The Berlin Wall: A World Divided, 1961-1989. Frederick Taylor. Harper Perennial. 486 pages. This is one of those books that I finished and then hesitated, wondering exactly how I was going to review it. One one side, it did do what it said it was going to do: that is, talk about the history of … More Review: “The Berlin Wall” by Frederick Taylor
Today’s the first day of classes. Whew. It’s been a busy month since Christmas. Dec. 23 my wife got total knee replacement surgery, and since then I have bounced around from taking care of her to taking care of the house to taking care of classes for my final semester of teaching at Southwestern Adventist … More The Value of Learning by Not Thinking
I’ve never been the kind of writer who can sit down for a half hour every morning, rain or shine, seven days a week, and crank out my writing regardless of what else is going on in my life. I know there are many writers who swear you have to write every single day to … More Torn Between Three Lovers
It’s two days before Christmas, my son’s birthday, and I am sitting in the waiting room of Harris Methodist Southwest in Fort Worth, Texas. My wife, Shelly, just left me to go to the surgical wing for a total knee replacement surgery that she’s been needing and anticipating for a long time. If all goes … More There are no atheists in foxholes…or hospital waiting rooms
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
