My latest book, The Daughter of Geth, will be released shortly. It is a prequel to The Guild trilogy. My third book, Return of the Crimson Witch, will then be released. Here's the blurb and cover for the prequel, which will also be released free for a limited time as an ebook at Smashwords and Amazon.
Saturday, September 19, 2015
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Things I Learned From Rebuilding My House...Part 2...
A while back, I acted as the builder in an improvement project on our house where, among other things, we added 900 square feet to the existing dwelling. I had never done anything like this before. I learned so much from the two year experience, that it has greatly impacted my life. This is part 2 of what I learned...
The second thing I learned was how to listen to God's voice in day to day things.
Kerri and I had each come to the conclusion that God had pointed us in the direction of doing this addition inexpensively and acting as builders ourselves, so we could stay in the house we loved and afford the extra room we needed. We pulled our own permits and had a builder friend help us with tough problems along the way.
Having no experience in carpentry, plumbing, roofing, etc., I found the need to pray...a lot! One day while I mowed the lawn, I remember asking God about a back deck project and, in particular, how to build steps. (Let me say, that I also bought books on these subjects and studied very hard later on) I hadn't started any projects yet or pulled our first permit, and the prayer was a casual kind of prayer. Kind of like, "God I don't know how to do this. What do I do?" I got a picture of a set of steps in my head that would work in the spot off the deck I needed to fix up, so I bought some power tools and some treated lumber, and built the steps. The job wasn't the best in the world, but it was solid and the steps fit. I built two more sets of steps for two other outer doors using the same pattern and did a better job. Those two sets of steps are still there and sturdy ten years later.
Until the day I prayed that prayer, I hadn't realized that God had been answering similar prayers and I didn't know it--usually He'd do it with an image or an idea. later on I had to build real stairs for the second story of the addition. These stairs I built by studying builder's guides and making my own stringers, but the lesson I learned that first day stuck with me--ask God about tough problems and expect he''ll answer, because He will.
I use the same spiritual technique when it comes to writing books. When I don't know how, I ask Him and look for the answer. Along with being studious and professional, this has helped me greatly in my growth as an author. In this manner writing has become an intricate part of my spiritual journey in this life.
The second thing I learned was how to listen to God's voice in day to day things.
Kerri and I had each come to the conclusion that God had pointed us in the direction of doing this addition inexpensively and acting as builders ourselves, so we could stay in the house we loved and afford the extra room we needed. We pulled our own permits and had a builder friend help us with tough problems along the way.
Having no experience in carpentry, plumbing, roofing, etc., I found the need to pray...a lot! One day while I mowed the lawn, I remember asking God about a back deck project and, in particular, how to build steps. (Let me say, that I also bought books on these subjects and studied very hard later on) I hadn't started any projects yet or pulled our first permit, and the prayer was a casual kind of prayer. Kind of like, "God I don't know how to do this. What do I do?" I got a picture of a set of steps in my head that would work in the spot off the deck I needed to fix up, so I bought some power tools and some treated lumber, and built the steps. The job wasn't the best in the world, but it was solid and the steps fit. I built two more sets of steps for two other outer doors using the same pattern and did a better job. Those two sets of steps are still there and sturdy ten years later.
Until the day I prayed that prayer, I hadn't realized that God had been answering similar prayers and I didn't know it--usually He'd do it with an image or an idea. later on I had to build real stairs for the second story of the addition. These stairs I built by studying builder's guides and making my own stringers, but the lesson I learned that first day stuck with me--ask God about tough problems and expect he''ll answer, because He will.
I use the same spiritual technique when it comes to writing books. When I don't know how, I ask Him and look for the answer. Along with being studious and professional, this has helped me greatly in my growth as an author. In this manner writing has become an intricate part of my spiritual journey in this life.
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Book 3 of the Guild Saga is now in formatting!
With Return of the Crimson Witch about to be released by my publisher, I suggest you read books 1 and 2 first, These Guild books rock! Here's the trailer for Book 1, The Wonk Decelerator:
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Things I Learned From Rebuilding My House...Part 1...Concentrate On the Forest One Tree At a Time
A while back, I acted as the builder in an improvement project on our house. I dug out the foundation and framed it, framed the new house, resided the old house, replaced all the windows, put on a new roof and did quite a bit of the plumbing (of course my family was there to help). It's incredible how impacting the experience of remodeling our house and adding on 900 square feet has been on my life. I really came to know God in a deeper way than anything else in my life up to that point--except the day I came to know Christ as my Savior.
