Accepting a Short Story Challenge

Like most if not all writers, I follow several writers who post and talk about the craft of writing. Like other writers, it’s helpful, encouraging, and instructive to see what others, Christian and non-Christian alike, are struggling with, learning, sharing, and figuring out. 

I published my last book in late 2024.  What followed was period of exhaustion. Writing that book had been an intense experience; the research had begun in 2016 and continued through the writing of two other novels and deepened in the final two years. The published book includes nine pages of bibliography. I’d never written historical fiction before, and it was one of the most intense writing experiences of my life. Through the process, my respect for writers of historical fiction grew exponentially. 

To continue reading, please see my post today at the ACFW blog. 

 

Top photograph by Toa Heftiba via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Wednesday Readings

 

Morning Desire – Brian Miller at Notes from an East Tennessee Farmer.

 

Are You Looking for Magic? – Terry Whalin at The Writing Life.

 

Dorothy Sayers Is the Answer to John Dewey – Jesse Sumpter at The Imaginative Conservative. 

 

A Record of Writer’s Rush – Andrew Roycroft at New Grub Street.

When You Hit a Writing Drought

Since the time I was a reporter for my college newspaper, longer ago than I care to admit, writing has been an integral part of my life. I’ve been a reporter, editor, newsletter editor, speechwriter, public relations manager, novelist, short story writer, non-fiction book author, blogger, book reviewer, essayist, poet, and more. Writing has been central in every job I held and every employer I worked for. 

I never had time for writer’s block. A speech had to be written. News releases had deadlines. Contracts had to be met. Employers had expectations (or demands, often unreasonable). I might have a project where I had to pause to understand the challenge fully, but I’d figure out a way through it.

 

What I’ve had for the last year isn’t writer’s block. I still blog, write book reviews, and even write a few short stories. But the flood of writing that’s carried me for 50-plus years has slowed considerably. It’s less of a block and more of a “moderate drought.”

To continue reading, please see my post today at the ACFW blog.

 

Photograph by Glenn Carstens-Peters via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Wednesday Readings

 

Micro Monday #56: Cuba, Missouri, 1961 – short fiction by Tom Darin Liskey at Fictive Dream.

 

Murders for May – Jeremy Black at The Critic Magazine.

 

‘Institutional Poverty’ in Charles Dickens and Barbara Kingsolver – Susan Bruxvoort Lipscomb at Mere Orthodoxy.

Forgetting All the Illustrations I Studied for a Non-Illustrated Book

My historical novel Brookhaven has no illustrations. I spent an estimated third of my research time hunting for them. 

The novel is set in two different time periods – the Civil War and immediately after, and then 50 years later, in 1915. From the beginning of the first draft, I quickly learned that I had to see both periods. I had to see what people wore, what they ate, how they traveled, what their homes were like, what their streets and communities were like, and more. 

 

From early on, I had to spend far more time looking than reading, and vastly more time looking than writing. Thos 50 years were some of the momentous in American history – rapid industrialization during the war and after, wagons and carriages giving way to automobiles, the advent of flight, the rapid spread of newspapers supported by wire services like Associated Press, rapid changes in the position of women in society, and mechanized agriculture becoming the rule rather than the exception.

To continue reading, please see my post today at the ACFW Blog.

Illustration: Men's golfing clothes in 1915.

Research Doesn't Stop with Publication

It was a year ago that the manuscript for my historical novel was attached to an email and sent to the publisher who requested it. I felt an incredible sense of relief. The thing was done. I could take a break from literally years of reading and research about the Civil War. Nine years of reading and research.  

I had started this even before I’d thought about writing a historical novel. I started reading about the Civil War because I was interested in it. It was only when I stumbled across an event called Grierson’s Raid, a Union cavalry raid in 1863 that the idea for a novel arose. The raid began at the border between Mississippi and Tennessee, swept down through the state, and eventually ended at Baton Rouge in Louisiana. It was designed as a diversion for Ulysses S Grant to quietly move his Union army across the Mississippi and attack Vicksburg from the east.

