A few days ago, I came across a Facebook announcement from a Baptist church near where I live. The church was announcing the return of something called Bible 101 at a local public middle school. The post emphasized that the class was optional. That word caught my attention. Optional. It is a reassuring word. Nobody… Continue reading What Does “Optional” Actually Settle?
The Pencil’s Edge
When Another Word Doesn’t Help
I’ve spent much of this week working on I Dare You, Teacher, a book I first wrote years ago and have now substantially revised. Some of the work has involved large questions. What is this book really trying to say? Where does it sound too much like the courtroom lawyer I once was? Am I… Continue reading When Another Word Doesn’t Help
What Is Actually on the Shelf?
I have an odd habit at night. I reread my own novels. I’ve been doing it for years, and I suppose there are several reasons for it. I enjoy returning to the characters. I notice things I would write differently now. Sometimes I remember exactly where I was when I wrote a particular scene; other… Continue reading What Is Actually on the Shelf?
What Revision Asks Us to Let Go
I’ve spent a good bit of time lately going back through writing I did months ago, particularly early work on the Billy and Molly series and I Dare You, Teacher. It’s an interesting experience, reading something you remember writing but no longer seeing it quite the way you did when you wrote it. Some of… Continue reading What Revision Asks Us to Let Go
The Person Behind the Label
This week I’ve been moving back and forth among three writing projects: the Billy and Molly series, I Dare You, Teacher, and The Boaz Superstition. They’re very different projects, but I’ve noticed something happening in all three. I’m having a harder time putting people into neat little boxes. That’s probably a good thing. Take Billy… Continue reading The Person Behind the Label
What Story Can Do That Argument Cannot
This week I found myself moving back and forth between two very different writing projects. One was the Billy and Molly series. The other was I Dare You, Teacher. One is fiction. The other is nonfiction. Yet each revision kept teaching me the same lesson. Whenever I stopped trying to explain an idea and started… Continue reading What Story Can Do That Argument Cannot
Standing Beside the Witness
What writing has been teaching me lately. This week, while working on both the Billy and Molly series and I Dare You, Teacher, I realized how much my own writing has changed. Months ago, I often approached difficult ideas the way a courtroom lawyer approaches a witness. My instinct was to expose contradictions, challenge assumptions,… Continue reading Standing Beside the Witness
The Measure of Value
Some things reward us immediately. A smile returned. A thank-you from a friend. A task completed before lunch. We naturally enjoy those moments because they reassure us that our effort mattered. But much of what gives life its deepest meaning doesn’t work that way. Planting a tree is an act of faith. The person who… Continue reading The Measure of Value
Thought Is Not the Same as Attention
Some people spend their lives thinking. Others spend their lives paying attention. At first glance, those sound like the same thing. They are not. It is possible to think all day without noticing very much. Our minds are remarkably good at replaying old conversations, rehearsing future ones, defending our opinions, and solving problems that have… Continue reading Thought Is Not the Same as Attention
The Stories That Stay With Us
There are novels I barely remember. I enjoyed them while I was reading them. I turned the last page, placed them back on the shelf, and eventually forgot almost everything about them. Then there are other stories. Years later, I can still picture a particular scene. I still remember a conversation between two characters. Sometimes… Continue reading The Stories That Stay With Us
The Pencil-Driven Life 