Either about writing or using stories for teaching.
I told a friend, Dorothy, about the main character in my novel, True Status. He is skeptical about God’s goodness and power. Dorothy (not her real name) has devoted her professional life to the care of mentally and physically disabled adults. Dorothy said, “I have a problem believing in a God that allows innocent people like babies to be raped and murdered.” “God makes people responsible,” I said, “for what they do. God gives all…
The first draft of my novel, True Status, consisted of 62,000 words. When I rewrote the story, I slashed 23,000 words and added 47,000 new words. An improved story of 86,000 words resulted. My editor urged me to make the manuscript better, so more rewriting and pruning followed until I trimmed another 10,000 words. Figuring out what to add and what to remove made all the difference. Anything that did not advance the story or…
My sister told us the story of the Black Skeleton. It was a true story, but here is my fictionalized version. A woman named Davia attended a birthday party, and she lost herself in music and dancing until she noticed a black skeleton standing in the next room. The skeleton sent a chill through Davia. Why wear such a creepy getup to a birthday party? She tried to ignore it and returned her focus to…
My debut novel, True Status, is scheduled for a mid-summer release. Will you join my launch team to make sure as many readers as possible are aware of True Status? It is a mysterious and entertaining story with a little romance thrown in. True Status is also the story of God’s pursuit of every human heart with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Primary jobs of a launch team What you get How you join the…
On September 26, 2022, I signed a contract with Elk Lake Publishing, a traditional publisher, to publish my debut novel, True Status. It should be available in spring 2023. I’m grateful to God to have reached this point. I hope my journey will encourage you on yours. My efforts began in January 2018 after Jillian, our youngest, enrolled in a creative writing course. Jillian’s comments about the class were intriguing enough for me to…
If you didn’t read “Frankie was a thief – Part 1”, stop, go and read Part 1 first. It is the previous post. Frankie was a thief – Part 2 (One year later.) You receive an e-mail from Joe Aniskusko. Joe is an elder at a congregation in Schenectady, NY. You and Joe once worked together and became really close friends. In fact, Joe is the one who led you to Christ. Over the years…
If you’re a Bible teacher, you may want to develop problems and scenarios that help your students understand spiritual concepts or identify with biblical situations. I wrote this fictional story several years ago to introduce a young-adult class to a certain book of the Bible. It’s written in the second person point of view so you, the reader, are a character in the story. Following the story are some discussion questions I used with my…
Have you ever thought about what kind of world we would have today if Adam and Eve had not sinned? I have been thinking about that for a while, because that subject will be the focus of my next novel. My working title is A Better Place. I think it will take me a long time to write, since it is so hard to imagine a world in which sin does not dominant. What do…
I read a passage from the Old Testament and it made think about the different understanding God’s people had about life after death in the Old Testament versus the New Testament. Below is a fictional story inspired by an Old Testament scripture. Try to determine which Old Testament event inspired this story. Think about the differences and similarities in both life and life after death presented by each of the dreams. First Dream The night…
Conflict is one thing most of us hate. In fact, there are some people we would rather kill than have an open conflict with them. Isn’t that an extreme statement? Sadly, I think it is a true statement. We may not kill them physically, but we assassinate them in our heart and with our words to other people. William Blake, an 18th century English poet, wrote a poem that beautifully captures the process of unresolved…