Category Archives: Writing

Bible study, Christianity, Writing

My Next Bible Study

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I found too many errors in this book to let it go. So I corrected the text and re-published.

One of my March goals is to make a decision on what Bible study I will write next. Last year I published Acts Of Faith: Examples From The Great Cloud Of Witnesses. So far the feedback on it is good, even though the first print run had two embarrassing typos in the running heads and more than a few typos throughout the text. I also published a Leader’s Guide for this, which turned out to be an entirely new book.

My wife thinks I should write and publish more Bible studies. One woman in our Life Group at church wants me to submit Acts Of Faith to our denominational publishing house. Others have said I should write more like that.

In fact, I would like to write more Bible studies, and have made it a goal for 2020 to write and publish one more. Over the years, as an adult Life Group teacher, I’ve developed a number of Bible studies that I’ve then taught to our Life Group. I had my teaching notes for most of them (can’t find one, and another has rather thin notes). Any of those for which I have notes I could most likely expand into a book.

In addition, ideas for more Bible studies have come to mind. Several times over the last year I’ve listed these, even planning some of them to gauge how difficult their preparation would be. It’s one thing to say, “Hey, that would be a good Bible study,” and another to actually put it together and teach it.

Yesterday I took time to list them, the ones taught and the ones in the planning/brainstorming stage. Here they are. The ones taught are in the order I taught them in. The dates are approximate. I didn’t keep a running record of what I was teaching when, and the only way I can pin the dates down is by reviewing my teaching notes and see what dates I wrote on them (which I usually do and hope I did in the beginning).

Here are the ones taught.

  • A Study in Isaiah. This was a 20-lesson series, developed and taught around 2008. So far I haven’t found my teaching notes for this.
  • The Prophetic Duo: Lessons from the Lives of Elijah and Elisha. This was originally around 14 lessons, but the class wanted to look at some events in the prophets’ lives that I skipped, and it grew to 18 lessons. I believe I taught this around 2009 or 2010.
  • Life on a Yo Yo: Learning from Peter’s Ups and Downs. I put this together probably in 2009 and taught it in 2010. I think it was 14-15 lessons.
  • What One Thing Is Strongest? This is not, strictly speaking, a Bible study as it is from the apocryphal book of 1 Esdras. This was just a five lesson series, and the class loved it. There are some challenges in publishing it. The writing, I think, would go fairly easy.
  • Malachi, the Answer Man. This study in the book of Malachi was around six or seven lessons. I didn’t seem to make a lot of notes as I taught this, though I have a couple of more places to look.
  • Good King, Bad King. I did this one summer, maybe in 2013. It was to be a study of the kings of Israel and Judah. I only did two lessons, but have programmed out around 12 to 14. This one should probably be in the not-yet-developed category.
  • Sacred Moments: Special Times in the Lives of Believers. This was a study of the sacraments, the seven of the liturgical churches with special emphasis on the two of the evangelical churches. I believe I taught this around 2014 in ten lessons. In addition to the sacraments, two other special times could be added to make a twelve lesson series.
  • Know My Story. This was a summer fill in series of a few lessons, maybe six or seven, on lesser-known biblical people. It was well received by the class. This could be extended to almost any number of lessons. I think 14 to 18 is most likely. I’m not sure where my notes are, though I think I do. I just haven’t pulled them off the shelf since I taught it. I could almost put this in the not-yet-developed category.
  • Entrusted To My Care. A study in 1 and 2 Timothy, this looked how much of Paul’s instruction to his protege pastor applies to laymen. I taught this in 2016-17, and it was taught again last fall at a Wednesday evening class, mostly by another teacher from my notes, but I took a couple of weeks of it. This is the Bible study for which I have the most notes.
  • A Christmas Study. This took a look at all the biblical events of Advent and Christmas, put them in a chronological order, and studied them. I forget how many lessons this was, but I think ten or so, maybe a couple more. We did this over Christmas 2018 and into 2019. One lady in our class has encouraged me to publish this.
  • Acts Of Faith. Developed, written, and published in 2019, we started

And here are the ones in the planning stage.

