Brief Announcement

Not long ago I started writing for another site called Bread for Beggars  where I plan to write Christian poetry and other creative writings at least once a month. I've always enjoyed creative writing and I hope that this will be another outlet for the gifts God has given me in that area. Recently I posted a poem based on Psalm 22, the Psalm that Jesus quoted from the cross...feel free to read it at Verses for the King on the Bread for Beggars site.

I'm keeping this post brief...since I have a lot of writing to do on my book as I continue to work toward my goal of a completed first draft by the end of June! I really appreciate all the support and prayers!

Friday Fun

My wife does this Friday Fun thing on her amazing health and wellness blog every week and it inspired me to do the same. I won't do it every week, but every once in a while I'll include some personal updates on what's going on in my life and things I'm thinking about and doing....just for fun.

Here goes:

In my life this week...
I've been plugging away at my writing every morning as well as going to work every day and spending a few fleeting quality moments with my amazing family at night. Wednesday I  had off work and went to the dentist for the first time in 5 years...not too bad...but a few cavities that need filling! Not too happy about that! It was fun to take my son, Malachi, he was so brave and did such a good job getting his teeth cleaned at the dentist for the first time and he was really patient waiting for me to get done with my appointment.

I am inspired by...
My wife Cara, who holds down the family fort every day with such patience, hard work, grace and creativity. I know God is using her to bless the lives of our children in countless ways every day. I'm also inspired by every single author who has ever been published....it takes so much creativity, structure and dedication to your goals to keep at it.

My favorite thing this week was...
Every night getting a chance to read books or play with my 3 adoreable kids for a little while before they go to bed.

What's working/not working for me...
Working- work is going well for the most part, my book is coming along and I have been trying to deepen the characters and work on their back story and biography so that each is unique, I can know them inside and out and create believable and interesting lives and actions for them.

Not working - being away from my family for large chunks of time, only being able to work on my book for an hour or less each morning, getting up early and staying up late is taking a bit of a toll.

Questions/thoughts I have...What was ancient Shechem (Near my character's hometown of Pirathon) like at the time I'm writing and how important was it? When is it going to really warm up outside? I can't wait for the snow to melt and the grass to get green!


Things I'm working on...Still doing a lot of research for my book so that I know the culture, timeperiod and setting thoroughly. Of course...writing every morning and trying to craft interesting, unique and vivid prose. Being a better husband and father...always.


I'm reading...Love in the present tense on Audio book as I drive to work. Interesting fiction book from the first person perspective with some good character development and flaws. Several books on Bible background information...I believe one is entitled The Way it Was in Bible Times and the other is How the people of the bible really lived. Plus other dictionaries and a biblical background encyclopedia as well as several commentaries.


I'm grateful for...The amazing support and love from my family,  fulfilling projects and goals that God has been blessing, having a job that I enjoy and that supports my family.


A photo, video, link, or quote to share: Why waste life wishing life were different than it is? Why not enjoy life by living your life today for the One who gave you life to live?

Point of View

The point of view is so important. I want you to feel like you are standing in his sandals. You can feel the leather on the bottom of your feet. Your clothing is rough, uncolored. Your diet is raw and simple. Your life is your family and your daily, almost constant work. You look out on a world that is savage and beautiful...and a society that is changing. You live in a transitional period. A king, the first king, has been ruling for some years and everything is still new. War and bloodshed is not a faraway nightmare that you can wake up and forget about, some distant news that other people experience...it is your reality today and will be tomorrow as well. Most people fit well into their family and their society, or at least they seem to. You do not. You are not one of them. You do not like your place in this society. You do not feel like you have a true home. Adventure beckons. Danger is alluring. Change is exciting. Sin is tempting. You choose. You step into your future almost all alone and unaware of where it will lead. You are lost, but you do not want to admit it. You are empty, but you have no idea how to be filled. You are both strong and weak, wise and foolish. Your experiences will make you small, challenge you, force you to grow. You will see things and be a part of moments that will be forever stamped in the record of human history. Your name is Benaiah and you are from the town of Pirathon.

I've been writing this story from the first person point of view. I toyed with writing it from the third person perspective, which is more common for fiction and has many advantages to it. Long ago I decided to go with the first person because I want to draw you in as a reader. I want you to stand where he stands and feel what he feels as if he is giving you a first-hand report, an intimate discussion of his life, his thoughts, his eyewitness account of the experiences he's been through. Several other characters will also give their firsthand accounts so that you can see, feel, experience the story from several different perspectives. I'm very excited to be working on this and eager to make even more progress this week. Can't wait to see where these characters lead me next...

Characters in the making

Believable, authentic characters that people can relate to and empathize with. That's my goal. Lately I've been focusing on getting inside of the characters even more than I have already, wearing their skin, feeling their feelings, experiencing their experiences, developing who they are and how they see the world.

