Resources by Topic: Writing

Thoughts on writing.

Usually I like best the kind of book I’m currently working on.

It was a joy.

The most valuable lesson I’ve learned about writing is that it’s hard work.

A close friend of mine, Greg, died when I was in high school. I was a brand new Christian and it affected me profoundly. Then after I’d been a pastor five years, my mother died in 1981.

If you are trying to become published, stop looking for short cuts. Do not ask a published friend to introduce you to an editor, do not print your manuscript on pink paper, and do not send it to your favorite author in an e-mail. Simply write an irresistible story. Keep working at it until you find an editor who agrees.

Yes, it is. There are a lot of doctrines (beliefs/teachings) in this world, including doctrines of cultures, institutions and personal opinion. There’s a lot of false doctrine, and good doctrine is the only correction to it.

Without a doubt, in terms of their global impact the two most significant countries on the planet are China and the United States. As recent events have shown, the countries have a profoundly uneasy relationship. Safely Home is a tale of two countries, embodied in two men, Ben Fielding and Li Quan. These characters and their families came alive for me, and I pray they will for readers too.

The most challenging nonfiction has been Heaven. The most challenging fiction has been Dominion.

I wrote it because I wanted readers to see that at the heart of life is the choice of what we believe. 

The Liz Taylor reference ties to the earlier one in which, on earth, Ben Fielding has no clue who Hudson Taylor is, and Li Quan has no idea who Elizabeth Taylor is.

The box was based upon an experience a friend of mine had in Moscow back in 1990 where they were passing out free Bibles to people.

One example would be the problem of evil and suffering that plagues Ollie in my novel Deception. 

A story rewritten may best express my feeling about the book.