Category Archives: Church History Novels

January Goals – Accomplisment

This is Bessie’s first book. While it was a work-for-hire, she has obtained a license for a limited print run.

Last day of the month. Time to see how I did on my January goals.

  1. Blog twice a week, on Monday and Friday. I’ve been fairly successful blogging at this rate, and feel confident I can achieve this. Yes, did this. I don’t think I missed a regular day.
  2. Finish producing a book for a writing friend. This project is well along. I might finish it today; if not, it should only be a day or two from now. Yes, check this off as complete. I got this done not long after I posted the goals. I did a quickie cover, using PowerPoint and loading it into G.I.M.P. The quality wasn’t as good as we’d like, so I did it over from scratch in G.I.M.P. It was accepted by Amazon without needing correction, and have ordered copies. I was able to use G.I.M.P. without much consternation.
  3. The 5th story in my Sharon Williams Fonseca – Unconventional CIA Agent series.

    Edit my short story “Tango Delta Foxtrot”. The story is finished, and I’m in the editing process. My critique group hasn’t particularly liked the plot, but I don’t know how to change it. Whether I can accomplish this in January is a little iffy. Not only did I get the editing done on this, but I also published it. The cover isn’t the greatest, but it’s the best I can do.

  4. Attend writing group meetings as much as possible. My travel schedule may make it impossible to attend one, but hopefully I’ll be at the other. My writing groups held only two meetings this month. I missed the meeting of the Village Lake Writers and Poets due to travel but attended the critique meeting of Scribblers & Scribes of Bella Vista. 
  5. Start my next book, tentatively titled The Teachings. This will be book 3 in my church history novels series. I plan on starting this later this week. Writing will take several months. I did this, but just barely. On Wednesday I created the files and reviewed my notes on the plot. Yesterday I entered the first words in the book. I think I wrote only about 250 words, but it’s a start. So yes, I did this.
  6. I found too many errors in this book to let it go. So I corrected the text and re-published.

    Finish a proof-reading of Acts Of Faith and republish a corrected version. I’ve proofread about a third of it and found more errors than I like. Done! I completed the editing mid-month, and uploaded the new insides around the 22nd. No changes in the cover.

  7. Create a PDF version of Acts Of Faith: Leader’s Guide in 8.5×11 inch format. This is a brief task that should be no problem to complete. As I said in the goal, this was a quick one, and I did it with no problem.

And, actually, I completed one other major task that came up long after I made my goals post.

8. Read/proofread a book for a member of SSBV, who has a short window of time to get some changes made to her previously published book about to be re-published. I was able to do this. I finished the reading yesterday and e-mailed corrections and comments to the author. I’ll eventually write a book review of it.

So, it was a good, productive month. Perhaps tomorrow, or perhaps not until my regular Monday post, I’ll lay out my February goals.

Today is the Day

The day I’m supposed to begin writing The Teachings. Alas, I’m still in Texas, doing the grandparent thing. There’s also stock trading to work on.

This morning I baked two loaves of banana bread (out of the over now and very good); got a roast on (veggies still to be done); made three stock trades—or maybe it’s four; loaded and started the dishwasher; and washed dishes by hand.

I still have a mountain of paperwork to go through—the stuff the kids never seem to get to. And I need to run by the hardware store and pick up something for the house, something I will then have to work on.

So I don’t think I’ll get to The Teachings today, not unless it’s in the evening after the kids have gone to bed. I may do a little then, just to say I started today. Wednesday, however, January 15, will be my real start day.

January 2020 Writing Goals

I’m still working on my annual goals for 2020. I’m just not sure of what I’m going to attempt this year. So, I’m going to start on goals for January. That’s a short enough time frame I should be able to project 30 days ahead. Here are my goals.

  1. Blog twice a week, on Monday and Friday. I’ve been fairly successful blogging at this rate, and feel confident I can achieve this.
  2. Finish producing a book for a writing friend. This project is well along. I might finish it today; if not, it should only be a day or two from now.
  3. Edit my short story “Tango Delta Foxtrot”. The story is finished, and I’m in the editing process. My critique group hasn’t particularly liked the plot, but I don’t know how to change it. Whether I can accomplish this in January is a little iffy.
  4. Attend writing group meetings as much as possible. My travel schedule may make it impossible to attend one, but hopefully I’ll be at the other.
  5. Start my next book, tentatively titled The Teachings. This will be book 3 in my church history novels series. I plan on starting this later this week. Writing will take several months.
  6. Finish a proof-reading of Acts Of Faith and republish a corrected version. I’ve proofread about a third of it and found more errors than I like.
  7. Create a PDF version of Acts Of Faith: Leader’s Guide in 8.5×11 inch format. This is a brief task that should be no problem to complete.

