There’s no good way to tell a Christian story. The gospel is perennially uncool. Any story that points to the gospel runs the risk of inheriting its uncoolness. A Christian yarn may end up sounding like a sermon. It may come across as moralizing, over-hopeful, or lacking the secular sheen that modern readers demand. A [...]
Also posted in culture, faith
The most striking thing about the modern world is that our ability to live as we want has far outstripped our ability to live well or wisely. Ours is the most advanced society in history—where technology is concerned. But in our art, architecture, philosophy, public discourse—or even ordinary concerns like romance or happiness—we are infants [...]
A few weeks ago I moved my blog from Blogger to WordPress. I wish I had done it sooner. WordPress is not only a better blogging platform, it belongs in a whole different plane of blogging platform. Here are some of the reasons I switched.
I’ve resolved to blog every morning this summer. If you look around this site a bit you’ll see I have plenty to say. In fact it hurts to hold it in. So it’s a kind of relief to get some thoughts down each day. I enjoy the interaction as well. Getting thoughts down is one [...]
A couple of years ago I took a course in journalism from Kindred Spirit editor Sandi Glahn. On the first day of class she established, to the shock and horror of the students, a rule I’ll refer to as Glahn’s Law. It’s simple. Glahn’s Law: No Be Verbs In all our writing for class we [...]
Mike Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, talked recently about how they choose which books to publish. He reveals two key criteria: brand equity and competitive advantage. Brand equity asks, “Will people buy this book because they recognize the author?” Competitive advantage asks, “Will people buy this book because it has great writing and ideas?” [...]
Also posted in books, games
Christian book publisher Thomas Nelson laid off a tenth of their work force this week. Their president and CEO, Mike Hyatt, has been blogging about the decision. His candor and openness are quite refreshing—not to mention educational for aspiring authors like me. He gives us an glimpse into the tough inner world of book publishing. [...]
Also posted in books, faith
Writing is terrifying. It shouldn’t be, but it is. I’ve got no kind of public, yet I can’t stop wondering what people will think. I’m on no kind of stage, yet I’ve got stage fright. I’m already embarrassed about mistakes I haven’t even written yet. Consequently, often when I sit down to write, I end [...]
I have just translated my first Hebrew passage and it has made me absolutely giddy. I’m embarrassed to admit that an academic exercise could fill me with such delight, but there it is. Up until this point, I’ve parsed individual words and translated single sentences. Today was first time I translated a whole block of [...]
On Wednesday I wrote the article friends have told me to write for years. It tells how I suffered from depression between the ages of eleven and thirty-one, and the miraculous way I came out of it. I know a lot of people who struggle with depression, though not a lot of them talk about [...]
Also posted in technology
