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If you tell someone you’re a writer, what’s one of the first questions they ask?

Have you published any books?
Continue reading “God Never Promised You Fame”

I looked at Cade and explained the situation. His imploring eyes held just a hint of panic, as if he knew a difficult decision was about to be presented. I put my hand on his shoulder.

“You’ve had a lot of candy,” I said, letting that first sentence sink in. “You may have one more piece when we get out to the car.”

“But I want it now!”

I paused. Thought it over. Gave it the old parenting reconsideration, including the Bill Cosby mouth wrinkle. Continue reading “The Choice We Always Forget”

My Grandpa Beiler had a personality impossible to forget. I never witnessed his anger, though stories of it were legendary. What I remember of him is that he never let anyone stop him from doing what he wanted to do. I also remember that he always wore the premonition of a smile somewhere around the corners of his mouth. On Sunday afternoons he gave me a quarter to comb his hair, during which he nearly always fell asleep.

* * * * * Continue reading “Memories of a Man Who Died 20 Years Ago”

She sat there, in bed, looking around at the others. She tried to act normal, tried to disguise the panic slowly rising. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened to them that morning – they went about their routines. They stretched and eventually stood up, grabbed a bite to eat, took their time getting a drink, then finally walked outside.

Yet she still sat there, completely still. Scared to move because of what had happened earlier that morning.
Continue reading “Can You Solve Today’s Story Riddle?”

The first time I read A Prayer For Owen Meany, I found myself getting teary-eyed at the end. What a character! What a story! I had never read a novel that so perfectly illustrated for me the concepts of faith and doubt and friendship. The emotion that rose within me in that moment, as I read the end of the book, was palpable.

So when I stumbled over L’Engle’s quote in her book Walking on Water about emotion and writing, I had to stop for a moment.

“Emotion can come before writing, and after writing, but it must not be present during writing.” Madeleine L’Engle

Emotion must not be present during writing.

When’s the last time you cried or laughed out loud or got angry while reading a book?

What do you think about L’Engle’s quote, that emotion must not be present during writing?

So many fun projects approaching publication. This is an excerpt from the family history book I’m writing, My Amish Roots, which should be widely available in about three to four weeks. It’s a series of stories and reflections having to do with my ancestors, going back to the 1500s, and I also talk about what it’s like to be the first in ten generations of my family to move away from Lancaster County and to not grow up Amish:
Continue reading “What’s Happening to Your Family Stories?”