I think this is enough. I’m writing this Friday evening to post on Monday morning. It’s possible I’ll add an item or two.

Looking Back as the New Year Starts

The writing of this book was finished in December 2018. Editing took some time, and I didn’t publish it till May 2019.

One year ago I entered the world of retirees. It was unchartered territory for me. I knew I had more than enough interests to stay busy, but how would I structure my days? What would I accomplish? Would it be more or less than I wanted to do? How would writing and stock trading and property upkeep and a dozen other things vie for my time?

At that time, in January 2019, I did not write a blog post about writing goals. It was all too new. I didn’t know what I could accomplish in my writing. I had recently completed the first draft of Adam Of Jerusalem and I was letting it simmer while the Christmas busyness was in progress. So that would be on the table early in the new year. But what else would I accomplish?

I think I will start this year on An Arrow Through The Air by three posts about goals. First will be what I accomplished last month, then will be a look-back at the whole year, then will be a look-ahead to 2020 and what I hope to accomplish. I’m still thinking about the new year, so this schedule will give me time to think some more.

I last posted about goals at the end of October, for November. Not sure why I didn’t do a December goals post. Here’s what I said for November, and how well I did on them over a two-month period.

  1. As always, blog twice a week on Monday and Friday. I may have to write some ahead and schedule their posting. I did fairly well on this. Some of them I did write ahead of time for later posting. I missed one day in each month.
  2. Attend writing groups. One group is considering adding a second meeting in the month, so it might be three instead of two meetings total for the two groups. I attended every meeting available. One was cancelled. Another was a time to wrap books as Christmas presents to go to a middle school. It was a fun time.
  3. Finish Tango Delta Foxtrot. I think this is about two hours of writing. Surely I can do that. I finished this, and gave it to my critique group (Scribblers and Scribes of Bella Vista). Waiting on a full range of critiques, but initial response, but for installments and for the full document isn’t good.
  4. Finish reading in two books that are research for The Teachings. This is quite doable. I’m not reading all of Josephus—just enough to know about a certain action in Jerusalem at the beginning of the war in 66 a.d. Yes, I got this done. From Josephus I have selected the dates and locations for certain scenes. From the other book I have a good idea of the composition of The Didache. From the two I’ve made an outline.  When I sit down to work on it, probably next week, I hope it starts to flow.
  5. Finish the Leader’s Guide for Acts Of Faith. This should be doable, in the original concept only. I’ll be working toward publishing it in December, most likely as an e-book only. Another thing finished. I received some feedback about potential changes that would have taken time, but decided not to make them. For now this is an e-book, but I’m planning on making a PDF in 8.5×11 format to give to people who ask.

So, two months of reasonably good accomplishment. Hopefully this will continue into January 2020.

Publishing and Writing Side-by-Side

The e-book cover for this was easy. At present I’m not planning on issuing a print book.

Well, I missed another blogging day. Yes, I missed last Friday. That’s two Fridays in a row. I tell you, miss it once and it can become a habit. I’ll break that habit this coming Friday.

For now, I’ll just tell a little of my current activities.

Today is the day to publish the Leader’s Guide for Acts Of Faith. I made the cover on Friday, finished the editing on Saturday, made one minor tweak yesterday, and let it sit for the night. As soon as I finish this I’ll go to Amazon KDP and do the publishing tasks. Hopefully it will be available for sale before the end of the day, though perhaps tomorrow.

I’ll make the cover for the print edition of the prequel of this look much the same. Delete “Again” and change the photo.

Then, tomorrow I’ll work on my friend Bessie’s book. I did her second book for her earlier this year. Her first book, however, is available from the publisher only as an e-book. She has people in the church who want a copy. At my prompting, she obtained a license from the publisher to make do a print book edition of her own. I have already gone through the text for errors. I think I built the Table of Content, but will check on that. The cover will follow the lines of the last book and should be simple—except print book covers are never simple for me. Publishing it may not be doable on one day.