  • From Slavery to Nationhood. A study of the people of Israel from Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and maybe a little into Joshua. Somewhere I have programming notes on this, which I hope I can find.
  • To Exile and Back. This is to be a study of Israel from their exile to Babylon to their return. I did fairly extensive research into this a few years ago and found it harder to develop than I expected. Hence it’s on the shelf for now.
  • Lazarus, Come Forth! This is a study of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. It includes many interesting interactions with people. I programmed this some time ago, and think it would make six lessons, maybe seven. I haven’t taken this much more than brainstorming and preliminary programming.

Alas, my post is long already. On Friday I’ll reveal which one I’m going to write next.

goals, Writing

March 2020 Goals

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Dateline 1 March 2020

A new month, time to set and post new goals. As I sit here in my living room, typing this, with The Sorcerer’s Stone on the tv, I’m still recovering from my cold. I have two appointments this week and four the next. Spring will  be upon us and I have lots of yard work to do. Yet, I need to push myself and set aggressive goals. Here they are.

  1. Blog twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays.
  2. Make significant progress on The Teachings, my novel-in-progress.  I need to make this measurable, so I’ll set 20,000 words to be added this month. That means, at the close of March 31st, I should be at 32, 122 or better.
  3. Make a final decision on what Bible study to work on this year.
  4. Attend three writing group meetings this month, two for Scribblers & Scribes of Bella Vista and one for Village Lake Writers & Poets.
  5. Spend a little time going through the genealogy book I started over two years ago. My goal is to make a judgment of how much work would be involved and whether I could publish it this year. I haven’t talked much about this on the blog. I’ll have to do a post or two on it.
  6. Republish the two stories in the Sharon Williams Fonseca series I didn’t get done last month, to add my current list of published works (and correct any typos I might find).
  7. Continue reading for research in the next Documenting America book. This will include searching for available documents. I have a few already chosen, but more are needed. This month I may be searching for documents more than reading them.

That seems like a good amount of goals. As always, I might modify them as the month unfolds.

Bible study, Church History Novels, Sharon Williams short stories, Writing

February Goals – Accomplishment

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Dateline: 1 March 2020

Early in the month I posted my February writing goals, saying at the time they were modest goals, as befitting my schedule of other activities for the month. Time now to see how I did on them.

  1. Blog twice a week. Based on past experience I feel good about this. Did this. Once I had a “sick day” post that didn’t really say much, but at least I posted.
  2. Attend the mid-month meeting of Scribblers & Scribes of Bella Vista. I’ll be away for the other two writer group meetings I normally attend. I did this. It was a good meeting, with just the four regulars.
  3. Write a large amount in The Teachings. I started this last month and would like to get a lot done. I hesitate to set a word goal, as I’ll be doing some research/reading simultaneously. However, goals should be measurable, so I’ll set 10,000 words as my goal. Ideally I should be writing more, at least 1,000 words a day. Maybe, as I get further into it, I’ll write that much a day. After a fast start, my cold slowed me down. But, as I came out of the fog of the cold, I had some good days. As of right now, The Teachings stands at 12,122 words. Since I started the month with less than 300, I met my goal.
  4. Review the Bible studies I’ve written before, and ones I have planned, to see which one I’ll write next. I don’t plan on beginning it just yet, but I want to know which one I’m doing so I can be thinking about it. I reviewed the Bible studies several times this month. I ruled out some, ruled others in. As of today I’m close to having made a decision. It’s down to two or three to choose between.
  5. Finish re-publishing the Sharon Williams Fonseca short stories. I have two more to go. Doing this to correct any typos and to add all my books and stories to the document. No, didn’t do this. In fact, I forgot about this. It would have been an easy thing to do on days when I didn’t feel like writing. I’ll add it to March.
  6. Do more research for Documenting America: Run-up to Revolution. I have two main research books in hand, but will look for other sources, including on-line. I did about as much as I intended. I wish I had done a little more, but at least I got some reading done. Alas, the document I read (a 60-page pamphlet from the pre-Revolutionary War era) looks like it will be hard to use in the book.

So, that’s not bad for accomplishing my goals. May this new month be even better.

