Novel Journey

Hop on over to the Novel Journey blog to find an interview with yours truly. You'll get the condensed version of what my students have to pay for... my thoughts on writing, crafting fiction, storytelling, book marketing, and why, if you want to write, you should do it, even if somebody's already said it better than you think you could.

Suspense Writer Virginia Smith

Today we’re hearing from Virginia Smith, author of Murder by Mushroom. Though this is her second novel, it’s her first mystery and her first romance with Steeple Hill’s Love Inspired Suspense line:

I never aspired to be a romance writer. In fact, I still don’t claim the title of "romance writer," even though this book (and several more coming soon) contains a major romantic component. Maybe that’s because romance novels are not my first choice as a reader. It’s not that I don’t like them; I do! I enjoy novels in a variety of genres. But given the choice between a science fiction novel and a romance novel, I’ll head for outer space every time. (Okay, yeah, I’m a geek.)

So when my agent called and said, “Guess what? Steeple Hill is interested in Murder by Mushroom, but you’ll need to add a romantic element,” my first reaction was, “But I can’t write romance. I don’t know how.” My agent is a wonderfully encouraging person. She said, “You can do it! Your heroine is already working with a young police officer, so just develop a romance between them.”

When I thought about it, I realized it might work. In fact, I hadn’t told anybody, but my quirky heroine, Jackie Hoffner, was already sort of attracted to the guy. I was only a few chapters into the story, but as the plot unfolded I’d been holding her back, telling her, “No, you can’t fall for that guy. He’s a cop and you’re a murder suspect.” (You probably think it’s crazy to have conversations with fictional characters, but that’s only because you haven’t met Jackie yet. She is a very determined young lady.)

I agreed to give it a shot. I returned to my computer, and I turned Jackie loose. Imagine my surprise when she started teaching me how to write romance into my mystery. I discovered that the little sneak had been planning that romantic theme all along, and she had already worked out the details. That poor police officer didn’t stand a chance. At the end of the book, when he… well, you’ll have to read that part for yourself.

Since finishing Murder by Mushroom, I’ve thought about the most memorable books I have enjoyed over the years. A good number of them, though not classified as “romance,” do have a romantic element. I think that’s because love is a basic human need. A person who does not love is a sad and lonely person. And who wants to read books about sad, lonely people?

So I’ve embraced romance in my books. I still don’t call myself a romance writer, but I don’t mind being known as a writer who loves romance. And mushrooms.

If you’d like to win a copy of Murder by Mushroom, leave a comment. We’ll draw a winner on Saturday. To read about Virginia’s other books, and to learn how you can win a 30GB video iPod, visit her website at www.VirginiaSmith.org.

Most of Life Is Waiting

Thursday afternoon I arrived home from lunch to discover my author copies of Informed Consent sitting on my porch. That same night, I walked into a Lifeway store to see if they carried my two new Bible studies and learned they will feature four of the six titles in the Coffee Cup Bible study series in their August four-color mailing to all their customers..."their" being the national chain.

Also Thursday: when I opened the mail, I found an Asia-English copy of Sexual Intimacy in Marriage. Apparently the publisher negotiated a deal to offer the book for sale in India, and that requires rewriting places where we mention folks like Howard Stern and Oprah. You know--Americanisms. I had no idea this deal was in the works! (Some have asked what that means $-wise. It pretty much means $0, but it's still cool.)

All this would suggest I have been quite the busy writer. But the fact is, I've not. Well, not lately, I mean. I worked on the studies for 10+ years and sent them to my publisher shortly after the first of this year. I worked on the novel for more than two years, and I sent it off in February. I don't even remember when I sent the updated intimacy book manuscript. But it required months of research, especially when it came to the tedious documentation of footnotes.

So Thursday's events brought a great reminder: Most of life = waiting. For this one red-letter Thursday, I worked a decade, two years, and many months. It just all landed together on one day.

It was a good reminder to me that I need to...keep plugging away on the ever-so-slow PhD. And keep up the vigilance in parenting. And if I keep slogging through all those unanswered emails, perhaps it means I might even get to the end of those. (Dare I hope?)

