Whose Work Is It?

According to one sociological study, it was discovered that, throughout the world, the tasks that constituted “men’s” and “women’s” work varied widely – in one culture, washing clothes was considered “men’s” work. But even though the specific tasks varied, what was oddly universal was that each culture viewed “women’s” work as less important. Now, this may be a bit of a chicken & egg conversation: that tasks deemed less important are given to women; not that tasks the women do are therefore deemed less important. But the point I want to make is two-fold: we still see this, even in contemporary “liberal” western thought; and I find little evidence to support such thinking in the Biblical view of God’s kingdom.

Adding Character to Your Novel

My new plan of revision (a revised revision plan?) is humming along nicely – it was supposed to, since the early chapters were already pretty solid. I’d say in a few weeks, as hard as I may try, I’ll be slowing down a bit. For now, the prologue and three chapters are locked in, and I’ve only started this last Saturday. So I’m pretty stoked about that. But what was really fun on Wednesday was adding some character to the novel.

How, do you ask? More thematic elements? Some symbolism to spice things up? Maybe a rip-roaring description? No, silly: by adding a character.

Trails of Literature

There’s an interesting thing about the mountain bike trails in my area: I’ve ridden three (or four if you count my parents’ property) and each place, even though within 30 miles of one another, has a distinctive feel to them. One place has ten to fifteen miles of trails, another seven, a third has near 30 I believe, and my parents have six miles. But I’d be willing to bet you could drop me blindfolded in the middle of any one of those parks, take off the blindfold, and in a few minutes of riding I could tell you exactly where I am.

A Good Imagination

I read a verse last week as part of a new devotional that reminds us that God “is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine” (Eph. 3:20, NIV, emphasis mine). And we hear awesome, amazing stories of His fulfilling that promise. But I was thinking, as I read that verse, that surely it’s getting harder for Him: after all, since reading and hearing and seeing so many awesome stories of God’s providence, I’ve got to say I’ve got a pretty good imagination.

Scent of Creativity

So, I was working on my book this past week (yay!) and something interesting happened. Let me back up: I’m still deep in the middle of revising my book, getting everything aligned with the most recent vision of the stories events, and trying to make sure that I don’t have references to past (edited out) or future (abandoned ideas) plot lines – as well as generally fixing the issue with having a lack of sub-plots.

The Three Percent

I read an interesting statistic the other day on a buoy-me-up self-publishing picture: it said, in a contextual tone to suggest this was why self-publishing is awesome, that of all the manuscripts that are received yearly by traditional publishers, only about 3% are accepted. It also mentioned that, a few years ago, 86% of all books published were self-published. What it failed to mention was what percentage of that 86% found any kind of success. How much would you like to bet that it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 3%?

What is Truth?

“Words have no inherent meaning, you know!” Every time I hear that, I have the strongest urge to continue talking to whoever uttered it in no language whatsoever. Objectively, that’s true: words are just sounds or symbols strung together. As long as you define it beforehand, any word can have any meaning you want. But subjectively, words are how we learn, communicate, and even think. Words, and their meanings, are inescapable. Without meaning, words are just sounds or symbols strung together, and accomplish no purpose.

Whack-A-Scene

Not because it's relevant...just because it's
so darn cute

Well, one week down on the new schedule. If you follow me, you know I missed this past Wednesday. There’s a very good reason for that: I hadn’t written the post on the previous Thursday like I wanted to. Because once we get into the week, all bets are most definitely off. It’s incredible the things that can pop up, and you with hammer in hand can only do your best to pop them back down.

Let's Make God More Palatable

A strange thing has been happening, lately – or maybe not so lately. I was first clued in a week or so ago when my wife pointed out to me that modern translations of the Bible had removed John 5:4. Christians condemn Jehovah’s Witnesses to eternal damnation for taking out verses, but no one has ever mentioned this to me. The verse so disagreeable that it was removed without a whimper? “—and they waited for the moving of the waters. ⁴From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had.”

Where Have You Been?

I’ve been everywhere, man; out in the desert it’s bare, man; I’ve breathed the mountain air, man… Well, okay: I’m still stuck in southwestern PA. My schedule has been shifting a bit lately, and I’m still trying to get settled into it and see where I can fit some time to write. It’s a little more cramped than the old place, but it’s cheaper. I think I found some space in the corner by the bookshelf.