One of the things I noticed during my 24 years of teaching at our university is a common problem that many intelligent, gifted students have. Usually, when someone is talented in one area, they also have talents in other areas as well. And then what happens is that they get to college and they find … More Two Roads Diverged
Those who write stories for a living–and those who have studied storywriting–have long been steered away from the contrivance of deus ex machina, the “god from the machine,” that is described by the Oxford Dictionary as: “an unexpected power or event saving a seemingly hopeless situation, especially as a contrived plot device in a play … More How to Write about Miracles in Christian Novels
As I have mentioned earlier in this blog, I retire at the end of this school year. I have mixed feelings about leaving teaching after 23 years in the classroom. Some things I won’t miss, such as committee meetings, office politics and dealing with students who really, really don’t want to learn or just want … More What I Will Miss: The Rough Writers
Yeah, I know. By this time, you’re sick and tired of all the political talk. Well, frankly so am I. I live in a red state (Texas) with a distinctly blue family (at least the ones under my roof). And sadly, even though the election is over (yay!), I suspect that Facebook and Twitter will … More A Red/Blue State of Mind
In between working on my own writing project and teaching university classes, sometimes I get a hankering for some good old fashioned military escapism. Sometimes it’s military sci-fi; other times it is historical. I talked Shelly into visiting the local library this past weekend and I came across Bernard Cornwell’s book, Sharpe’s Fury. I had … More Review: “Sharpe’s Fury” by Bernard Cornwell
I picked up a magazine the other day and was surprised to see an article by a friend that I knew in college a long time ago. At the end of the article, the bio said that this friend was now retired after a successful career as a professor and had recently published a book … More Wrestling with the Green Monster
The Dragon Reborn: Book 3 of the Wheel of Time Series. Robert Jordan. 704 Pages. Tor Fantasy. I don’t read a lot of fantasy books. Don’t get me wrong; my most favorite book series in the world is The Lord of the Rings. But most fantasy series can’t live up to J.R.R. Tolkien and LOTR. … More Review: “The Dragon Reborn” by Robert Jordan
Don’t get me wrong. I believe National Novel Writing Month–lovingly referred to as NaNoWriMo by the tens of thousands of its participants–is a great thing. I have participated seven times and have completed writing the required 50,000-word novel during the month of November five of those times. In fact, the first time I participated, I … More Why I Won’t Be at #NaNoWriMo This Year
There’s a term I picked up in my writing career–I’m not sure if it comes out of creative writing or newswriting. We refer to a writer “covering the waterfront” when he or she tries to write about too much at the same time. It’s a bad habit that many beginning writers–including myself–have to learn to … More Looking through that One Inch Window
I write a lot of books. And many of those are indie published. And indie books don’t have the best reputation when it comes to editing. So I try to do a lot of research on my books. The book I just finished–Never Say Die–involved a lot (a lot) of historical research having to do … More Hey, I’m not perfect. (But I try to be.)
The Great Adventure 