For what are you working and waiting?

Author Interview: Eric Wilson

Today I'm talking with suspense writer Eric Wilson. Barbara Warren, who has posted more than 200 Amazon reviews, summarizes the plot of his latest: "It was a good night for Johnny Ray Black. Lots of fans, lots of fun, and then someone knocked him in the head, tied him to a statue, and cut the letters AX on his left shoulder. The stunt sent Aramis Black on a crusade to find the creep who did this to his older brother. Then Aramis begins to get strange e-mails quoting scripture and the letters AX begin to show up carved in other places and on other people. Afraid to go to the police, Aramis is soon plunged into a dark spiral of evil. The unknown opponent seems to be taunting him and is always one step ahead."

Eric, tell us about yourself.
I'm a lover of Jesus, lover of family, and lover of books. Some of my childhood was spent overseas, and I learned to love the world and all its colors. I want honesty in my walk with God. I try to show this in my novels, portraying characters with genuine struggles and genuine desire to find the Answer: Jesus. To date, I've written five novels: Dark to Mortal Eyes ('04), Expiration Date ('05), The Best of Evil ('06), A Shred of Truth (just released), and the novelization of Facing the Giants (in stores Sept 4).

And your latest project?
The Jerusalem's Undead Trilogy. The first book will be out in the fall of '08, published by Thomas Nelson. I can't wait!

What’s it about?
A classic battle of good and evil told in a modern context but with biblical history and Judaic tradition at its core. Humans are caught in a spiritual struggle, very symbolic, yet very visceral and bordering on the genre of horror. The underlying theme is Jesus' call for us to "die to ourselves daily." It's an un-American idea. We live for ourselves. Through a heart-pounding novel, I hope to communicate ideas that will stick in readers' minds.

I read somewhere that you're not crazy about what's generally available on the Christian market. Is that true and if so, why?
Actually, I think there are some amazing writers and books in the Christian market. More and more, authors are exploring life and faith through eyes of honesty and integrity.

My frustration is that much of the Christian market has become myopic, focused on providing "comfort food" and "safe alternatives" while watching the bottom line economically.

I would love to see the rich world of fiction reaching outside the religious box. Of course I want to make a living as a writer. All of us, as Christians, should be allowing the Lord to move through us in our vocations--whether architects, novelists, singers, or janitors. That's not an issue to me. But I would rather work another job if that's what it takes to write books that will touch the lives of those outside the church with stories of God's truth, than make a lot of cash while only tickling believers' ears. That's just my own calling from the Lord. I can't speak for other writers and the tasks they've been given.

What suggestions do you have for writers who don't want to make spiritual truth sound preachy or trite?
Imagine your own non-believing friends and relatives reading your words. Be real in your own relationship with God. Don't hide from your frustrations, but take them to the Lord in honesty and come through the fire refined. It's a daily process. I think that process is reflected when you write of characters with similar struggles. Life is often messy. If we try to wrap it up in nice little bows, our stories sound trite and somewhat naive. I believe Jesus is big enough to handle all of our questions. He is the Answer, after all.

What is the hardest part of writing for you?
Planting my butt in the chair. It's easier to watch TV, write emails, make phone calls, vacuum--anything that takes the place of the creative process. I can't wait till I'm in the mood. I write, and then the mood comes. That's how it works for me. As a husband and father, working another part-time job, I can always find distractions. In the end, I have to sit and write. No excuses.

Anything else on your mind?
I want readers to know that God has a specific call on their lives. Whether it's writing, singing, cleaning toilets, whatever--you can be a blessing to those around you. Be faithful in the little things, keep starving your sin nature and feeding your spiritual nature, and allow Jesus to lead you places you never expected. This next generation is poised to make waves in God's kingdom, but it will only happen if you shake off the dust of the past, the doubts, and plunge forward with diligence. I'm still learning this as a forty-year-old. Hopefully, others will learn from my hard-headed mistakes.

News Flash

Remember back when I said my first solo novel, Informed Consent, was coming September 30 from Cook? Well, scratch that date. It arrived today!

