Category Archives: Life On A YoYo

Engineering, Fifty Thousand Screaming People, goals, Good King-Bad King, Harmony of the gospels, Life On A YoYo, Suite 101

August Goals

Leave a comment

Well, I’ve had two fairly productive months, and hope to make it three in a row. Here’s what I have at present, subject to editing, of course.

  1. Write 10 articles for Suite101.com.
  2. Blog 12 to 15 times.
  3. Study: search engine optimization; sources for royalty free pictures; and picture types for digital photos.
  4. Finish chapter 7 in In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People; Begin chapter 8
  5. Finish one appendix in a Harmony of the gospels; also one passage notes section.
  6. Complete the engineering article on storm water detention that is due Sept. 1.
  7. More work on Good King, Bad King. Try to identify and outline at least four more lessons.
  8. Work on The Strongest of All study from the apocrypha. I have the five lessons prepared, but need to add some lead-in and conclusion discussions.
  9. And, based on my incomplete goals from July, get some more work done on Life on a Yo Yo, in an attempt to make it a publishable study.
Fifty Thousand Screaming People, goals, Harmony of the gospels, Life On A YoYo

The July Report

Leave a comment

Okay, let’s see how I did relative to my goals.

1. Blog at least 12 times. Did this. I think I was at 15 or so.

2. Post 15 articles at Suite101.com. I beat this, posting 17.

3. Research, prepare, and submit 2 other freelance queries. I got the research done, but not the queries themselves. I drafted one but haven’t yet sent it. I had to re-query one from the previous month, due to it being lost in that magazine’s system.

4. Complete one set of passage notes for my Harmony of the Gospels. Got this done, as well as proofing and editing the appendix I almost finished in June.

5. Complete the first two lessons in Good King, Bad King (already started and maybe half-way done) and outline the full series. I can report only partial progress on this. I got the lessons done, and taught them last week and today. However, I have not yet outlined the rest of the series. I’ve brainstormed it a little, but brainstorming without getting something down on paper doesn’t count.

6. For Life on a Yo Yo: Write a “sell sheet” for the Bible study; complete the first four lessons in publishable form. I totally dropped the ball on this, not even thinking about it all month. And it’s not even in my draft goals for August. I may have to amend them.

7. Complete the new chapter of In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People that I got half-way done in June. It would be nice to both complete that and start another chapter, but I’m not making that a goal, not with everything else I have going on. Plus, I’m a freelancer not, not a novelist. I did a little more work on chapter 7, but I cannot say it’s done. I imagine it needs another hour or two to be called done. I sent the book as is on to a new beta reader who requested it. We’ll see what he says.

So, I hit some things but missed others. All in all it was a productive month. I’ll next post my goals for August, a month which I hope will be even more productive.

Fifty Thousand Screaming People, goals, Harmony of the gospels, Life On A YoYo

June Goals

Leave a comment

I don’t want to set any writing goals this month, but know I must. I have to spend time on many things this month, most of which have nothing to do with writing. I have to get some financial stuff done for our home business, and for our 2009 taxes (yes, I’m trying to get ahead of the curve). Yard work is probably at a peak this month. And we’ll have another road trip, though that is partially writing related.

Mainly, though, I have to do more about my health. I have lost 21 pounds this year, which is good, but I’m stuck where I am. In the last two months I’ve been bouncing back and forth in the same four-pound range, not gaining or losing. To get going down again, I’m either going to have to starve myself or significantly ramp up the exercise. This weekend I ramped up the exercise, taking time Saturday and Sunday for walks and calisthenics when I could have been writing. And what was the result? A one pound gain. I did eat big Friday night (visiting with a relative at a wonderful bed and breakfast in Baxter Springs, Kansas) and snacked some on Sunday afternoon and evening. But it seems I must have breathed some heavy air or something, and it stayed on my bones. I shall have to go on Dad’s diet: water only, and that just to wash in.

Well, here are my writing goals for June. They are somewhat bold, given the limited time I see for writing during the month.

1. Blog a minimum of twelve times.

2. Evaluate two or three additional freelance markets, and submit to at least one. This will no doubt require quite a bit of Web research as well as preparing some new writing shorts.

3. Complete one chapter of In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People, begun yesterday.

4. Complete my latest Bible study, tentatively titled, “The Strongest Of All”. Actually, this should more be termed a small group study, since it is from the Apocrypha and not the Bible proper.

5. Complete one appendix (already started) and the notes for one passage in the Harmony of the Gospels.

6. Attend the Chicago Tribune Publishers Row Lit Fair next weekend, and, as a sub-goal, talk with at least three publishers who are real candidates for me to submit to.

