This Side of the Pulpit » Writing&Books
Signs from God?
I had a bad time writing the other day. It was late afternoon, I had a few moments of quiet and tried to write a little on a project I am working on and immediately got stymied. Stuck. Like mud. No, more like quicksand with a bunch of fifth-graders laughing at me. It was really bad. No more than an hour later a friend confided that he was meeting someone in the industry to talk about … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal, Theology, Writing&Books
Saying “No”, Hook-Ups and Literature
Here is a teaser from an excellent article about the “hook-up” culture and pornography’s destructive nature. The article may be found here. Nevertheless, the advent of the so-called hook-up culture has fostered expectations among young men that encounters with co-eds naturally lead to no-strings-attached sex. Sex is not preceded by an altar, commitment, “I love you”, or even a decent conversation. In a hook-up culture anonymous sex is not a scandal but, it would seem, the ideal, for when sex is depersonalized, it cannot lead to the complications associated with affection, vulnerability, and the desire to sacrifice for the good of the other person. On a related note, the biggest problem I had with the Twilight series was Jacob’s pursuit of Bella even after she … Read entire article »
Filed under: The World, Theology, Writing&Books
Saturday Night Oops
Sometimes on Saturday night about this time your pastor will take a look at his sermon and think, “This is really not very good.” It happened to me about fifteen minutes ago, and I am stewing a bit. I really wanted this one to be good, and I’m afraid I tried too hard. Tried to be subtle instead of saying what a I want to say. But it’s late, and I have family in town, staying at our home, and Sunday morning is is already beating its way around the Earth. So I will look at the sermon a few more times and try not to gag, and go tomorrow and preach it. Just preach it. The difference ten years makes is I will not re-write it, at least much. I will not let … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology, Writing&Books
Outlining and Writing
Well, my Great Idea of updated daily hasn’t quite worked out. Silly me. I’m 2000 words behind in my National Novel Writing Month project, but I’m now consistently 2000 words behind and writing everyday (again), so I’m not worried. I’ve learned something about writing fiction: I planned out the first 18000 words in scenes/phases, roughly approximating to 2-3 pages each. But that is all I had planned before November 1 shocked us all at his early arrival. Now I am past that point and sitting to write is very, very hard. I’m trying to develop the first major plot point (which should have been written about 6000 words ago) and fighting through all that, making it up as I go along is not very easy. Some writers write like that. Some just “go … Read entire article »
Filed under: Writing&Books
Tools and Toolishness
So, Scrivener for Windows was just released. Scrivener is a writing program for Macs which is immensely popular and used by hundreds of published authors. Since I use Windows machines, I’ve been out of luck to even look see what it looks like until last night. But I’m impressed. The Windows version is “early Beta” which means I discovered several bugs already, and the final release is not planned until January or February, but even at that, it is a nice piece of software. I’ve also tried using Liquid Story Binder, which is very cool…in an everything-including-the-kitchen-sink-kind-of-way, but which is not as well loved or used (Sorry, Jesse, it’s true). Mostly I’ve used, though, is a combination of Word and Microsoft Onenote to keep track of characters and events and outlines. Onenote … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology, Writing&Books
Getting to Know the Protagonist
I had my editor (Marjorie) read my short story I was all ready to post here. It’s not quite ready for prime time, sadly. So instead of a story, I thought I’d post about writing stories. I’m working on a supernatural YA novel right now. It’s about a boy who finds himself caught up in a conspiracy of aliens (or what might be aliens) trying to gain a foothold in our world. He’s got a McGuffin* that they need and is on the run with a neighbor girl. But I found myself having a problem with the main character. I really didn’t know him well enough, and feared that he was a cloudy mish-mash of myself and a childhood friend at best and a cloudy ball of cliches at worse. To make … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, Writing&Books
Right-Brained Insomnia and Convalescence
It was one of the those nights you long for the sun to rise. I was hopped up on 10 mg of Lortab after my nasal septoplasty, and being jarred awake at every lash of rain against the french doors and crack of thunder. The storms drifted in and out and around Enid all night. Around 1:30 I was awake and on a creative binge. I thought of this blog re-design, that all ten of you have no doubt already discovered. Don’t worry, I cheated and used a template again–don’t give me too much credit. I also began mentally exploring my main character for next month’s National Novel Writing Month. It will be told in the first-person I decided–the first time I’m attempting that. I’m not going to give too much away yet, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Writing&Books
Use the Library
Think of this as a Public Service Announcement. I am learning Photoshop and HTML & CSS right now and have some good resources, but am also looking into some more. Amazon doesn’t always give a good idea of what the book is really like, apart from the reviews, and our local bookstore is good but it is no Barnes & Noble–which I would give a 6/10 for selection…I’m a demanding Bookstore guy. So I found some ISBNs and titles and visited our Library. As far as Libraries go, I give a 2/10…probably the second-worst public library I’ve ever been in (The best libraries tend to be University Libraries). It’s not the employees–they are fantastic–it’s the selection, and that is a budget problem. Anyway, they didn’t have any of the books I was wondering … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal, Writing&Books
The Lutheran Study Bible: Initial Thoughts
I received my copy of The Lutheran Study Bible: English Standard Version a few days ago. It’s a huge book. I bought the hardback edition and the binding seems good. It stays open well and should hold up nicely. However, the pages are incredibly thin. Think onion-skin thin, and there is plenty of bleed-through. Not good for notes or quick page turning. Having said that, I am incredibly impressed with the book. It is simply packed with notes and helps. Everywhere. There are the usual verse-notes at the bottom of every page–generous verse-notes too, but there are also introductions to each book that address overall themes, Luther quotes, “Challenges for Readers” which introduce isogogical issues and some apologetical issues, vocabulary lists of important terms, outlines and more. Plus, each major category of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology, Writing&Books
Books!
Networked Blogs
Recent Comments
- Carl Vehse on The Horror! The Horror!
"Dixie, you are right. Scientific study that backs up the claim that alcohol and…" - Dixie on The Horror! The Horror!
"...The potential for spread of infection during this religious ritual does ex…" - Carl Vehse on The Horror! The Horror!
""I teach them that faith believes we will receive only good from the cup of t…" - Steven Anderson on Angry Faces
"You will never see a smiling runner. Ever. World without end. Why? Because runni…" - Christopher Hall on Angry Faces
"The hinged knee braces or the knee supports/brace without a hinge?…"