Jeremy Cramer, M.D. is the next Einstein of infectious disease research. While working on a way to revive water submersion victims, he makes a breakthrough discovery in AIDS research that thrusts him into the center of a media frenzy.

But the publicity turns negative and his marriage reaches the breaking point when he accidentally infects a colleague and his negligence allows his son to contract a life-threatening disease. The viruses test the limits of his new formula and his ethics.

In his frantic efforts to save his son and his marriage, he must decide whether to allow his child to die or violate the rights of a young transplant donor. The choice forces him to stand face-to-face with the unfathomable love required to sacrifice an only son.

You can order Informed Consent here.

Prayer: Like Lighting Dynamite

Back in the late 1990s when my daughter still rode around in a car seat, we had several droughts in Texas. The second time, more than sixty days passed without a drop from the sky. One afternoon during that time, as I drove us home from the club where I swim, we spotted a grass fire in the median. I pulled out my cell phone and called the fire department pronto.

Several days later, we passed that stretch of grass, scorched from the blaze. My little girl wanted to know all about it: Should we be scared? Is it bad to call 911? What causes fires? Will it happen again? Why did the grass burn? Why? Why? Why?

I explained that the grass needed a drink—that all the Texas grass needed a drink, that the plants were thirsty, that the trees craved rain.

“What can we do?” she asked.

“All we can do is pray.”

“Right now?”

“I suppose,” I said. “Now’s as good a time as any.”

She insisted I pray.

“OK,” I said. So I kept my eyes on the road and started talking to God. I told Him about how the grass needed a drink. I reminded Him that the trees were thirsty. And I told Him we were scared we’d run out of water. “Please, God,” I pleaded, “we need rain.” When I finished, she prayed too, with that childlike, simple faith Jesus commends.

About twenty seconds after we finished, a huge drop splashed on my windshield. I looked around to see if a truck was leaking fluid. Then another drop hit. And another.

Ohmyword! It dawned on me.

“HE SAID YES!” my daughter screamed from the back seat. “HE SAID YES!”

Sure enough, that liquid was coming from the sky, and it was rain. I dabbed my eyes and kept on driving. Other drivers pulled over, got out of their cars, and threw their arms in the air in fits of unbridled joy.

“HE SAID YES!” my daughter kept screaming.

“Yes, He did,” I whispered, shaking my head as I marveled at the timing. It seemed so coincidental. (William Temple, the ninety-eighth archbishop of Canterbury, was known to have said, “When I pray, coincidences happen; and when I don’t pray, they don’t happen.”)

James reminded his readers that God hears the prayers of ordinary people: “Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain and there was no rain on the land for three years and six months” (James 5:17). Sometimes we get the idea that God answers the prayers of the superspiritual while He glosses over the requests of us lesser mortals. Why should God answer some mom and her little girl driving by a burned median in Texas? Yet that’s James’s point—Elijah was just like us, and see what his prayers accomplished? Prayer is access to supreme power. If we really grasped that truth, people would have to pry us out of our prayer closets.

In Colossians 4:2, Paul packs a lot of instruction on prayer into one short verse. He says it’s something we should be devoted to, alert in, and something we should give thanks with.

To be devoted to something is to persist at it. Paul’s word for devoted to was often used to describe a boat docked, continually ready for use. To be devoted to prayer is to cling to it with persistent attention and perseverance.

That kind of prayer is not the stuff we tack on after the fact when we’ve run out of all other options. “All we can do is pray,” I had said, as if praying is barely a cut above nothing. In Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard writes, “On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, making up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews.”

Dillard is right. Praying is like lighting dynamite.

If we truly believed that, Paul wouldn’t have to remind us to be alert. How many times do we, like the disciples in Gethsemane, doze off during our prayers rather than staying vigilant? I don’t know about you, but I doubt I’d doze off near a bomb squad working to dismantle wires before the clock reaches a big red ZERO.

Excerpted from Cappuccino with Colossians.