 

My ancestors had experienced that raid. They lived in the Brookhaven, Mississippi, area, one of sites that Grierson’s raiders had visited.

 

I researched everything I could about the raid and the broader war. Once I knew I would be writing a novel, my research intensified. By the time I sent the email to the publisher, I was close to exhausted, at least mentally.

To continue reading, please see my post today at the ACFW Blog. 

Some Wednesday Readings

 

The Grand Review – Josh Frye at Emerging Civil War.

 

What If Collapse Has Already Happened? – Brian Miller at Notes from an East Tennessee Farmer.

 

Murders for May – Jeremy Black at The Critic Magazine.

 

Kazuo Ishiguro Reflects on Never Let Me Go Twenty Years Later – at Literary Hub.

 

Murder and the Imagination – Andrew Klavan at The New Jerusalem.

How My Novel Originated in the Family Bible

When I was young child, I asked my father what the package was that sat on a shelf in his closet. It was wrapped in brown grocery bag paper and tied with twine. “That,” he said, “is the family Bible, and one day it will be yours.” 

That day came during a visit home to New Orleans about 25 years later. Apologizing for the sorry state it was in, my father thought I might find someone in St. Louis to restore it. Instead, I did the time-honored thing and put in on a closet shelf. I did find a conservation box to store it in, and I did handwrite a copy of the four pages of family records. But it sat on the shelf, just as it had sat before.

 

But as I studied the family records, I noticed that the entries for births, deaths, and marriages were all in the same hand, presumably that of my great-grandfather Samuel. He’d even signed his name on an inside cover page. Samuel was something of a family legend, a legend which my later research showed was almost entirely untrue. But he’d certainly written all of the entries.

To continue reading, please see my post today at the ACFW Blog.

Some Wednesday Readings

 

What Socrates Teaches Us About Love, Politics, and Death – Agnes Callard at The Free Press.

 

5 a.m. – Brian Miller at Notes from an East Tennessee Farmer.

 

The Terrorist Who Murdered My Cousin Now Walks Free – Gideon Black at The Free Press.

 

Matter Matters – Paul Kingsnorth at The Abbey of Misrule.

 

Blood, squalor, and a taste of things to come: 4 literary adventurers on Japan’s invasion of China – Jeffrey Meyers at The Critic Magazine.

 

AI Can Replace Work, But Not Worth – Cameron Fathauer at Digital Liberties.

 

Hugh A. Garland Jr. and the Old South – Joseph Ricci at Emerging Civil War. 

 

Our National Precipice – poem by Kenneth Horne at Society of Classical Poets.

 

Virgil and the Christian Imagination – Paul Krause at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

The Lord’s Corner – poem by Tyree Daye at South Writ Large.

The Sweet Agony of Waiting

A publisher asks to see your full manuscript. You read it three more times, trying to eradicate all typos, missing words, unclear passages, and confusing lines. You attach it to a politely professional email, which you hope disguises what you’re experiencing in equal measure: hope, fear, and anxiety. 

You hit send.

 

And then you wait.

 

Waiting may be as much or more exhausting than the writing itself, but it is a fact of life in book publishing.

 

To continue reading, please see my post today at the ACFW Blog. 

 

Photograph by David Taffett via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Wednesday Readings

 

Samuel Pepys at St Olave’s – Spitalfields Life.

 

Meaning in Mystery: Why Noir Speaks in a Morally Ambiguous World – Adam Hill at Miller’s Book Review.

 

Mississippi Heat: Stops along the Vicksburg Campaign – Nathan Provost at Emerging Civil War.

 

“The Rejected Member’s Wife,” poem by Thomas Hardy – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Save Your Editorial Cuts and Deleted Scenes

I had several pieces of a novel-in-progress that I’d set aside from the manuscript. Two fell outside the overall timeline; I’d cut several others because, while they were interesting, detracted from the main flow of the story. One was most of an entire scene; one involved a character than I’d cut; and one simply had way too much detail for the short scene that it was. 

