth grade, my teacher told me I would someday make a great freelance writer (I had no idea at the time what that meant, but it stuck with me). When I was in high school, my friends dubbed me the poet laureate of our class. And so I dreamed … More Quitting Your Day Job
“Know thyself.” –Socrates A few weeks ago I wrote a blog stating that you can’t learn how to write by reading other people’s writing. Well, you know how it goes: just about the time you put your foot down and make some kind of summary statement, you prove yourself wrong. I still believe that learning … More Observations and Revelations
Classes are over. Grades are turned in. My office is actually clean, even. So why aren’t I working on my novel? Yes, the idea is to switch from professor to novelist with the advent is summer. And yes, I am eager to get started writing. I even have company for my usual summer endeavors. (Thanks, … More Ready? Set? Ready? Ready?
Ok kids, if you didn’t get involved with this last summer, now’s your chance to get in on the fun. Here’s the deal: 1. The trick is to write 1,500 words a day for 30 days for a combined total of 45,000 words. 2. You don’t have to work on one item during that time. … More Announcing the 2011 30-day Summer Writing Challenge
My father died of cancer at the age of 70. His death, with about three months notice, was a shock to all of us in the family. He was a relatively quiet, very humorous, intelligent man. For the most part, he educated himself. His greatest advances in education came when, at the age of 17, … More Letters from Iwo Jima
A few days ago I was sitting in faculty meeting, where our University President Eric Anderson was talking about a session that he attended at the World Headquarters of Seventh-day Adventists in Silver Spring, Maryland. One of the items under discussion at that meeting in Maryland was a proposal to print 50 million copies of … More When Books Won’t Work
It’s me again, Margaret. There’s nothing like having a bone to pick to rev up the blogging juices again. I know; I’ve been a bad, bad boy–faul, the Austrians would say–lazy. But I have every excuse in the book. Just ask me. I write books. But something a student said last week rankled me to … More Another bone to pick….
Before the new year was born, I was inspired to turn over a new leaf and get serious about my writing. I was going to have a meaningful presence on Facebook and Twitter. I was going to write a daily (daily!) blog. I was going to finish up my projects that lie waiting my resolution. … More So much for New Year’s Resolutions….
One of the most discouraging things I ever read while learning to write was the common statement: “You have to write every day to be able to call yourself a writer.” I’ve heard other variations of this. I heard someone else say, “You have to have written a million words before you can be called … More One million words