Wordless Wednesday

Mary DeMuth on Parenting

Mary DeMuth has a new book out titled Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture. In it she draws on her experience living in France (“a hotbed of hyper-postmodernity”) as well as interviews with folks like my SPS sister, Erin Teske, to help North American parents raise our kids. Here are some of her tips for how we can help our children prepare for the world outside our door:

. Become a conversational parent. Talk to your kids. Listen. Share your story.

. Dare to believe that God has much to teach you through your kids. Be humble enough to learn from them.

. Create a haven for your kids, an oasis in your home that protects, supports, and gives kids space to be themselves.

. Take seriously the mandate that you are responsible for the soul-nurturing of your children.

. Teach your children to joyfully engage their world, while holding tightly to Jesus’ hand.

. Teaching this comes primarily from modeling it in your own life. Do you engage your neighbors? Are you more interested in God’s kingdom than your own?

. Admit your failures openly with your children, showing how much you need Jesus to live your daily life.

Here’s a quote from Mary’s book that I especially appreciated: "Coaching is different from showing or directing. A coach simply helps someone who wants to change to effect such a change. Instead of pointing out how a person needs to change, a coach listens to what the person wants to change. The person being coached is the initiator. The coach, then, helps the person latch onto a goal and develop steps or strategies to reach that goal. A coach is a cheerleader, but he does not do the hard work for the person being coached. He facilitates, listens, asks great questions, and places the responsibility for life change on the shoulders of the one being coached. …Since coaching is primarily based on how each child wants to grow, it requires a shift in a parent’s thinking. I no longer strongly suggest my daughter practice her violin. Instead, I ask my daughter what she wants to accomplish as a violinist, asking what steps she would like to take to get there and encouraging her as she tries to reach her goals."

You can catch Mary's virtual book tour this week at these sites:

A Cup of Cold Water
Be a Barnabas
Dawn Morton Nelson
Deborah Gaypong
Dobsons 411
Eleanor Joyce
Good Word Editing
Preacher’s Daughter
Sky-High View
Spaghettipie
The law, books and life
The Master’s Artist
The Surrendered Scribe
ThroughMyWindow

And you can buy an autographed copy from Mary herself.

Immigration, Part II

Today we continue our conversation with Dr. Mike Pocock about immigration:

What constitutes a real, positive public policy of immigration reform from your perspective?

. One that recognizes the reality of the long-term residence and positive contribution of 9 to 12 million undocumented foreign-born people in this country and seeks to regularize their status and put them on a path toward citizenship, if desired, instead of forcing their return to their countries (which is unrealistic, unworkable, and, in many cases, cruel).

. One that makes undocumented but otherwise decent people aware that they have broken the law and must pay some monetary and civic penalty, payable in manageable installments to the government or community in which they live. Possibly include a required community-service penalty, such as working on Habitat for Humanity construction.

. One that seeks assimilation without cultural suffocation. This would include required English capability.

. An expanded guest-worker program that permits workers to serve a variety of employers instead of a single designated employer (H visas). This permit would allow workers to seek work instead of having to be matched with an employer prior to entry. A time limit could be established for finding such work, and possession of an adequate amount of money while looking for work. This approach recognizes the reality that much of the work needed is day labor, but day labor leads to regular employment where workers show their value. Guest worker visas would give the right to return home to family and back for work without the necessity of illegal and very dangerous border crossing. (420 died in border crossings in 2006.) A quota system keyed to the condition of the work market should be established.

. Establishment and staffing of more consular guest-worker permit offices in primary locations in foreign countries.

. Introduction of biometric national identity cards to help eliminate identity theft and fraud.

. Employers required to check certification of workers with national database, possibly one connected to ATMs because of their availability in convenience stores and because ATMs and credit card companies should also move to biometric bank cards. Fine employers who knowingly employ undocumented workers once a more comprehensive system is established.

. Strengthen border controls. I do not like walls but they have been shown to reduce crossings in the San Diego area and Mexicali. Walls at strategic high crossing locations may allow better oversight of unfenced areas.