7. Get back into Life on a Yo Yo and prepare it for publication while it is still somewhat fresh.

8. Submit a query for another article for Internet Genealogy. I will wait to make sure the article already submitted is acceptable to the editor.

Fifty Thousand Screaming People, goals, Life On A YoYo

The May Report

Leave a comment

May was a strange month. The first four days of May I was on a road trip. After that I was faithful to the blog and active in writing. Some time went to genealogy work, consolidating research during the vacation. Writing wise, whatever goals I set at the beginning of May did not come to mind as I worked on various writing tasks. I wrote as the spirit moved me and as the need seemed, perhaps also following the path of least resistance. Now I’ll paste in the goals from the earlier post and see how I did.

1. Complete and submit the article to Internet Genealogy. I’m well along with it right now, and I don’t see this as a problem. I did this, turning it in a week early.

2. Find 3 to 5 more places to submit “Mom’s Letter”. The research is done; I just have to make copies and stuff envelopes. I did this, settling on three more places to send it to and doing so.

3. Blog 12 to 14 times. Did this with no problem.

4. Work on one appendix and one chapter note of the Harmony of the gospels. I did half of this. I have one appendix about 80 percent done. I did not, however, work on any passage notes.

5. Write one chapter in In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People. I worked on this–today, actually. I didn’t come close to finishing a chapter, but it felt good to get back to this.

6. Complete preparation for my two lesson Bible study, Good King, Bad King. It looks now that I won’t be teaching it in May, or any time soon. But I’ve done the research and development, and would like to have it ready on the shelf for some time in the future when I do teach it. Hmmm, did I do this? I got lots of stuff done, and I could probably teach it tomorrow if I had to, but I did not really “complete” it. Complete for teaching it myself, yes. But not complete for a publishable Bible study.

7. Write some closing notes to the Life on a Yo Yo Bible study, perhaps even some promotional items to make it a potentially publishable work, and decide what to do with it. Well, I failed at this one. I don’t think I even looked at LOAYY this month. I finished teaching it last month, leaving the final lesson to my co-teacher while I was gone. I guess I’ll put this down as a goal for next month.

See you tomorrow for some goal setting.

Fifty Thousand Screaming People, Genealogy, Harmony of the gospels, Life On A YoYo

My article in good shape, other writing no so much

Leave a comment

I received the assignment to write the article for Internet Genealogy last Friday, April 17. In my query letter I included an outline of what I thought would be in the article, so I had a pretty good place from which to start.

I started the next night, but then didn’t work on it until Tuesday. My thoughts gelled a bit more yesterday, and the words began to flow. By the end of yesterday evening I was up to about 600 words, out of 1500 to 2000 for the article. I don’t think I’ll have any problem filling the words, as I still have much more to write. Cutting some words will be more likely.

However, I have not made a lot of progress on anything else. Last night our pastor came up to me before church and said he was enjoying my Harmony of the gospels, and wanted to know if I had anything more written on the appendixes. The version I gave him had one appendix, the only one written, so he could see the sorts of things I’m planning on doing for them. No, I said, nothing more yet; been working on other things. He seemed disappointed, and said he is anxious to see what I’m going to do with them. So I guess I need to get back to work on that.

Yesterday I submitted my short story, “Mom’s Letter,” to three magazines via snail mail. I hope to submit to three or four more today. All of these accept simultaneous submissions. So that item is done on this month’s to do list.

I have finished teaching Life On A Yo Yo in life group (my co-teacher will teach the last lesson this Sunday while I am gone), and it’s time to take my notes and write them up in a somewhat presentable fashion. This could then become a potential Bible study I could market and write.

Any real writing on my latest Bible study, “Good King, Bad King”, will have to wait for a couple of weeks at least.

On books, I’ve done nothing of late, except dream. I outlined the next seven chapters of In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People, but have not written any more on it. I don’t think I will for a while, while working on platform-building activities.

Will that platform building make a difference in being accepted by a royalty paying publisher? Who knows. The experts in the industry say so, and since I am not an expert I will have to rely on them. Time will tell.

Harmony of the gospels, Life On A YoYo

Fishermen Called: Matthew/Mark vs. Luke

2 Comments

As I said a few days ago, I believe that the calling by Jesus of the fishermen that Luke describes in his Chapter 5 is a different event than the one described by Matthew in his Chapter 4 and Mark in his Chapter 1. In the prior post I dealt with the timeline. Now I’ll deal with the specifics of the event(s).

Certainly, when two eyewitnesses see the same event, they will have different recollections. That is especially true when they wait thirty years to write it down. The inspiration of God for them to write probably did not eliminate their foibles and nuances of memory. So, when Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell of the same event, we can expect some differences. So differences alone are probably not enough to be certain of whether these are two events.

In Matthew and Mark, Jesus is walking by the sea of Galilee. In Luke, he is more or less stationary. At least Luke does not mention him walking along.

