“For too long, my fragile ego has depended on the affirmation of others” The Writer’s Manifesto
What do you love to do? Take photographs? Paint? Write?
How have you let the expectations of others change what you do? How does your desire for approval or significance in the eyes of an audience affect your work?
Continue reading “The Best .99 You’ll Ever Spend”
A few days ago a friend of mine complained that the creators of the new Noah movie were planning on “playing down the religious aspects” of the story, and essentially removing God from the script.
How can that even be done? If the movie is about a man who builds a boat in order to survive a flood, and he and his family are the only survivors on the planet, the story of God is being told, whether or not God is a character in the movie or not. The Christian truths of incarnation, death, resurrection and redemption are present, whether or not the story is told straight from the Bible or “watered down.”
Continue reading “The Next “Christian” Boycott: Noah”
A few days ago I tweeted this:
It is both frightening and fun to be 33,535 words into writing a novel and still not know what happens in the end.
One of the responses I got was:
What an interesting statement. You didn’t write an outline or have an idea prior? Fascinating!
I didn’t have an outline. I do have an idea – a character, a scene and a scenario, to be exact. But I don’t know exactly where the story is going. My philosophy on creating runs along the lines of this quote by EL Doctorow: “Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” Continue reading “Are You an Outliner or a Headlighter?”
These days, the first thing I look for when our church’s band starts playing on Sunday morning is who’s on electric guitar. In the last six months or so we picked up one of the most passionate electric guitarists I’ve ever seen.
Continue reading “The Best Guitarist in the World”
I somehow thought that digging around the roots of my family tree would lead to answers. I assumed that the things I learned about my ancestors would be like the final pieces to a puzzle.
“Ah, so that’s why I bite my fingernails.”
“I knew there was someone to blame for my two cow licks and tendency to sprain my ankles.”
“Imagine that – my great-great grandfather loved to write.”
But with every unearthed answer came a new root system leading to a different part of the yard. More questions. More unknowns.
For example, my grandfather used to disappear, sometimes for an entire day. “Dad’s gone,” grandma would say, matter-of-fact, as if she had actually just said, “The milk’s run out,” or “We need more eggs.” Continue reading “The Scary Thing About Family Trees (and Their Roots)”
Thanks to everyone for submitting their most-read blog posts of June! Every month I look forward to meeting new bloggers and connecting people to my old favorites. For a complete list of reader submissions, check this post out (and if you have time, read through all of them – I just don’t have the time or space to review each one here, but they are all enjoyable reads).
Of all the posts that were submitted, these were the five that jumped out at me:
Ken Mueller’s “How I Nearly Tripled My Blog Traffic”
Ken gives us some detailed insight into growing a blog: a few helpful hints of which I needed to be reminded, and more than a few things I had never heard of before. Bloggers: check it out!
Jess Ramsey’s “Rob Bell, Mountain Dew and the Zoo”
Jess revisits this oft-discussed book, weaving in a story about her son’s concern for an injured stranger. A beautifully written post.
Alise Wright’s post about getting off the couch and running. Hilarious and inspiring.
Kristina’s “Putting the Parts Together, or Why We Should Get Naked”
From nearly-naked photo shoots to nudist beaches, Kristina addresses what’s at the heart of our discomfort with nudity – ourselves.
Shanelle’s “When Life Goes Away” (a guest post on the great Brenda Boitson’s site)
A post about miscarriage, loss and how friends can get you through tragedy.
Thanks again to everyone for taking part in the best of June.