I could endorse the White House proposal for immigration reform, but believe it should incorporate provisions from the SOLVE Act (Safe, Orderly, Legal Visas and Enforcement Acts) introduced by Democratic Reps. Luis Gutierrez, Bob Menendez and Ted Kennedy, because it addresses family unity and other issues. (See discussion by Navarrette and Waslin, July/August 2004 Issue, “Forum” in Hispanic Magazine http://www.hispaniconline.com/.)

What is the true social and economic impact of legal and illegal immigration? Are we being overwhelmed? What are the problems or dangers posed for people of faith if we base our opinions and actions in regard to immigrants on these concerns rather than religiously based ethics?

We are at a high point in the rate of immigration world-wide and in the USA. Currently the foreign-born population is 35 million, 11.5% of the total population. But there have been higher years. In 1880, 13.3%; in 1900, 13.6%; in 1930, 11.6%. We've seen a 54% increase between 1990 and 2000.

Total remittances worldwide of migrants, legal and undocumented, estimates were $232 billion in 2005. In the USA, buying power of Hispanics alone in 1990 was $222 billion; 2004, $686 billion, est. for 2009, $992 billion. Of all 35 million foreign-born persons, 11.5 million were undocumented. So two thirds of the foreign-born pay income tax and one third do not. However, all pay sales tax. Lost income tax has been estimated at $15 billion annually.

Parkland Hospital in Dallas delivered 15,590 babies in 2005. 70% were to undocumented Hispanic women. Parkland spent $70.7 million in 2004 with taxpayers covering 40% of the cost. Nevertheless, Parkland administrators say: “Most immigrant parents do have jobs and pay taxes including property and sales taxes. They have a better record for paying their bills than low income Americans.”

So yes, legal and illegal immigrants do constitute a burden in many cities, but even those who do not pay income tax are contributing to the system through other taxes. Clearly, bringing undocumented people into the light of legality would also create a stronger tax base among them.

Christian response or attitudes toward legal and illegal immigrants should not be based on pragmatics alone. Whether it is hospitality to strangers (Rom 12:13), or entertaining those who cannot repay us (Luke 14:12–14), doing good to all persons (Gal 6:10), or considering all people equally no matter their culture or ethnicity (Col.3:10–11), the Bible speaks to our attitude toward those of other races and cultures. The pastor of the Farmer’s Branch Church of Christ said: “I try to ask myself what God would do.” We should be very careful not to simply go with the conventional wisdom of people around us, not economic, and certainly not racist thinking. We really should love our neighbor as ourselves, not intellectualizing nor spiritualizing, but in concrete expression to whoever is in our community on whatever basis.

Good Migrations?

One hundred ninety-one million people lived outside of their country of birth in 2005.

Below is a Q/A with Michael Pocock, D. Miss., Chairman and Senior Professor of World Missions and Intercultural Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary on the subject of immigration. Dr. Pocock has much to say, having himself immigrated from the United Kingdom as a young teen with his parents in 1955. He spent sixteen years (1971–87) as a missionary in Venezuela and later as mobilization director. Since 1987 he has taught at DTS. He travels extensively, has written several excellent books, and was a driving force behind Ethnic Workers Summit in Dallas, 2005.

Many countries face immigration challenges. What are some foundational considerations for considering immigration from a biblical perspective?

. All people are valuable, made in the image of God. They should be treated with dignity even when out of desperation they attempt to circumvent laws. Therefore, there should be a protective system of advocacy for foreign workers, laws against exploitative use of foreign workers, against violence, domestic and public. Prosecution of abusive employers. Regular and fair payment of workers. Decent and affordable housing (Gen 1:26–27, 2:3; Matt. 6:25–33; Gal.6:10).

. The need to earn a living, have enough food and shelter and safety should be respected by everyone in countries with resources and jobs. This means people should be free to cross borders when desperate. This is clearly established in the rules for alien and poor workers in Scripture, and exemplified in the case of Ruth in the Old Testament. Boaz allows a foreign woman, Ruth, to glean in his fields, and offers her protection (from his own male workers), safety, respect, water, and shelter. He is not simply coming on to a nice foreign, but a vulnerable female worker; he is acting decently and in accord with national laws. (See also Ex.12:49; Lev 19:9–10; Deut 24:19–22.)