In Luke, he has a crowd with him, waiting to hear him teach, that is so big he decides to use Peter’s boat as a platform and get a little distance between him and the crowd so as to be more effective in his teaching. Neither Matthew nor Mark mention any crowd. They lead us to believe Jesus was alone.

In Matthew/Mark, Jesus calls Peter and Andrew, and they immediately follow; he then goes on a short distance and sees James and John sons of Zebedee, calls them, and they immediately follow. That’s the end of the scene. In Luke, after Jesus finishes teaching, he suggest that Peter put out into deep water to catch some fish. Peter does so, and catches some. When he returns to shore, he worships Jesus, yet at the same time says he is not worthy to follow Jesus.

The difference in the words that Jesus says are also of importance. In Matthew and Mark, Jesus’ words are almost identical: “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” But in Luke his words are: “Don’t be afraid; from now on your will catch men.” Could this be different recollections of the same words? Possibly, but the differences lead me to believe these are different events. Matthew and Mark is a calling; Luke is a declaration. And “don’t be afraid” appears to be in response to Peter saying he was sinful and Jesus should leave him.

But the really key item in my mind is that in the Luke account Peter calls Jesus, “Master”. The Greek word is epistata, a word used in political or military sense to imply chain of command issues. The president of a Greek democratic institution was the epistata. Certain officers, not necessarily the ones in highest command, were epistata. The word may also have the connotation of a school master in authority over his students. Now, if this is the first calling of Peter (and remember that the encounter in John 1:41-42 was not a calling), why would Peter call him epistata? Was Jesus’ reputation such by then to warrant that kind of title?

Some say that, since epistata appears several times in Luke’s gospel but in no other, this was Luke’s way of using a term of authority that his Greek and Roman audiences would understand, rather than rabbi and other Aramaic or Hebrew titles. Still, Peter used a title, of respect and authority. I maintain that he would only use such a title if he had already spent some time with Jesus, and had found him to be one he (Peter) would be willing to have in authority over him. By the time of what is described in Luke 5, Peter must have already spent a significant amount of time with Jesus.

So what kind of calling was this? Did Peter follow Jesus for a while, possibly a couple of months, then leave him to go back to fishing? That’s what I suspect happened. Jesus called Peter and his companions (Matthew 4:18-22/Mark 1:16-20); Peter followed immediately; took part of some of those events given in the combined timeline, but then went back to fishing. He was at his trade when Jesus came by again, this time with a crowd, and used another method to convince the inconsistent Peter that people, not fish, were to be his life’s pursuit.

So says the layman, dangerously dabbling in theological water he possibly shouldn’t be. I’m not dogmatic about this. Others will read these passages and a few before and after and come to another conclusion. So be it. But this is my conclusion, one I have found others to be in agreement with, and I throw it into cyberspace for whatever good it may do.

Daddy Daughter Day, Fifty Thousand Screaming People, Harmony of the gospels, Life Group lessons, Life On A YoYo, poetry, Writing

What to write?

Leave a comment

This question is not about this blog, but about writing in general. At present, I have only two writing projects in progress:

1. Type the harmony of the gospels I did off and on over a three year period ending in 2005, then go through it to look for gaps, redundancies, potential changes in order, etc. After the typing and editing is done, type explanatory notes for the harmony, only some of which are written in manuscript form. This is likely to take all year.

2. Work on my “Life On A Yo Yo” Bible study, of the life of Peter the apostle. This is planned, and I begin teaching it on Sunday Jan 4, 2009. This is more of a teaching project than a writing project, but I figure that every such project might become a writing project given the right amount of time and energy.

But what to do about a writing career? As I’ve reported before, it seems that life will never give me, short of my retirement planned for 8 years and 2 days from now, enough time to do all that writing demands: write, edit, improve my craft, research the market, research agents, pour time into submittals/proposals/query letters/etc., follow-up on those, and prepare for the marketing work I would have to do should I become published. All this makes a writing career a pipe dream for now.

So I have an unfinished second novel, In Front Of Fifty Thousand Screaming People, that must remain unfinished. I have a completed first novel, Doctor Luke’s Assistant, which, having earned about ten rejections, must remain in the reject pile for the moment. I have my completed poetry book, Father Daughter Day, which, defying all rules of genre and degree of religiosity, sits in exile upon a closet shelf. My non-fiction book Screwtape’s Good Advice, has only one rejection, but finding time to tailor the proposal to new editors or agents seems, in light of the current state of publishing, an effort in futility. My newspaper column, Documenting America, being a good but unique work The long list of other novels, other non-fiction books, magazine articles, etc. will just have to remain in the ideas notebook for now.