Salzburg and environs are so nice, with quaint things to see and do—but not when you’re following Sharon Williams Fonseca.

After that, I shift to writing tasks. My short story, “Tango Delta Foxtrot”. It’s now at 5,300 words and is well along with the story. I don’t have a specific word goal, and I didn’t plan out the plot. To keep it from getting boring I need to wrap it up. I may work on that some in the evenings. I did so yesterday evening, incorporating comments from my critique group. I’m not finished yet with that, so may make working through those comments my evening task for a few days. Wednesday or Thursday I hope to be adding words to the story.

Meanwhile, I sold a couple of copies of Acts Of Faith at church yesterday, and last Friday a paperback copy of Doctor Luke’s Assistant sold at Amazon. That bring my sales for the year up to 131, my second-best year so far. About 75 of those are self-sales of books from inventory, and 69 are of books I published this year. That’s good news. I hope to continue the up-trend next year.

October Accomplishments; November Goals

It’s Friday, so a regular posting day. And, it’s the first of the month; time to blog about achievements and goals. Here are the goals I set at the beginning of October, and how I did on them.

  1. Blog twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays. Almost made this. I missed last Monday.
  2. Finish the short story “Tango Delta Foxtrot” and come close to finishing the editing process. Shared the first scene with my writing group, for critique later. Didn’t work on this at all. Other writing wound up taking precedent.
  3. Attend writing groups on the 9th and 16th. Yup, did this. I enjoy going to my writing groups.
  4. Finish the Leader’s Guide for Acts Of Faith. As of this morning I’m a little more than halfway done with it. This is doable, though might be a stretch. If I get it written, publishing will be in another month. I am very close on this. I think it’s just a chapter and a half of new writing to do, then go back and format it for e-book. I had a snag thrown at me on this, concerning how much I need to write about the second part of each chapter. My thoughts right now are to finish it as intended, then perhaps go back later and expand it.
  5. Issue my first newsletter. It may be shorter than I want, and may not have as many items as I planned, and for sure won’t have a lot of subscribers, but, hopefully, it will go out. I did not do this. I’m not sure why I hesitate, but I do.
  6. Continue an aggressive reading program, at least an hour a day. I’m in the midst of two books, one in print and one e-book. I should finish both and start one or two more. Yes, I continued this reading program, and perhaps expanded it a little. Some of it is for research on my next church history novel.

So, all it all October wasn’t a particularly good month for achieving goals.  I’ll try again in November, though with much family coming for Thanksgiving, achieving any goals may be difficult.

  1. As always, blog twice a week on Monday and Friday. I may have to write some ahead and schedule their posting.
  2. Attend writing groups. One group is considering adding a second meeting in the month, so it might be three instead of two meetings total for the two groups.
  3. Finish Tango Delta Foxtrot. I think this is about two hours of writing. Surely I can do that.
  4. Finish reading in two books that are research for The Teachings. This is quite doable. I’m not reading all of Josephus—just enough to know about a certain action in Jerusalem at the beginning of the war in 66 a.d.
  5. Finish the Leader’s Guide for Acts Of Faith. This should be doable, in the original concept only. I’ll be working toward publishing it in December, most likely as an e-book only.

I think that’s it. I may be able to accomplish a couple of other things. If so, I’ll report on them on or around December first.

Rested and Ready

Well, this weekend was certainly different than last.

I don’t know that I ever formally announced this book on the blog. Maybe I’ll do that on Friday.

I have a list of blog posts I intend to write on. The problem is, each on the list takes a fair amount of forethought. I can’t just open the post box and write about rugged individualism, for example, without some research.

So, that list of posts is going to have to wait. I’ll just write about the weekend, as I did last Monday. Friday afternoon, as we were waiting for company to arrive, I received a message to say my order from Amazon had arrived. Great, I thought. That’s my copies of Documenting America: Making The Constitution. Went to the front door—to find nothing. Checked the notice again and saw that they went to my old office in Bentonville. E-mailed the receptionist there, and sure enough that’s were the package was. Even though company was en-route, Lynda and I hopped in the car to go fetch it. Took an hour in craft fair weekend traffic.

