life. faithful.

So, I haven't been keeping up with things here on the blog for a while--sorry about that. I'll try to do better! To be honest, I don't really have a lot to say today, either. I just wanted to drop a quick note to let you in on what I've been up to lately. As tends to be the case, I've got a few irons in the fire (maybe too many, but that's pretty par for the course around here)... I've started working on book 2 of the Sons of Tundyel series. It's called The Darkness and continues the story of Paodin and Syndria where The Prophecy left off. I'm enjoying writing it, even though I have to admit that I'm a bit surprised by where this story has taken me. Here's the tentative cover: I'm also in the planning stages of a new devotional. Right now it's called Walking with Peter: following the Way when you can't see the path. Kind of a long title when you include the subtitle, but things could change. Here's a tentative cover...

"Writers are not just people who sit down and write. They hazard themselves. Every time you compose a book your composition of yourself is at stake." ~E.L. Doctorow "What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God." ~Elanor Powell "This writing that you do, that so thrills you, that so rocks and exhilarates you, as if you were dancing next to the band, is barely audible to anyone else." ~Annie Dillard, THE WRITING LIFE A student was sent to talk to my dad a while back. She had said she wanted to be a writer, so the high school counselor told her to talk to Pop. After all, since I had written a book surely he could tell her all she needed to know about how I had done it. She asked him how I became a writer, in answer to which I'm pretty sure he laughed. He told her that I had been writing and telling stories since I was little (I can still remember taking from the time I came home until dinner was finished one ...

"That's not really my thing, but it's neat that you wrote a book!" It's always said with a smile, and I'm sure the people saying it are genuinely being nice, but every time I hear those words it stings a little. There's a tiny place in my heart that breaks just a bit more. We start out on fairy tales--cut our teeth, so to speak, on stories of magic, sword fights, and adventure. They are the stories that fuel young imaginations, that bring a hopeful twinkle to bright, eager eyes. Tales of fantasy inspire dreams and encourage dreamers. Why, then, do we have such an aversion to them when we "grow up"? I know I don't help matters any. When someone asks me about my story THE PROPHECY I stammer and stutter. I mutter out something along the lines of, "Oh, it's just a fantasy--you know, kings and sword fights and magic and that sort of thing." Then I change the subject as quickly as possible. Mostly it's because I am inc...