Church History Novels, The Teachings, Writing

“The Teachings” and the Family of Document People

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This is the third post in a series. The previous two were:

The Premise Behind “The Teachings”

“The Teachings” and It’s Place in History

This was my first novel; but, if plans work out, it will actually be the second in the series, and “Preserve The Revelation” will be the fourth.

The third leg of my church history novel series is following one family whose employment is in the realm of document creation and preservation. In Doctor Luke’s Assistant, we followed the early career of Augustus ben Adam. Luke hired him to help write a massive biography of Jesus. Augustus had trained in the Roman schools to be an amanuensis, which is a (somewhat) low level secretary—a copyist. He might take dictation, he might copy a letter before the original was sent out, might copy old documents that would soon begin to deteriorate due to age. He could read and write, but was not at a high level. He was a mere assistant.

In DLA I said that Augustus’ father was named Adam. At that time I had no intention of making this a series or writing a prequel. All I revealed about Adam was that he was a Jewish businessman who became Romanized. Adam and his wife made a trip to Rome during DLA and brought back gifts for their children. When he learned that Augustus had become a Christian, he wanted little more to do with his son and didn’t even attend his wedding.

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

The next book written in the series was a sequel to DLA, titled Preserve The Revelation. In it we follow Augustus and two sons, Luke and Daniel, who assist him in his work, one willingly one unwillingly. They assist John the elderly apostle in writing his gospel and the book of Revelation, with many adventures and twists and turns along the way. Adam doesn’t figure in this book, and I presume he died before it.

While writing PTR, a plot for a prequel to the series came to me. Adam ben Zechariah would be an apprentice scribe in the high priest’s employ. Reasonably zealous and intelligent, he ascribed to something higher than his future son would. A scribe was a confidant of the high priest and teachers of the law, helping them to read and interpret scripture and make new documents for the people. In the book I would have to make a way for Adam to become disenchanted with his Jewish heritage and distrustful if not downright hostile to the growing Christian movement. I accomplished that, I believe, and had it fit seamlessly into the next book.

First chronologically, third written.

Which brings me to The Teachings. I chose to add a book between DLA and PTR because that time frame worked well for the historical document, The Didache. As I said in a previous post, some scholars put the writing of The Didache a century later, but many put it right in the period of late in the middle third of the first century. That puts it smack dab in the midst of the Jewish War. I saw that gave me excellent plot lines related to the war.

It also gave plot lines for the family. 66 A.D. was right at the close of DLA. Adam was alive. Augustus was hoping to recreate the longer work that Roman officials destroyed. The two are estranged. The Christian movement was slowly maturing from the early fragmentation that drove Adam away from them. I saw that all of these could be bought together. If, that is, I was able to do it.

Writing book 3 in a series after writing books 2, 4, and 1 probably isn’t a good idea. Not only do I have to make everything work seamlessly with what went before and what came behind, I also have to work in the family dynamics. What helped me along with this was the vision for the whole series coming together as I was writing Preserve The Revelation. I saw the prequel to the series first, then I realized I had both a hole in time and an applicable document between books 2 and 4. Thus, I finished book 4 knowing books 1 and 3 were coming, and I wrote book 1 knowing the basic plot of book 3.

Confusing? Yeah, it is for me. But the family dynamics are coming together nicely as I write The Teachings. Adam and Augustus begin the book somewhat together, somewhat reconciled. At least they are speaking with each other. They go their separate ways. Adam continues as a businessman, having long ago given up the trade of a scribe, and Augustus continues working with documents, though at a somewhat higher level than a mere amanuensis. Their wives will also feature in the story. Readers who read the series in order will already know their wives and be glad I include them.

I have a plan to bring Adam and Augustus back together near the end of the book. I’ve had to change what I first intended, as it wasn’t compatible with what I’ve already written in book 4.

So, that’s the three legs of my new novel. As of right now the manuscript stands at 11,089 words, heading towards between 80,000 and 100,000. Wish me luck.

Church History Novels, History, The Teachings, Writing

“The Teachings” and Its Place in History

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I’m not totally over my cold, but it’s better, and I’m back in the land of the living. So, here’s the next post in the series.