We had a good time visiting with our company, one of Lynda’s cousins. Talked all evening then again Saturday morning, and they were off to their next stop. Just as they left a light rain began falling. It continued for an hour or so, making everything outside wet, too wet to do the outside work I had planned for the day.

Confined to inside activities, I did paperwork tasks for a while, such as updating the checkbook and budget, as well as organizing the miscellaneous receipts and filing them. Food for meals was already prepared and waiting (meaning leftovers), so there was nothing else to do but read and write. Well, I suppose I could have cleaned, but that will be a next week task. The carpet in our main living area is desperately in need of shampooing. A day of vacuuming and dusting prep work, then maybe tomorrow I’ll begin shampooing. Well, if we have all the supplies, that is, which I believe we do.

It’s selling well in person. ‘Twould be nice to have some on-line sales as well.

Sunday I taught Life Group, Chapter 1 of Acts Of Faith. I sold the last three copies of it but have more on order, hopefully to arrive on Wednesday. Sold 26 of them from my order, but still no sales on-line. Alas. I napped some Sunday afternoon, continuing to read in Mere Christianity, and in the evening in my research into the Didache. The day concluded with another storm line and, after going to bed, a phone call from the county alert system saying we were in a tornado watch area. That soon passed, and I went back to bed and slept well.

Oh, yes, walked 2 1/4 miles on Saturday and 3 miles on Sunday. My weight is down a little, and my blood sugars have been nicely under control.

Today will be a writing day, as storms overnight will make it too wet to work outside. Tonight we eat with my cousin who moved to Bella Vista, and get to know him and his wife some. Hopefully I’ll be one or two chapters further in the Leader’s Guide for Acts Of Faith.

Weekend Company

The view from my ladder, five steps up. The limb looks large in this photo, but that’s deceiving. It was only 3 to 4 inches diameter.

After writing about a difficult weekend last weekend, I had a good week. That blah Monday turned out to be restful, and I recovered. It was almost as if my day of rest was Monday instead of Sunday. I hope they all won’t be like that as I teach this lesson series. I teach again this Sunday, so we’ll see how it goes.

I did some good work on the Leader’s Guide for Acts Or Faith. It’s far from finished, but I feel much better about it than I did even five days ago. I took my notes prepared for teaching last Sunday—the Introduction to the book—and worked them into that chapter of the Leader’s Guide. I went on to two more chapters, and am now well-along on Chapter 11.

I attended critique group Wednesday evening. We had five writers present, no visitors. Four of us shared, and we had good discussions. I shared the first four pages of “Tango Delta Foxtrot”, the next short story in my Sharon Williams Fonsesca series. I’m 2,000 words into it, heading to somewhere between 4,000 and 8,000. I hope to work a little on that in the days ahead.

I began a new activity in my daily routine: an hour or so of yard work in the late morning. Perhaps I should say I resumed that activity, for I was doing that last spring. After the late-August storm, I worked on the wood lot north of our house, clearing away the debris left after two large trees fell. Now it looks almost like a wooded, leaf-covered park. I’m now doing the same with the woodlot on the south side. This had two smaller trees down, and much deadfall from normal tree life. This is actually a much bigger job. I’ve spent four mornings on it.

On Wednesday, with all the large limbs removed, I decided to get up on a ladder and cut away a broken limb on a tree close to the house. I’m sure certain family members would be aghast at my leaning a ladder against a tree I was cutting on and then getting five steps up on that ladder. But, it was just a 3 to 4 inch limb, nothing major Having only a small, folding pruning saw that would fit the place where I wanted to cut. I got it done, taking frequent rests. It was a task accomplished that make me feel good about my work.

Speaking of tasks accomplished, on Wednesday I had this comment on my Facebook author’s page.

“Preserve The Revelation” is terrific! Each book in the series stands alone. So many authors constantly “explain” what happened in the previous book or you won’t understand the story, which I find irritating. Watching for #3 publication!”

Good feedback on this. Though fourth in the series chronologically, it is the second published, in March 2017.

