There are some writers who believe you have to write every day. If you don’t, you’re not a writer. I know: I heard that a lot in my early years writing. And it depressed me because I’m not that type of writer. I can’t sit down and just start writing if I don’t have a … More Between Projects: When I’m Not Writing
This morning I read through the last few chapters of my latest book project. What at one time was a pipe dream, then a half-cocked dream, then a cobbled-together concept, then an ugly step-child is now almost ready to meet the world. Funny how that works. Sometimes it doesn’t, but boy, when it does, I … More The Miracle of Creation
I’m sitting here in my easy chair, nursing my wounds after a tree got back at me yesterday for cutting off one of its branches. I thought I had positioned myself safely, but when the branch broke free, it smacked me square in the face and broke my nose. I ended up going into the … More A Little Cake, A Little Humble Pie
Writing is a solitary pastime, or so I’ve been told. You spend a lot of time staring at either a blank page or a blinking cursor, wishing words onto a page. “Writing is easy,” said journalist Red Smith in 1949. “All you do is open a vein and bleed.” From my experience, writing can be … More Why You Should Never Write Alone
The hard thing about writing Christian novels–and this is a self-imposed standard, mind you–is that for the novel to be good, it has to (1) have a good story, and (2) have a spiritual message. That’s not always easy to manage, and one finds many Christian novels out there that are good in one or … More Shuffling the Cards
After a year of not writing, I am back in front of the keyboard, working on book #26. I use the term working loosely for two reasons. First, because like most writers, I am finding every excuse in the book to procrastinate and do everything else but write. I tolerate that to a certain degree … More Shaking off the Cobwebs
It’s been a year since I left teaching, and I miss it. One of the things I miss the most is my student writer’s club that met every Thursday, Rough Writers. We’d get together and plan events, do writing exercises, and most importantly, critique each other’s ongoing writing projects. What I got a kick out … More Why You Should/Should Not Write a Book Series
Necessity is the mother of invention. –English Proverb I was in my car this evening, driving back home after dropping my grandsons off, when Paul Simon came on the radio singing his song, “Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover.” To paraphrase a section of the song, he has a woman trying to convince him that … More Fifty Ways to…Write a Book
I’ve been staring at the last two chapters of my latest book project, and I know what I need to write. But I have stage fright. I know exactly what needs to go there, and after months of labor, it’s exciting to know that I am that close to finishing the rough draft. And yet, … More The Easiest–and Hardest–Chapters to Write
Face it. Sometimes writing is hard work. Actually, a lot of times it’s hard. When you have to drag yourself out of bed early in the morning to have some time to work on that novel, that’s not always so fun. When the words don’t come, that’s not fun. And when you’re sitting in front … More When the Story Comes to You
The Great Adventure 