. National governments are basically a unit of governance that are established by God and in a sense serve him (Mt 12:17; Rom. 13). They are there for the wellbeing of the people, even though some slip into violent or self-serving ends. In any case their rule must be respected. The U.S. or any other country has a right and duty to establish policies for the wellbeing of its people. Those policies must be respected by citizens and foreigners alike. A nation has a duty and right to establish a reasonable (manageable) rate of flow of foreigners who immigrate or migrate for economic and other reasons.

What immigration policy would Jesus advocate?

It seems the only mandate he gave regarding immigration was that, as his disciples would go into all the world, they would make disciples of all nations! (Matt 28:19–20). He sees all Christians on the move as disciple-makers. I’m sure his mother and father told him stories of finding refuge in Egypt as a baby following the cruel edicts of Herod the Great. He knew what it meant to be a stranger within his own country, gripped by regionalism in which he was disparaged as a Nazarene and Galilean. He said “The son of man does not even have a place to lay his head,” (Mt 8:20) so he was a man of the road, he knew about marginalization (as Virgilio Elizondo has written in Galilean Journey), and he ministered from the margins.

So Jesus’ policy would reflect solidarity with migrants, understanding, compassion and respect, while he would also urge due respect and honor to governments. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus although they are different persons of the Trinity. When the Spirit works, it is not different from what Jesus would do. The first thing the Holy Spirit did at Pentecost in Acts 2 was to make the blessings of God clear so that people from fourteen nations present at that moment could understand. God is interested in all the peoples of the world. He is a global God, and his Spirit is an international spirit. Christ’s immigration policy would stress ministry to migrants and also the responsibility and privilege of Christian migrants to spread the Gospel wherever they find themselves.

Conservative Christians understand that America is a land of immigrants and that their parents at some point probably immigrated to this country. They look favorably on the U.S. as a land of opportunity and a magnet to the world’s people. Generally they do not seem to realize that we are not the only country to which the world’s 191 million immigrants have gone. Thirty-five percent of immigrants globally go to Europe. About 23 percent come to the United States.

More to come...

Look, Ma! My Covers Are in the Picture

It's official. Not only have my two new studies, Cappuccino with Colossians and Premium Roast with Ruth hit the stands. Lifeway is now carrying the entire series. I have yet to see the evidence of the latter with my own eyes, but a couple of sleuth photographers sent me this evidence taken with a T-Mobile phone. Thanks, girlfriends!

We're having one more drawing over at the SoulPerSuit blog site, this time for some artsy supplies. Head on over and leave a comment.

Think of the Children

When I was little and I didn't want to finish my food, my mom would say stuff like, "Think of all the starving children in China." So I'd obey her and think of them. And then I'd bite my tongue to keep from saying, "Okay. Tell you what--make everyone happy. Send them these collard greens."

But how could I give them my excess? Fact was, starving and poverty-stricken kids were far removed. So were those suffering from malaria. Nobody I'd ever met worked with kids experiencing any of these difficulties.

Today lots of my friends do work with kids who are starving, suffering with AIDS, and in deep poverty. Affordable air travel, the Internet, and other easy forms of communication have shrunk the world, leaving fewer degrees of separation between needs and resources.

I suspect in years to come people will point to Boomers as the "me" generation, and frankly most of that criticism will be valid. But I also have to say it's easier to help now, to make a real difference spontaneously, than it was in the days when TV featured new episodes of "Hogan's Heroes."

If I want to help a truly starving child today, I can hop on the 'net and locate any number of profiles of kids who need my help. I can wire money. Or sign up to provide monthly support. Or if I want to help in person, I can drive eight hours south.

So here's what I don't get. Now that it's easier for one person to make an immediate difference, why haven't we eradicated malaria? Though we ran it out of the U.S. more than a half-century ago, it still affects nearly 500 million people yearly in the world's poorest countries. Especially in Africa. That continent is home to malaria in its most lethal mosquito-born form. We see celebrities raising money for AIDS, as well we should. But when was the last time we saw a rock star raising funds to buy mosquito nets?