But I’d kept them all, saved in a file on my computer as well as in my own head.

 

I was also working as a contributing editor for an online magazine, published several times a year and each issue centered on a theme. The editor was seeking articles, poems, and stories for the Christmas issue, and I remembered one of my cut pieces from the novel-in-progress.

 

It was a Christmas story, but it needed a bit of work. I pulled it from its Word file on my computer and began to read, edit, revise, and write. It needed work; reading it now, I’d still do more revising. But I submitted it, and it was accepted and duly published. 

To continue reading, please see my post today at the ACFW blog.

Photograph by Alexander Grey via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Wednesday Readings

 

Writing for, Within, and Against the Market – Lincoln Michel at Counter Craft.

 

Devilish Dwight in Division Command – Brian Kowell at Emerging Civil War.

 

Birds – artwork by Sonja Benskin Mesher.

 

The Loons of Colby Lake – poem by Michael Pietrack at Society of Classical Poets.

 

Lebanonization in the UK – Sam Bidwell at The Critic Magazine.

Do You Outline, or Do You Write into the Dark?

A problem developed while I was writing my fifth novel. The problem had to do with what I conceived as a minor character – a four-year-old boy who would grow to adulthood during the story. But he wasn’t the main character; far from it, in fact. He was supposed to have a bit role. 

Unfortunately, he had a different idea.

 

I kept floundering with the manuscript because this kid kept sticking his head in. It was as if he was demanding a bigger part of the story. I was hitting dead end after dead end, and my writing was going nowhere.

 

To continue reading, please see my post today at the ACFW Blog. 

 

Photograph by Steven Houston via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Wednesday Readings

 

The Battle of the Wilderness with Chris Mackowski – American Civil War & UK History.

 

How French Intellectuals Ruined the West – Helen Pluckrose at Quillette.

 

Doing Theology with Poetry – Abram Van Engen at Rabbit Room Poetry.

 

When Less is More – A Haiku / Sonnet Poetry Challenge – James Tweedie at the Society of Classical Poets.

What Happens When You Finally Type "The End"?

It’s been more than two years since the writing began. It’s been more than four since the research started. A little over a month ago, on Jan. 16, I wrote this in my writing journal: “Reached 87,758 words. First draft completed.” Five days later, I wrote “First reread / editing completed.” 

It was there I stopped, almost mentally and emotionally spent. I need to do the second edit, which for me is the most serious one. But I stopped, to catch my breath, reflect and take stock, and consider how the past two years of my life have been devoted to a story that is about 25 percent true and 75 percent fiction. Nd what I thought was mostly true mostly wasn’t.

 

I’ve published five novels and a non-fiction book. I’ve completed two novel manuscripts that have potential but need considerable reworking. I have at least five different novel ideas, and a dozen short stories, buzzing around my head. 

 

This story I just finished, this manuscript I’ve labored over, isn’t exactly a labor of love. It’s more a labor of sweat, the story I had to get done. 

 

To continue reading, please see me post today at the ACFW Blog.

 

Top photograph by Rui Silva sj via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Wednesday Readings

 

Religion & Celebrity: The Search for Meaning in the 1920s – Mark Malvasi at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

Thunder in the Harbor by Richard W. Hatcher III – Civil War Books and Authors. 

 

Archaeologist searches to unravel a Civil War mystery in Southgate – Michael Coker at WCPO.

How a Troublesome Manuscript Was Saved

Hold on to those unfinished or problematic manuscripts. You never know when they’re due for a rebirth. 

You pour everything into creating a manuscript. You type “The End.” You smile and give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back. It’s done. You finished it.

 

You set it aside for a few days, and then you reread it.

 

You see a problem, but you know it can be easily fixed. You read on. Another problem, and another theoretical fix. You plow on, right to the end, and you realize what the problem is.