I thought it would be helpful to others to pass along some of these lessons as they apply to the art of writing, and maybe, in some small way, help out other writers. I'll do this in a series until I've said what I want to say.
The first thing I learned was to see the tree and not the forest.
The job of refashioning our house was enormous and I found out I got discouraged real fast if I thought about just how much work was ahead of me, because there were no building crews--I was the crew. As a matter of fact I didn't realize I was developing high blood pressure until after I'd been working on the house for about a year. I came in one night with a headache and checked my blood pressure and it was way higher than it should have been. My blood pressure was high because I had become the kind of person who looks at the forest and not the first tree. It wasn't just my house, it was everything in my life--I was always looking at how big something was, how much was left to do, how much work I had ahead of me. It kept me unhappy.
If you look at writing this way you'll be unhappy too--you won't enjoy it. I believe God gives us gifts to enjoy and writing is a gift from God. It's not a gift of the Spirit, it's a gift of the heart. If we approach it right, we'll be happy and fulfilled. If we approach it wrong, we'll be unhappy and worried.
One night I was framing under the stars--I sometimes came home from work and then worked on the house until eleven or twelve o'clock (my neighbors loved it!) under my portable lights. I took the time to look up at the stars and for a moment I just enjoyed being there. It was a breakthrough moment for me. I realized I'd been robbing myself of enjoying working on my house. I learned to enjoy each job I had before me, just by making up my mind I was going to live a thankful life before God. Instead of complaining to Him about how much work I had to do, I thanked Him for each job I had to do along the way--building the walls and setting them, building the individual headers for the windows and doors and then framing them--I even cut the stringers for our new staircase. I thanked him for the smell of the wood and the feel of it in my hands. When I finished framing the big addition (there were two) and began on the sheathing, I stood on the peak one night, arms stretched up and fists pumping, like I'd just conquered Everest. Then I moved on to the next job. But it happened one small job at a time.
Writing is no different. A sentence becomes a paragraph, a paragraph becomes a scene, a scene becomes a chapter, a chapter becomes a draft, and a draft becomes a book--then on to editing, and it all starts over.
Take writing one tree at a time and enjoy the trip through the forest. The day will come when you'll finish and move on. The question is, did you enjoy the view along the way?
I thought it would be helpful to others to pass along some of these lessons as they apply to the art of writing, and maybe, in some small way, help out other writers. I'll do this in a series until I've said what I want to say.
The first thing I learned was to see the tree and not the forest.
The job of refashioning our house was enormous and I found out I got discouraged real fast if I thought about just how much work was ahead of me, because there were no building crews--I was the crew. As a matter of fact I didn't realize I was developing high blood pressure until after I'd been working on the house for about a year. I came in one night with a headache and checked my blood pressure and it was way higher than it should have been. My blood pressure was high because I had become the kind of person who looks at the forest and not the first tree. It wasn't just my house, it was everything in my life--I was always looking at how big something was, how much was left to do, how much work I had ahead of me. It kept me unhappy.
If you look at writing this way you'll be unhappy too--you won't enjoy it. I believe God gives us gifts to enjoy and writing is a gift from God. It's not a gift of the Spirit, it's a gift of the heart. If we approach it right, we'll be happy and fulfilled. If we approach it wrong, we'll be unhappy and worried.
One night I was framing under the stars--I sometimes came home from work and then worked on the house until eleven or twelve o'clock (my neighbors loved it!) under my portable lights. I took the time to look up at the stars and for a moment I just enjoyed being there. It was a breakthrough moment for me. I realized I'd been robbing myself of enjoying working on my house. I learned to enjoy each job I had before me, just by making up my mind I was going to live a thankful life before God. Instead of complaining to Him about how much work I had to do, I thanked Him for each job I had to do along the way--building the walls and setting them, building the individual headers for the windows and doors and then framing them--I even cut the stringers for our new staircase. I thanked him for the smell of the wood and the feel of it in my hands. When I finished framing the big addition (there were two) and began on the sheathing, I stood on the peak one night, arms stretched up and fists pumping, like I'd just conquered Everest. Then I moved on to the next job. But it happened one small job at a time.
Writing is no different. A sentence becomes a paragraph, a paragraph becomes a scene, a scene becomes a chapter, a chapter becomes a draft, and a draft becomes a book--then on to editing, and it all starts over.
Take writing one tree at a time and enjoy the trip through the forest. The day will come when you'll finish and move on. The question is, did you enjoy the view along the way?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)