About This Blog
There are lots of people out there making money telling other people how to make money writing. This blog is not one of those.
My intentions for this blog are to make a safe place for writers, particularly writers of faith, to think about the craft, think about why God may have given them a talent for it (Matthew 25:14), and maybe talk to others in the craft without having to apologize or pull punches because they are writing with a faith basis. The writers’ group I attend is very diverse. I have felt that pressure and know it can be intimidating. (One night I realized I was the only “straight” person in the room and my story included a couple fighting sexual temptation.)
I hope to provide some encouragement, some writing ideas, and help folks find their voice.
Oh, and I would like to promote my work and yours. After all, 1 Tim 5:18 says, “‘You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain’, and ‘the laborer is worthy of his wages.'”
Check in once in a while (subscribe!) and “Let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.” (Romans 14:19) Writing is hard work. Let’s give each other a hand.
But why listen to me?
Who am I? The question of the ages. Am I defined by my location, my education, my family, my career(s), my delights, my denomination, my critics? They are certainly contributors to what I am today but who was I before their influence made me who I am? I try to remember and all I get are the highs and lows. One thing I know is, I wish I was seventeen again with all that to life in front of me.
Here are the facts. Will you deduce a substance or perhaps unconsciously express your own prejudices with a generalization? Let’s see.
Baby boomer – I am an Army brat who lived in nine states and Japan before I graduated from UColorado with a degree in Broadcast Journalism. I married my high school sweetheart in college and fifty years later we have three sons and seven grandchildren. We did a lot of Scouts, little league soccer coaching and ran a massive youth teen group.
Soldier – I did twenty-one years active duty adding four more states where I lived and another dozen that I visited on Army business. I missed Vietnam, but did a year in Korea and was deployed to seven more countries on various missions. I quit after seven years, but joined the National Guard to supplement my teacher’s salary. After seven years of teaching, I went back to the Army to earn a decent retirement check: one of the smartest things I ever did.
Teacher – I entered UOregon for a teaching certificate and spent seven years teaching high school English and Journalism in Hillsboro, OR. Back on active duty I served four years teaching ROTC at UIdaho. After I retired from the Army I taught high school English and Social Studies in Olympia, WA for seven more years.
Hobbies – I once was, and still wish I could be, an avid surfer. (Dad was stationed four years in Hawaii. We got to go with him! Since then I’ve caught waves on both coasts and two foreign countries.) Surfers turn to sailing and my wife and I are avid sailors temporarily grounded by family medical issues. I picked up a blackbelt in Tae Kwan Do in Korea, play Fantasy Football (for fun), and read. (Historical fiction and SciFi through my twenties, less SciFi since then, but an occasional dive into Tolkien-like fantasy. As a teacher I have read several classics to death.)
Writing – I’ve written news broadcasts, made movies (I’m that old.) and videos for the Army. I won a contest to write twelve opinion columns for the state capital’s newspaper. I’ve written a couple dozen magazine articles for two international and several regional boating magazines. (They paid our moorage bills for three wonderful summers.) I have a dozen finished short stories in search of a market and one finished book heading to the presses. I am a member of the Olympia Writers Group and a two-time short story judge for the Pacific Northwest Writers’ Conference.
Faith – Overlaying all the facts is a faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior and my only hope for life after this life. It did not come easily to me and it has grown slowly into a real THING in my life. We did a lot of youth group stuff as we followed my careers and one church even made me a deacon. My first stories are entirely secular. My current work is not. They measure my spiritual growth. I will continue to try to publish all of it. (There is nothing wrong with secular writing per se, even though there is a lot of secular writing that panders to the sinful. Intent is the key. Do you go on a date to enjoy someone’s company or seduce them?) My spiritual growth gave me courage when teaching, training for my future, and shelter from the storms. God has a plan for us all and I can see it best looking back. I am sad for people who do not have that strap on the subway of life to hang on to. Seek and ye shall find. It happened to me.
So…who am I? Just a teacher trying to encourage and guide those behind me. I am in John Eldridge’s last stages of a man’s growth and while it may not be the role I would have picked, I am glad God still has a role for me. He has one for you too. Let’s find it.