History, Real Life and Faith
Biddy Chambers lived a “ministry of interruption.” We watched a video once of Kathleen Chambers, only daughter of Oswald Chambers and his wife. Kathleen was four when her famous father died and most of her stories about him came from others’ memories. But about Biddy, Kathleen knew much. The American interviewer asked about Biddy’s daily work while she compiled My Utmost for His…
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The Civil War, like all wars, provided many opportunities for gambling among soldiers. And why not? You mix together young men far from home for the first time. They spend their days in menial tasks: latrine digging, food foraging, foot drilling, weapon cleaning (if they’ve got a gun) and a host of other petty rituals. They were bored 99% of…
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Three of the four books I’ve written have been “on assignment.” I was given circumstances (Log Cabins, Christmas, Texas, Pioneers, brides) and concocted stories to fit. It wasn’t particularly difficult for me–I just had to visit my family history, Pioneer Stock, to find pertinent information. Genealogy can provide your family with plenty of discussion topics and can serve as excellent training for…
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We live in a world where people do not always get the credit they deserve and where people often forget to say thanks. For anybody that can be challenging–we all love to be thanked, particularly when we go out of our way to help. But for an artist, not having our work recognized as having value can be debilitating. To…
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I finally finished rereading Vera Brittain‘s Testament of Youth last night, all 660 pages of it. I had to finish it–the library refused to let me renew it a third time and I couldn’t quite remember how it ended. It was due today. Written in 1933, it’s the intense story of Brittain’s lost youth during World War I. Masterpiece Theater did a…
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Thursdays are my writing days. This Thursday, however, was a pondering, praying and plotting day. I finished my latest novella, The Gold Rush Christmas, and sent it to the editor earlier in the week. Now it’s time to prepare to write the next book. I’m in the gloriously embarassing position, however, of having two big deal stories to write. They both…
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