When I listed on my bio on Twitter a couple of years ago that I write Christian suspense, one of the writers who connected with me asked (partly in jest and partly serious, I think), “What is Christian suspense?” I then had to explain that a Christian suspense novel is like any other suspense novel, … More How to Write a Christian Thriller
Armada by Ernest Cline. 372 pages. Broadway Books. Armada is a classic example of when you buy a book by an author simply because they hit it out of the park on another book that they wrote. It’s also an example of a one-hit wonder. Here’s the Amazon description: From the author of Ready Player One, … More Review: “Armada” by Ernest Cline
Supraphysica by Drew Boudreaux. Amazon Digital Services. 384 pages. In the process of interacting with a group of fellow Christian speculative fiction writers on Goodreads, I met Drew Boudreaux, who convinced me to read and review his book Supraphysica. It had two things in it that I really like (actually more than that, but I … More Review: “Supraphysica” by Drew Boudreaux
Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith by Anne LaMott. Pantheon Books. 276 pages. I first met and fell in love with Anne LaMott when a fellow writer recommended her book Bird by Bird as a book on writing. I read it and promptly adopted it as a textbook for one of my writing classes. LaMott … More Review: “Traveling Mercies” by Anne LaMott
One of the bad–and good–things about teaching other people how to write is that you have to stop and think about the process yourself. I’ve been teaching writing as a professor now for about 20 years, and taught writing workshops before that, so I have a little practice. But even so, I find myself scratching … More How do I do this? I really don’t know.
Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey. 532 pages. Orbit Books. If you’re a fan of The Expanse on SyFy or the book series, you’ll be familiar with the byline of James S.A. Corey, who writes the terrific futuristic series about mankind expanding beyond the solar system and fighting among itself. This is the fifth book … More Review: “Nemesis Games” by James S.A. Corey
It’s my week off for Thanksgiving break, and I have a to-do list a mile long. I also feel like doing nothing. It’s also National Novel Writing Month. For those who aren’t familiar with it, that’s when I and a hundred thousand other crazies pledge to write a 50,000-word novel during the 30 days of … More Raking Leaves and Telling Stories
NaNoWriMo is halfway completed, and so am I. Sort of. Well, I have almost 25,000 words written, but the book isn’t anywhere near halfway done. In fact, when the rough draft is done, as any of you who have written a book know, the work is just getting started. I mentioned on Twitter the other … More Halfway There
We just got back from Houston last night, where in case you didn’t hear all the hoopla, my two department colleagues and I won an Emmy. Yes, you heard that right. I have to qualify that by saying that it was a regional Emmy, just for the state of Texas. And qualify it even more, … More A Glimpse of Grace
NaNoWriMo is coming along swimmingly. So far, I’m ahead of schedule. I’m not killing myself off, both because I don’t have to and because I don’t want the quality of my writing to suffer (too much). But I wanted to take a moment to think about projects that didn’t make the cut. Sometimes you write … More Where do you bury the bodies?
The Great Adventure 