 

The problem is the entire manuscript. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t tell the story you want told. It doesn’t tell the story the characters want told. And you think to yourself, “All that work. All that work.” 

To continue reading, please see my post today at the ACFW blog. 

Photograph by Scott Graham via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Wednesday Readings

 

Book Review: Charley: The True Story of the Youngest Soldier to Die in the American Civil War by Brendan Lyons – Kevin Pawlak at Emerging Civil War. 

 

You Are the Last Line of Defense – Bari Weiss at The Free Press.

 

Israel at the Precipice Once Again – Mark Helprin at Real Clear Politics.

Research Can Teach You a Hard (if Useful) Lesson

I learned a very hard lesson while writing a historical novel. I learned how hard it can be, and it’s hard for both the research you do and for the research you have to ignore. 

I’m writing a novel that takes place in two historical periods – the Civil War and its immediate aftermath, and 50 years later, during the run-up to World War I. The story was loosely based on a story handed down in the family about what had happened to my great-grandfather. The emphasis is on the word “loosely,” because the more I researched, the more I discovered that what was passed down as a family story had very little basis in fact.

 

Because I discovered this about 40,000 words into the manuscript, it stopped me cold. For weeks. I kept hoping I was wrong, but I learned my extended family had two oral traditions about my great-grandfather. And the version passed down to me was the wrong one, or perhaps I should say “more embellished.” It made a great story, but it was flat-out wrong.

To continue reading, please see my post today at the American Christian Fiction Writers blog.

Photograph: Some of the 1,700 Union cavalry troops who rode through Mississippi in 1863 during Grierson's Raid.

Some Thursday Readings

 

1863: “Even the birds are seldom heard with their cheerful voices”: A Confederate Reflects Post-Chancellorsville – Ryan Quint at Emerging Civil War. 

 

Taste and See: A Review of The Liberating Arts – Alex Sosler at Front Porch Republic.

 

1863: What a Difference a Year Makes – Patrick Kelly-Fischer at Emerging Civil War. 

Rosebery Topping, a Dark Teesside short story by Glenn McGoldrick, is free to download today on Amazon.

Murders for August – Jeremy Black at The Critic Magazine.

 

The more a character puts in a bucket, the more there is to spill – Nathan Bransford.

 

At Walthan Abbey – Spitalfields Life.

 

What book blurbs really mean – The Secret Author at The Critic Magazine.

When You Hit the Writing Wall

I’ve learned there is more than one kind of writing block. 

I’ve been blessed with never to have experienced writer’s block, that immobilization that often afflicts writers and stops them cold from writing another word. I’ve sympathized with people who’ve had it, and I know it’s real. They stare at a blank page or screen, and – nothing.

 

The sources of writer’s block are legion – stress, tension, deadlines, family tragedy, accidents, illness, writing one’s way into a dead end with no resolution, finances, success of a novel (creating high expectations for the next one), the end or beginning of a relationship, and more. F. Scott Fitzgerald had it. So did Herman Melville. So did composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. Writer’s block is so well known and so well-documented that there are scores of books on the subject, classes you can take, and writing coaches who can help guide you through it. 

 

Most writers experience it to one degree or another.

 

To continue reading, please see my post today at American Christian Fiction Writers.

 

Photograph by Ryan Snaadt via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Writing is a Lot Easier than Editing

In late December, a story idea took possession of my head, and I began to write. The narrative flowed like it never had before with five previous novels. This one was different; its predecessors had been part of a series, while this one was a completely different story. 

On Feb. 18, I write this note in my writing log: “Reach 90,543 words. First draft is completed.” While I can’t say it was effortless, the writing of this story was surprisingly easy. I knew from the beginning how the story would end, and, working without an outline, I kept moving toward that end.

 

Then came the formal editing.

 

To continue reading, please see my post today at the ACFW Blog.

Photograph by Andrew Neel via Unsplash. Used with permission.