I’ve never been a detail person. I consider myself a generalist, and have a reputation of getting a great deal of work done fast. The problem is that I find the details sometimes lacking when you focus on getting volumes of work done. It seems odd for me, a person with several decades’ experience as … More The Devil Is In the Details
It seems like months since I wrote END and finished the first draft of The Key of Solomon. Like all authors, I wish that was the end of it and I could just hand it off to my readers at that point. But I know that was just the beginning of the work that needed … More What Happens After
Having a form of godliness, but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. (2 Timothy 3:15 NIV) Back when I was working on my doctoral dissertation, I learned never to tell people what it was about. As soon as I told them I was writing about commodification of the World Wide Web, … More So….Why Witchcraft?
This morning, at exactly 7:15 a.m., I wrote the word END on my novel The Key of Solomon. I have finished the first draft of my latest book. Now the hard work begins. Some people love the rewrite process. I’m not one of them. I draw energy from the creative expression that comes the first … More The Writing’s Done. Now the Work Begins
I have a very bad habit. Somehow I have gotten in my mind that if I don’t finish something, then nothing bad will happen. It started when I wrote my first book. I knew that the editor was waiting for it. I put it in an envelope, addressed the envelope, put stamps on it, and … More Avoiding the Last Chapter
“Give your audience what they want, but not in the way they expect it.” –Robert McKee, Story One of the most memorable stories I have read was a book called Cryptonomicon, written by Neal Stephenson. But it was almost a book I didn’t finish. The book is about 800 pages long, like most of his … More Giving Your Readers What You Owe Them
What is the life of a writer like? First, the bad. You spend lots of lots of time alone. That’s absolutely necessary. You need time alone to write, and when you’re not writing you are reading. When you are not reading, you should be thinking, contemplating, observing. That’s hard for me, a naturally gregarious person. … More A Writer’s Life
Do you know what “awe” is? I mean, well beyond a dictionary definition of the word. Have you ever been awed? I have had times in my life when awe has overcome me, and they are moments I will always remember. Such as walking into St. Stephan’s Cathedral in Vienna with the pipe organ playing, … More Are You Awesome?
As I keep working on The Key of Solomon, the sequel to Salome’s Charger, due for release at Christmas, I’m eager to share it with you. Here’s a snippet to give you a chance to see a little bit of what it’s about: A cold northern wind had picked up and the light rain that … More Sneak Peek 2: “The Key of Solomon”
Tomorrow marks the twentieth time I will have sat through colloquium at Southwestern Adventist University. For those of you who don’t know, colloquium are the meetings that mark the beginning of another school year for the faculty of our university. Last night was our opening “banquet” (hot dogs and beans at the local ballpark), tomorrow … More Colloquium X 20 and My Latest Project
The Great Adventure 