There's some challenge to that...how do you get inside a character that lives in an entirely different world? The setting is ancient Israel, 1000 years before Christ...that's 3,000 years ago! They had a totally different world view, diet, manner of speaking, style of dress, daily life and tasks, and a thousand other cultural and environmental differences compared to what we have in our world today. Yes, some of my research has helped me flesh out the details...but yet so many details are missing. Yes, there will have to be some informed, creative imagination goin on in order to bring this story to life. My characters have to speak in a way that modern readers can appreciate and understand...so for the most part they are using dialogue that sounds more modern than archaic. Obviously what they talk about and even some of the idioms they use have to be relevant to their timeperiod.

On the other hand, people are people. What overcomes cultural and time-period differences is going to be real-to-life human emotions, thoughts, reactions, personality differences, conflicts, love interests, ambitions, dreams and the list goes on and on. I want you to get into the characters I create and deeply relate to them on a human level. We may live in a totally different kind of world than they did back then, but many of the flaws, emotions, fears, joys, dreams, struggles that we have today have been experienced by people throughout history. I want you to relate to Benaiah, who is a complex character with a unique personality and a difficult set of circumstances and a journey that will reveal to him the depths of his personality and his need. He has a spiritual hole in his soul that only the true God can fill. He has a deep need for love and forgiveness and spiritual peace that the world cannot give. His journey will take him to the brink of himself and challenge him physically, mentally and spritually. He will experience things that we can only imagine. His friends, his family and his fellow soldiers play a huge role in that journey and each of them are unique and interesting personalities. This is where this story is coming to life and where I am having the most fun writing it. I am enjoying developing these characters, making them come alive on the pages and telling their story. Please keep me in your prayers as I continue to write and rewrite and research and create and pray that God can use me and this project for his glory and the good of his mission in the world.

Thoughts about the struggle...

Unaccepted, disrespected and alone--three words that you never want to use to describe your life. Yet we have all experienced such things at one time or another, some more, some less. Benaiah, the main character in my book, struggles with all three, at the same time and for much of his life. His journey is full of struggle and turning points. He pushes people away trying to find himself. He seeks adventure to satisfy the gaping holes he feels within and gain the respect and admiration he desperately craves. He sets out to find himself and achieve his goals. He experiences set backs and joys, heartaches and small triumphs. His journey is a godless journey, a selfish journey and yet all along God sets out to find him and win him with his promises. God gives him people who affect him deeply and touch him with the truth. His message works quietly and steadily on a stubborn soul.
My hope is that you can relate to this struggle on some level and that it moves you deeply. God's promises are for us all, for our struggles, for our turning points. They lift our eyes from our selfish, limited, destructive infatuation with the fading things of this life and point us to a divine, sacrificial, eternal love that forgives our evil, heals our broken, and gives us unfathomably priceless gifts that endure forever!

A question for you...

What makes fiction come alive for you? What do you look for when you pick up a book and dive in for a long read? Is it non-stop action? Deep questions and issues? Learning historical information through the eyes and world of a character? A gripping plot-line? These are the kind of questions that I am thinking about as I write this book. Who is my audience? What is going to keep them interested and turning the pages?

So, I'd like to actually ask this question here and whenever you read this post, if you could post a comment or send me an email and let me know, I'd really appreciate it. Here's the questions: From your perspective what characteristics make for good historical fiction?

Thanks in advance for helping me think this through.
Blessings to you all!

Have Fun!

Why is it so easy to get too serious? I mean, I'm writing a book because I love to write and writing is one thing that I really enjoy. Yet it's so easy for me to get too serious about it. Am I writing this so people will enjoy it? Do I have the research right on this or that point? Does that sound dumb? Does this character make sense? Is this plotline any good at all? And my mind does tailspins trying to get each question just right. Yes...those are all good, necessary questions, but lately I've been drowing in seriousness and forgetting that this is a fun project. Maybe other things from life are creeping into my writing process. Maybe I get up in the morning when I'd rather be sleeping and I'm drowsy. Maybe...and this is probably it...I'm just getting caught up in the wrong perspective about this. Have fun! It's that simple. Just write and stop thinking and worrying about the silly details. I think half my writer's block lately is because I've stopped allowing myself to have fun and releasing my creativity to simply go wherever it wants. So this next week my goal is to let loose and have fun and stop overthinking everything.
We all need that reminder from time to time. It is so easy to get too serious about everything. We are the ones who turn the daily jobs into drudgery. We do it to ourselves. With a shift of perspective we can make anything enjoyable. Turn it into a game. Imagine it in a different way. Find the humor in it. Laugh instead of worry. Smile instead of groan. Instead of "I've got to get through this" think "where is the opportunity to enjoy this?" How can we be positive and have fun regardless of circumstances or tough work ahead? We're free. We're forgiven. We're covered by God's grace. Life isn't all about us or about our supposed earlthy "success" anyway. It's about Him. It's about love. It's about a future gauranteed to all who, by God's grace and work, believe in his Son and all he's done to save sinners. How can we not have fun and find fun in our every day work? And when life truly isn't fun and the tough times really grind on us...we have a joy that runs deeper than any earthly circumstance can touch. We have God's love in Christ and that's all we need for this life and the next. So let's let loose, live each day for Him and have fun doing it.