It’s great to get positive feedback, especially from one who’s now reading a third book of mine. This spurred me on to work a little on the third book in the series (numbers 1, 2, and 4 currently published; she’s reading #4). For over a week I’ve been reading for research and making good progress, learning a lot. Wednesday, after reading that comment, I spent an hour making an outline of book #3, tentatively titled The Teachings. It stands at just a notebook page in length, but it’s a start.

I don’t intend on writing this book until I finish “TDF”, and perhaps one more short story in the Danny Tompkins series. Perhaps a December start is most likely. Between now and then I’ll search my various paper piles for two or three pages of notes I made earlier this year on the book, each time starting from scratch. I’ll see what my earlier thoughts were and whether I remembered them and worked them into my outline.

Speaking of various paper piles, we have company coming today for an overnight stay, one of Lynda’s cousins and her husband. The clean-up of the house and yard started yesterday, and will consume much of today before they arrive. The paper piles have to go, along with other clutter.

So, I end this. I hope all who read this had a good, productive, satisfying week, and will experience the same in the weekend ahead. See you in my post on Monday.

An Enjoyable Loss of Sleep

Will this be my only poetry book, or will inspiration to write more ever return?

This morning I awoke at about 4:30 a.m., did a restroom break, went back to bed, and couldn’t sleep. This has happened before. Normally I go right back to sleep after being up in the night, but sometimes, only on the later in the night awakenings, I don’t fall asleep. At 5:30 I decided lying there with disjointed thoughts was silly and got up. Throwing on a long sleeve shirt, slipping my feet into my aging and almost done-for slippers, I took my mug of water and headed for the sun room to read.

No coffee, you ask? No, I don’t like to take coffee before I weigh and take my blood sugar, and I wasn’t ready for the latter. So I went to the sun room and started to read in Jack, a life of C.S. Lewis by George Sayer. I had loaned this book to a friend and asked for it back recently, as I wanted to read it again. I say “again” as I’m not 100 percent sure I read it before. I think I did, well over ten years ago, about the time our Life Group was studying The Screwtape Letters. I’ll know if I read it before if, in the last chapter, I find a certain scene there. If this is my second time through it, it’s quite fresh and enjoyable, given the time lapse since the first reading.

The windows in the sun room were still open, and it was cold. I regretted not pulling on jeans and my inside jacket. The temperature was to get down to 40 overnight, and I was sure it was that low. Outside, the air was stirring. Breezes came and went. The rustling in the adjacent wood was almost constant, though never strong. Occasionally it came through the open window before me. Why didn’t I shut the window? And the one to my side? Why didn’t I go back to the bedroom and get dressed more properly? For one, I didn’t want to risk waking Lynda. Also, I much enjoy being slightly cold. It was easier to pull a blanket over my legs and chest and enjoy the coolness.

I read with good concentration and made much progress. Shortly after 6:00 a.m., Lynda opened the door. We had a brief conversation. I got up, weighed, took my sugar, got dressed, got coffee, and went back to the sunroom and reading, while Lynda went back to bed for a while. I returned to my reading, but with a little less concentration. Thoughts of poetry began to take some brain space away from the words on the page. Oh, my comprehension was still fine. It’s just that I’d like to be able to write poetry again.

Poetry is probably an affectation for me, not something I should spend time on. When I wrote quite a bit of poetry over a decade ago, I enjoyed it. I don’t know whether I produced good poetry, but it was the type of poetry I like to read, so it was good for me. In my mind I’ve outlined six additional poetry books, and have listed their potential titles on the page. I know the order I’d like to write them in. Yet, I have no inspiration beyond that.

I’m not going to force it. I have too much else to write, both works-in-progress and planned, to devote time to poetry without inspiration. I like to say that poetry comes either by inspiration or perspiration, and probably requires both. I’m going to wait, however, and not apply the perspiration in hopes that the inspiration follows. I think the opposite order of things is better.

I need to get the Leader’s Guide for this done, but it’s progressing painfully slowly. More perspiration needed, I think.

So what will my day consist of, now that the sun has risen enough behind the dense cloud cover to show light through the trees outside The Dungeon windows? I hope to finish a chapter in the Leader’s Guide to Acts Of Faith. I made some progress on it last night. I hope to write a scene in “Tango Delta Foxtrot”, and get that to the halfway point. I have a few short-term stock trades on, a couple of which will come to a conclusion today; I’ll have to pay attention to them, though all looks good right now.