What will the next twelve months hold as far as writing goes? Stay tuned.

goals, Harmony of the gospels, Life Group lessons, Life On A YoYo, Writing

November Report

Leave a comment

Time to report on how I did in November relative to the modest goals I set.

1. Blog 10 to 12 times. I managed 13 posts; so met and slightly exceeded goals.

2. Finish planning “Life On A Yo Yo”, and begin writing as needed, with a target to present to our life group beginning in January 2009. Completed as planned. For this lesson series, I’m not going to have weekly handouts as I did with the Elijah and Elisha study; at least not fancy ones.

3. Begin planning two other life group series. One will be “From Slavery To Nationhood”, which looks at the Israelites during the Exodus and the years of wandering. The other is the one I thought of last week, which needs some more work before I make it public. Completed this. Both of these two studies are planned. By this I mean: I know how long they will be (how many weeks); I have the full list of lessons identified; I have a short description of the goals for each lesson; I have the scripture identified for each lesson.

4. Evaluate the life group lesson series I thought of based on a story in the Apocrypha. I sort-of did this. I have thought through the short lesson series, decided it is viable, and have brainstormed how I would teach it. I have not yet put much down on paper.

5. Since I found more writing things that need to be filed, and since I ran out of file folders and couldn’t file all of those I found, finish filing writing stuff. I have not yet purchased the file folders I need, but I think I have gathered everything into one place (my filing pile), put them in order, and discarded duplicates. I should be able to finish this in December. Didn’t I say that in November?

6. Work some on one other writing project. Alas, I cannot think of anything I did this month that would qualify as meeting this goal.

7. Continue typing the harmony of the gospels that I wrote some years ago. I made excellent progress on this goal, typing for 30 to 45 minutes almost every evening. I began with the part I worked on last, and progressed backwards. The reason I did this was that I found some of my early work did not have enough explanatory notes, and sometimes it was a little difficult to be sure of what the actual harmony was. I’m not back to some of my earliest work on this.

career, Life Group lessons, Life On A YoYo

A New Equilibrium

Leave a comment

This weekend was filled with chores and rest. Saturday morning I raked leaves, used the leaf blower on the rock yard and got all them out of there, on to a tarp and hauled off to the woods on adjacent, vacant lots (in hopes some of them won’t blow back when the wind is right). This somewhat wiped me out, but I went to the eye doctor in the nearest Supercenter to have my right eye looked at. It became bloodshot earlier in the week, not hurting a bit, but giving everyone who had to look at it fits. Since this is the third time this year I had such an occurrence, Lynda thought I should go, and so went.

The doc said there was no injury and no apparent reason for the eye to go bloodshot, except possibly a blood disease. He said to bring it up with my primary care physician, then come back and see him for my regular eye exam, which is over-due. I’m scheduled to see my regular doctor next week.

While I was at Wal-Mart, I took a lawn mower tire in for repair. Sitting in the auto area waiting room, I had an allergic reaction to something: right eye watering; sneezing; right nostril draining freely. This really wiped me out. The rest of the day about all I could do was accompany my wife to town and shop and do a chore or two.

Sunday was a true day of rest. After church and life groups, I had a leisurely afternoon. I typed quite a few pages of my harmony of the gospels, napped, caught up on writing blogs, read in The Day Christ Died, planned four life group lessons in the Life On A Yo Yo series, and worked on my written review of my son-in-law’s paper on Athanasius. All of this with minimal movement, and little exertion. The allergy reaction was pretty much gone by Monday morning.

Not one minute worrying about being published. Not one minute working on a query letter, proposal, poem, text for a book or article or newspaper column–none of these. And I didn’t feel bad about it. In fact I felt good about what I managed to get done. I suppose the Yo Yo series could eventually become a small group study guide, so there’s some writing work there, but very little.

Why don’t I feel badly about this, about a whole weekend gone by with nothing done about my writing “career”? I’ll have to wait and see what another week or two brings before I can answer that.

Bible study, Life Group lessons, Life On A YoYo, Writing

November Goals

Leave a comment

This being Thanksgiving month, beginning with my busiest week at work for several months, my goals will be modest.

1. Blog 10 to 12 times.

2. Finish planning “Life On A Yo Yo”, and begin writing as needed, with a target to present to our life group beginning in January 2009.

3. Beginning planning two other life group series. One will be “From Slavery To Nationhood”, which looks at the Israelites during the exodous and the years of wandering. The other is the one I thought of last week, which needs some more work before I make it public.

4. Evaluate the life group lesson series I thought of based on a story in the Apocrypha.

5. Since I found more writing things that need to be filed, and since I ran out of file folders and couldn’t file all of those I found, finish filing writing stuff.

6. Work some on one other writing project.

7. Continue typing the harmony of the gospels that I wrote some years ago.