A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: How I Learned to Live a Better Story by Donald Miller. Thomas Nelson, 2009. 257 pages. A couple of weeks ago, the University library asked me to put together a list of five books that I would recommend to students. One of those books was Blue Like Jazz … More Review: “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” by Donald Miller
The following is the result of an exercise on intimacy that my Narrative Writing class did this morning. I felt it was only fair that I participate in it as well. We sit on the back porch, he and I, facing the setting sun. And the irony of it does not escape me. His face … More “Sunset”
It is my privilege to teach writing in a university, something I thoroughly enjoy. This semester I am teaching a class called Narrative Writing, which is a lot of fun. We have 10 students who take turns submitting their short stories (at this point; novel pages later) for critique by the class. It’s tough to … More In Search of Intimacy
It’s getting close to Valentine’s Day, and Shelly and I decided to celebrate early by going to a concert at American Airlines Center in Dallas last night. The performers were Sting of “Roxanne” fame, and Paul Simon of Simon & Garfunkel fame. It was a great concert–for the most part–even though we had to pay … More In the Moment
As you probably know, I’ve committed to running an indie publishing empire since the beginning of 2012. So far, no one is getting rich, but as they say, it’s all a matter of time. And that’s the rub. I need time to write all those gorgeous books. I need even more time to edit and … More Your Most Valuable Asset
I’m a pretty driven person. I feel guilty when I am not accomplishing something. But as a writer, I have discovered the value of downtime. The mind–and the body–need time to recharge. And occasionally weather provides the excuse to do just that. You see, north Texas is currently socked in with extreme winter weather. Yesterday–Friday–I … More Downtime
When I turned 30, it was a tough year. Somewhere along the line, I’d heard someone say, “If you’re not doing what you love by the time you’re 30, you’ll never do it.” Thirty meant that I had left my teen years and innocent 20s behind me, and had to become an adult. Thirty meant … More 60
One can never really anticipate when the turning point of our life will be. In retrospect, it’s relatively easy to look back and see that our life changed for better—or worse—when we met a significant other, when we got a job, when a child was born, or maybe when we made a major decision in … More “Yesterday and Tomorrow”
I teach a class called Writing for Publication at my university, but for me, writing is writing. I never pass up the opportunity for my students to learn something new. Part of that is simply getting them to experience life–and to write–outside their comfort zone. And so this morning, I took my students to the … More Rest in Peace
I chose the title today because it seems relevant to my life since school started about a month ago. August and September are always busy for me, because the University opens and I have to hustle to prepare for classes and keep ahead of my students. This year was more so because (1) I had … More Life on the Screen
The Great Adventure 