Doctor Luke’s Assistant ended in May 66 A.D., just as the Jewish revolt was breaking out. In DLA, no actual battles occurred, but unrest was growing.

The Teachings begin two weeks after the end of DLA. War breaks out before the end of the year and will continue until 70 A.D. This is the timeframe for my new book, so have to work in events of the wr into the book, event making them part of the plot. The main characters will be going here and there in Israel—and maybe even to other nations (still working that out), so I need to get things right. I can’t have the main character confronting Roman soldiers in Caesarea when the fighting at that point of the war was taking place in Galilee.

But where do you get information about the war, information that will give a specific timeline? I have a number of history books on Israel. Each of them covers the war, but none of them give a timeline. They say this happened first, that happened second, etc. But none give much of a timeline. Various online sources weren’t much different. I ran into an online Jewish encyclopedia recently. Perhaps, when I fully explore that I’ll find more info, but an initial look tells me it doesn’t have what I’m looking for.

That leaves me with the works of Josephus. Written by Josephus about 15 years after the war ended, The War of the Jews was the most extensive history written about this war. Josephus was a Jewish general on the Israeli side who lost a battle, was captured by the Romans, and ended up on the Roman side. As a result, his history is suspect. Did he skew things to favor himself? Does he treat the Jews more negatively than is justified and the Romans more positively, even though he’s a Jew?

Back in the late 90s or early 2000s, we bought a four-volume edition of Josephus’ works. Now they are available on-line in a number of places. I’m glad to have the print edition, however, as I can extensively mark in it, and am doing so.

Alas, the timeline is difficult to establish in Josephus’ War. He gives a few dates, even down to the day, but in an archaic dating system. I’m reading slowly in it.  I’m underlining. I’m taking notes. As it is the best reference available, it’s what I’ll use most.

I can ignore Josephus’ qualitative statements and just focus on timelines. Where was the fighting going on as 66 A.D. turned to 67 A.D.? What Roman general might my characters have interacted with? Where was loss of Jewish life greatest, should I decide to kill off any characters?

So many decisions to make. I want events to track with history. I want my characters to interact with that history accurately. It will slow down my writing to do this, but that’s how I want to do it.

Bible study, Church History Novels, critique group, family, Writing

Ideas and Grandchildren

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The scene at the Dodge dealership in Snyder. Ezra is in the middle of the photo.

I stated in my last post that I wasn’t getting much writing done, due mainly to the snow days and the grandchildren being home. And I was okay with that. But, in the three days after the snow days, I have’t done much.

I had sent the first five pages of The Teachings to my critique group, Scribblers & Scribes of Bella Vista. I received one review back, and went over that carefully, incorporating many of the comments. Alas, I didn’t add any new material. I found a little time (maybe 30 minutes) to re-read some of the source material, which will help me down the road.

Leaders and boy scouts ran a good show on Saturday. Ezra’s car is the bright blue one.

Saturday I took #2 grandson, Ezra, to his Pinewood Derby competition in Snyder, about 50 miles away. That was a fun time. We had lunch afterwards, and Ezra commented it was lunch for second childs. Yes, it was.

This was a snazzy set-up. The display shows the result from one heat.

We walked around the neighborhood a couple of days. Yesterday, after church, Ephraim had a friend over for a visit. I found some time to sit on the front porch and read—not in the source book, but in other things I brought along on our trip. Enjoyable, but not necessarily productive for writing.

A good number from Ezra’s pack participated. All seemed to have a good time.

Yesterday, Sunday, was mainly for reading. But, as I read in the book we are currently studying in Life Group, and as I read some in a short book from 1886 about Thomas Carlyle, ideas started to come to mind. These were ideas for Bible studies to develop and write. One had been there for a while, but another came out of the blue. Actually, the thought came to me in the men’s Sunday school class yesterday, from a Bible passage we read and studied.

Ezra didn’t seem to be disappointed at not winning anything. He enjoyed being with his friends, and maybe with his grandpa.

Yesterday evening I took a few moments to write the ideas down. I didn’t take time to flesh them out. That may be an activity for later today or tomorrow. I also listed other Bible studies I’m thinking of. I have about six I’ve developed and taught but never written out in book form, and, in addition to the two added yesterday, I have six others I want to develop. I won’t give any of those here. That will wait on a future post.

