What I am sharing here is the new prologue for my Christian suspense series The Champion Trilogy, which came out in May. THE DEVIL’S PLAN It might have been the boardroom of any modern high rise, complete with a walnut table, swivel chairs, and an impressive view of the cityscape. But it wasn’t located in … More “The Devil’s Plan”
In 1996, I was one of two editors responsible for the launch of a national magazine directed at Christian parents called ParentTalk. It was a labor of love, a lot of work, and our pride and joy. But from the beginning we knew that there were no guarantees. The publishing house invested $250,000 into its … More Rule #1: Have Fun
My father worked as a machinist for General Electric for about 30 years. Several times he had the opportunity to get a promotion and become a supervisor, but turned it down. He had his own shop at GE, and liked to run it his way. He used to tell me to “leave the job at … More Meditation vs. Multitasking
For about a month, we have been noticing that our DSL internet has been getting slower and slower. Over the weekend, it came to a screeching halt. When I called ATT yesterday, I got a tech support recording that tried to walk me through the repair process. The recording and I together came to the … More The Great Disconnect
I am looking forward to this weekend. My son–who is also de facto designer for me books–is coming up from Austin for a photo shoot. We have reserved the TV studio at our University with its green screen for the shoot. We plan on shooting our main characters for the two covers there, then using … More Oh Shoot!
Three to five hours a day, seven days a week, for ten years. Ten thousand hours. A million words. Any way you slice it, the road to becoming a serious writer is not done overnight. Even those overnight sensations that hit gold on their first trip to the transom have the inevitable task of answering: … More Ten Thousand Hours
I entered into the independent book publishing business with trepidation just about this time last year. This is after the publication of about eight books the old-fashioned, more traditional and more accepted way. And after a year, what’s my prognosis? Great for some, terrible for others. As for me, I follow in my father’s footsteps. … More Indie publishing. Great for some, not so great for others.
If you live anywhere in the Midwest, especially in Oklahoma or maybe Kansas, you know that some powerful weather came through yesterday. We got hit about 4 p.m. with winds that they estimate topped 70 mph. I went outside my office and took some photos of the clouds, which looked like they were ready to … More Status Quo
It wasn’t life. I had given up on life a long time ago. It was existence—barely. I took no notice of my gray, pallid, flaking skin, my putrefied face and hair, my black nails or the thick, black fluid that oozed from the sores that covered my thin body. I was only dimly aware of … More “Pinocchio”
Shelly and I finally got our Christmas present to each other this past weekend. It was four days–well, three and a half days–at the Lighthouse Inn in Rockport, Texas, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. After 38 years of marriage, we still enjoy being with each other more than any other person in the world. And … More A Matter of Priorities
The Great Adventure 