I have some engineering work to do. I went by the office of my old company yesterday and picked up two project for review. One, I’m fairly sure, is small and I can possibly complete in less than two hours. The other may be larger; I won’t know for sure till I get into it. Plus I have construction reports to review. I anticipate spending three or four hours today, and as much as needed tomorrow to complete these tasks. It will cut into my writing time, but the money is good, and it’s also good for me to keep my mind engaged in engineering work.

One other thing I may do today, time permitting. II might create the computer folder and files for my next book. Tentatively titled The Sayings, it is book 3 in my Church History novels series. I plan on starting it next month, but it, too, is taking up gray cells. I need to get a few things on “paper” so that I don’t lose them. Plot threads are coming to mind. Specific scenes are coming to mind as I read for research. I’m not sure I’ll do this, but perhaps it’s better to get it done and see if I can free up that brain power for the real tasks at hand.

So, it’s going to be a full day for sure. Some exercise would be good as well. I would say that this is a day when I have truly “awakened the dawn”.

Let The Research Begin

The Kindle e-book was published on May 6, 2019. Other versions also available.

So far this year I’ve published three books. I’m midway through a fourth, the Leader’s Guide for my recently published Bible study, Acts Of Faith. I anticipate having that written in about ten days and published in about three weeks. That may be a little optimistic.

The only piece I’m working on at present is a short story, “Tango Delta Foxtrot”. I’m about a third done with that. I should be able to finish, edit, and publish that by sometime in November. Thoughts for another short story are rolling around; not sure if I’ll go to that next or not.

Written 2000-2003, I didn’t publish this until 2012.

So, it’s time to begin research for my next full-length book. I’m not quite sure, however, what it will be. It will almost certainly be either the next in my church novels series or the next in my Documenting America series. Most likely it will be the former.

I’ve published books 1, 2, and 4 in that series. They are:

  • Adam Of Jerusalem, about Quelle, the gospel source document
  • Doctor Luke’s Assistant, about writing the gospel of Luke
  • Preserve The Revelation, about writing the gospel of John and the Revelation
Though first in the series chronologically, it is the third published, in May 2019.

Sandwiched between those two is a book I’ve tentatively called The Teachings. It will be about the writing of The Didache, which is a book usually titled The Teachings, or, as a longer title, The Teachings of the Apostles. Scholars are divided on when it was written. It is mentioned in church documents of the early 4th Century, though it was lost until discovered in an Istanbul monastery in 1887.

But as to the writing, some say it could have been as early as 50 A.D.; some say as late as 200 A.D. From what I’ve read, while no consensus has been reached, an earlier date seems to be more favored at present. That would put it between the writing of Luke’s and John’s gospels. That allows me to have both Adam and Augustus as main characters in the book, a father and son collaborating. Here’s how I see the series at present.

  • Adam Of Jerusalem, Adam ben Zachariah researches the teachings of Jesus, prepares a document that becomes the source for Matthew’s gospel. Dates approximately 33-39 A.D.
  • Doctor Luke’s Assistant, Augustus ben Adam assists Luke in writing his gospel. Adam plays a bit part in this by reference only. Dates 64-66 A.D.
  • The Teachings, Adam and Augustus both work on preparing a document that summarizes what the apostles teach about the Christian life. Dates 66-75 (approximately) A.D.
  • Preserve The Revelation, Augustus and his sons assist John writing the gospel of John and then the Revelation.  95-96 A.D.

I started a plot thread in Adam Of Jerusalem that wasn’t in Doctor Luke’s Assistant, that I need to pick up in The Teachings. I’ve figured out how I’ll do this, though not all the details. I think it will all tie-in well, even though the books were written out of chronological order. In fact, I see a way for the plot thread to jump over Preserve The Revelation and be finally resolved in a future book that will deal with documents after the Revelation.

As to the research, I read the Didache again yesterday, and a ten page document that evaluates it. I also read in a book that discusses the theology of the Didache. I’m not sure how far I’ll go in that. It’s probably not necessary for me to fully understand its theology for me to write about it and work in some intrigue and relationships.

October will likely be a research month, as I finish up my two small works-in-progress. Writing may commence in November, though possibly I’ll wait until December, based on many things I have going on.