So, in a way, this was writing productivity. One of my goals for this month is to decide on the next Bible study to write. Last night’s exercise will help me achieve that goal.

Bible study, Church History Novels, Documenting America, goals, Sharon Williams short stories, The Teachings, Writing

February Goals

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As reported in my last post, I had a good, productive January, at least in reference to my writing goals. Time now to set writing goals for February. As I’m traveling I’ll back off a little on my goals just a little. I’ll have fewer of them, but hope to spend a fair amount of time on writing.

  1. Blog twice a week. Based on past experience I feel good about this.
  2. Attend the mid-month meeting of Scribblers & Scribes of Bella Vista. I’ll be away for the other two writer group meetings I normally attend.
  3. Write a large amount in The Teachings. I started this last month and would like to get a lot done. I hesitate to set a word goal, as I’ll be doing some research/reading simultaneously. However, goals should be measurable, so I’ll set 10,000 words as my goal. Ideally I should be writing more, at least 1,000 words a day. Maybe, as I get further into it, I’ll write that much a day.
  4. Review the Bible studies I’ve written before, and ones I have planned, to see which one I’ll write next. I don’t plan on beginning it just yet, but I want to know which one I’m doing so I can be thinking about it.
  5. Finish re-publishing the Sharon Williams Fonseca short stories. I have two more to go. Doing this to correct any typos and to add all my books and stories to the document.
  6. Do more research for Documenting America: Run-up to Revolution. I have two main research books in hand, but will look for other sources, including on-line.

That’s all the official goals. Possibly something else will come up during the month.

Bible study, Church History Novels, goals, Sharon Williams short stories, The Teachings, Writing

January Goals – Accomplisment

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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.

Church History Novels, family, The Teachings, Writing

Today is the Day

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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.

self-publishing, Writing

2020 Writing Goals

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I almost forgot that today is my day to blog. I had said that I would next blog about my writing goals for 2020. Here it is after noon, and I just remembered this.

Fortunately, I did spend some time this week thinking about those goals, writing them out, thinking some more, writing them out again. I believe I’ve settled on a few goals that I think are doable. At least I’m willing to make them public and work toward them. I’ve divided these into two categories, call them primary and secondary. Here are the primary goals.

  • Write and publish The Teachings. This is book number three in my church history novels series, though it will be the fourth one written. It fills the gap between Doctor Luke’s Assistant and Preserve The Revelation.
  • Make corrections to Acts Of Faith and re-publish it. As I’m going through the teaching process, I keep finding little errors that need correcting. A couple are bigger than little. I actually plan on doing this next week. I have someone willing to promote it but I’ve asked him to hold off until I make the corrections.
  • Write and publish the next book in the Documenting America series. This will most likely be Run-up To Revolution.
  • Finish and publish “Tango Delta Foxtrot”, the next short story in my Sharon Williams Fonseca series. In fact, the story is written and in the final editing process. I’ve been slowed trying to incorporate comments from my critique group. I need to make some final decisions and run with it.
  • Help a fellow writer get her next book published. In fact, I may have completed that this morning. I made a tweak to the cover and uploaded everything to Amazon KDP. The review so far has said the proof copy is ready to order, so it will most likely be found acceptable.

As to the secondary goals, here they are.

  • Complete the genealogy book Stephen Cross of Ipswich. This has been on the shelf for several years. As I recall it was more than 75% done. I hope soon to dust it off in a month or two and see where I left it.
  • Write an article for Voice of the Martyrs magazine and submit it. An idea has come to me for this and I don’t want to let it drop without seeing where it could go.
  • Write and publish another Bible study. I have five studies already developed and taught which could serve for this, and one that is gelling in my mind. I’m not sure if or when this will happen, but I like the idea.
  • Begin writing Volume 3 of The Gutter Chronicles. I have the outline mostly done. Maybe I’ll get to this, maybe I won’t. For sure I won’t if I dong get it in the goals.

I think that’s enough. If I get through my primary goals, and one or two secondaries, I’ll feel really good. I’ll update on occasion as the year winds on.