Solus Christus Writers Café

Entries categorized as ‘Authors’

The Writer’s Stream

August 3, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Sometime ago a magazine asked the Swiss theologian Karl Barth what he would do if in the light of past experiences he was only now beginning his work as a theological teacher.

Karl Barth graciously declined saying his method had never been to work to programs but rather his thinking and writing and speaking had issued from living encounters with people and conditions that spoke to him.

Barth said he felt like a man in a boat which must be rowed and steered diligently but which swims in a stream that he does not control. It glides along between new and often totally strange shores, carrying him toward the goal set for him, goals which he sees and chooses only as he approaches them. He said, “As I see it now, my theological career has been a succession of present moments.”  ~Geoff Pound

HT: Stories for Speakers and Writers

Categories: Authors · Creativity · Mystery · Relevance · Story
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No Spoon Feeding

July 29, 2009 · 1 Comment

What I love about story is it doesn’t force. It simply guides you down a path and ebbs and flows. You can learn so much from a story but you’re never spoon fed easy answers. ~Anne Jackson (blogger, author, and advocate for those living in poverty)

Visit Anne’s blog

Categories: Authors · Creativity · Story
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One of this Generation’s Best Writers on Writing

June 5, 2009 · Leave a Comment

“Let’s get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn’t to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.”

“When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story…When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.”

“I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops.”

“I’m convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing.”

“Words create sentences; sentences create paragraphs; sometimes paragraphs quicken and begin to breathe. Imagine if you like, Frankenstein’s monster on its slab. Here comes lightening, not from the sky but from a humble paragraph of English words. Maybe it’s the first really good paragraph you wrote, something so fragile and yet full of possibility that you are frightened. You feel as Victor Frankenstein must have when the dead conglomeration of sewn-together spare parts suddenly opened its watery yellow eyes. Oh my God, it’s breathing, you realize. Maybe it’s even thinking. What in hell’s name do I do next?”

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. …If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. …Description is what makes the reader a sensory participant in the story. Good description is a learned skill, one of the prime reasons why you cannot succeed unless you read a lot and write a lot. It’s not just a question of how-to, you see; it’s also a question of how much to. Reading will help you answer how much, and only reams of writing will help you with the how. You can learn only by doing.”

“Some of this book—perhaps too much—has been about how I learned to do it. Much of it has been about how you can do it better. The rest of it—and perhaps the best of it—is a permission slip: you can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will. Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up.”

“You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair–the sense that you can never completely put on the page what’s in your mind and heart. You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick ass and take down names. You can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or because you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page.”

~Quotes from Stephen King, in his book, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft”

Source: Wikiquote

Categories: Authors · Creativity · Details · Humor · Mystery · Relevance · Story
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Blog Highlight: Jared Wilson

February 28, 2009 · 2 Comments

jared-wilsonI realize it is the last day of the month and I haven’t posted a blog of the month, haven’t posted much this month here as I have been very active on my blogs elsewhere.  Jared Wilson’s blog, The Gospel-Driven Church, is one of the blogs I visit and never leave without taking something away.

Jared is currently writing his first book titled “Your Jesus is Too Safe” and I look forward to reading it (to be released in July).

Categories: Authors · Blog Highlight
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Donald Miller: Author of “Blue Like Jazz”

February 17, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Donald Miller is one of the great young writers of our time.

Categories: Authors · Jesus · Story
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Blog Highlight: Dr. George Grant

January 22, 2009 · Leave a Comment

george-grant1I can say that George Grant is a friend of mine.  He may not claim me, but I am privileged to count such a giant in the faith a brother in Christ.  He has traveled some pretty thorny paths with me, and seen me in a state of being I’d rather not remember.  He was also the first one to recommend I try my hand at blogging a few years back.   I owe him a big ‘thank you’ for that. 

Dr. Grant has several blogs I frequent, so I will share each that I regularly visit in hopes that you treat yourself.   His continued efforts on behalf of the unborn should be commended.  He is both humble and quiet in demeanor.  What I admire most about him is his unwavering commitment to justice for those who can’t defend themselves.  In an age when murdering the unborn is thought of much like a face-lift is—just ‘another’ medical procedure—a man like George Grant is all the more needed.  I know him, he is the real deal.  Many men in his shoes are plastic, George is human. 

Dr. Grant is a tremendous writer and a towering intellect as well.  He is the author of over 60 books to date.

King’s Meadow Study Center

Dr. Grant’s blog—Grantian Florilegium

Parish Life

The Quick and the Dead 

Enjoy.

Categories: Authors · Blog Highlight
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one of a kind

November 20, 2008 · Leave a Comment

…if you enjoyed the Anne Lamott interview, you are sure to enjoy one of the best writers of our generation—Philip Yancey.

Categories: Authors · Creativity · Drafts · Humor · Relevance · Solitude · Story
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classic Anne Lamott

November 14, 2008 · 1 Comment

…if you are a half way serious writer you will entirely enjoy this.

Categories: Authors · Drafts · Humor
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Blog Highlight: Micheal Spencer

November 12, 2008 · Leave a Comment

bwspencerspeakingThe blog I visit most often is Internet Monk with Michael Spencer.  Spencer is a blogging pioneer and I continually find his posts informative, enlightening, and entertaining.  His radio podcast is worth checking out as well.

Visit imonk here.

Categories: Authors · Blog Highlight
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a top notch author

November 3, 2008 · Leave a Comment

One of my very favorite authors, Mark Buchanan, discusses his book that was released last year—Hidden in Plain Sight (Thomas Nelson).

Here is the first of ten posts he did to discuss the book on YouTube.  The clips are like 2-3 minutes each.  I like his promotional idea, but better yet, I like what he has to say.

The other nine clips Mark did can be accessed here.

Categories: Authors · Marketing
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