The Return

I downloaded this book for review, but didn’t get to it right away. What a sad mistake. This probably the freshest Christian writing I have read in a long time. Bravo for the author! It inspires, reveals a lost history and lets the reader inside some of the Eastern religions in a way I had not seen before. There’s an impressive group of recommendations for this book but I generally don’t pay much attention to them. For some reason I did this time and it isn’t the usual list that congratulate each other’s work. He has drawn praise from a wide range of readers. I literally anticipated reading the next page and chapter. A rare thing for me. Reading about something that some in the West have taken for granted or dismissed from the perspective of a people that did not have such a book was humbling, indicting, and awesome. It had been a long time since I have experienced such uplifting work. Read this book! is all I can say. This book was provided for me for review from BookSn...

An endorsement from Chelsea Cain on the back cover of this book says, “This book will make you smarter about the craft. Period.” I totally agree with that opinion. This is a book that covers ground I not seen in other books about how to write the novel you know you can. Maybe the other books I’d read had this information, but he explains it in a way I can understand more clearly. I discovered why one of my forays into such an endeavor was minimally successful and the other attempts much less so. There is much to commend this book to the DIY group of novelists out there. His repeated, and I mean repeated insistence, that all the core competencies must work together is so important I cannot omit it. Seems reasonable, but in the pages that surround all that insisting I found that even some of the foundational ones were weak or missing in my attempts. How about yours? Please read this book. Go the extra mile or so up front and see if he’s telling you the truth. He does cover...

Wow!  It's May already.  Not sure how that happened, but the calendar says it's so.  Part of last month was a vacation and a nice one too.  The quince, as they called it for short, came off without any major glitches and the honoree was sooo pretty in her fancy dress.  It was definitely her evening to shine.  And shine she did.  A little girl, no more.  She has officially joined the ranks of young lady.  I guess in the old days this was a signal for the suitors to line up for their evaluation as possible marriage material.  Not so nowadays, but the custom remains anyway.   Had some time in the Hill Country after the party and some relaxation was just what the doctor ordered, in a manner of speaking.  There was no doctor or any order from one, but the time was nice.  Didn't know why the skies were so hazy, but discovered later that range fires were burning all over the state.  They didn't get much news coverage,...