In the time it took you to read this, two kids died of malaria. And it would've cost only ten bucks to prevent their deaths. That's the cost of a chemically-treated mosquito net with an effective range of a football field (meaning it could protect all family members).

It costs $12 million/year to treat malaria. It costs ten bucks per family to prevent it. (And dengue fever. And encephalitis.)

Think of the children. Yes, it's burdensome. But at least now it's easier to do something. As Bono said, it's not about charity, it's about justice. My favorite aid orgs are Samaritan's Purse and Compassion. What're yours?

Wordless Wednesday

Holy Passion

Next to my computer I have Milton's piece on his blindness and a photo of F. Hart standing next to his National Cathedral sculpture and a quote by Eugene Peterson about how to be a close companion on the journey and photos of Alla in Minsk (best wishes to you and Michel on your marriage!) and Lucy and me in Kiev (thanks for coming all the way from Minsk!) and various sayings and photos. I have bits of humor, too, like John Updike's observation that "most of the stuff on the information highway is roadkill."

And among these favorites is Holy Sonnet XIV by John Donne. As I worked on the sexual intimacy book, I came to appreciate that while Donne lived four hundred years ago, he's as contemporary as an iPhone. He wrote the sonnet below as part of a series of nineteen composed after the death of his wife in 1617, and it expresses his passionate nature turned toward God:

Batter my heart, three-personed God, for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend:
That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like a usurped town to another due,
Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captivated and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you and would be loved fain,
But am betrothed to your enemy.
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste except you ravish me.

Mild about Harry

What are your thoughts on Harry Potter? Jared Binder at the Observer talked with a bunch of us DTS profs on the subject, and his interview with Tim Ralston made it into print with photo. Check it out.

Win a Copy of 3.1.6

Have you heard about 3.1.6: The Journal of Christian Thinking? It's for artsy poety (yes, poet-y) types or those who appreciate their work. My soulpersuit (SPS) friends and I contributed an article and artwork to the premier issue, and we're holding a drawing for a copy over at the SPS blog. Head on over and enter to win.

Teens and Sex

In the news this morning I read about a study in which researchers reported teenagers are having less sex. Sexual activity among high school students, they say, decreased while condom use increased. A closer look at the data compiled from twenty-two federal agencies, however, reveals the six-percent dip in sexual involvement was more specifically a decrease in the number "having had sexual intercourse."

My ob-gyn friend and co-author, Bill Cutrer, had this to say about "teens having less sex": "I'm pretty skeptical. It doesn't jibe with what I'm seeing. Maybe they should rephrase the question away from 'sexual intercourse.' Since [the Clinton/Lewinski scandal], that has a very narrow meaning. I'm thinking the sexual 'experience' remains on the rise, it's just one that has no risk of pregnancy, and finding the STDs after oral contact is a bit trickier."

More from Atlanta

First things first. Here are the Christy Award Winners:

Contemporary: Winter Birds, Jamie Langston Turner
Contemporary series: The Brethren, Beverly Lewis
Historical: Madman, Tracy Groot
Lits: Sisterchicks in Gondolas, Robin Jones Gunn
Romance: The Measure of a Lady, Deeanne Gist
Suspense: Plague Maker, Tim Downs
First Novel: Where Mercy Flows, Karen Harter
Young Adult: William Henry is a Fine Name, Cathy Gohlke

That "lits" category is new and not to be confused with something like, say, The Age of Innocence. Rather it's more along the lines of chick-lit, as you can see by the name of the winning title.

Now that we have the news category covered, I'll fill you in on my own comings and goings. I had days full of meetings and greetings, and nights slumber-partying with roomie Mary DeMuth. Most events were work-related. Did an interview with CBA Retailers and Resources, the trade mag for booksellers. Met lots of bookstore owners (the main purpose) who expressed interest in carrying my stuff. Kelly Stern from the DTS Book Center proved herself quite the sales-friend as she helped me give away about four cases of my two new Bible studies to strategic people in a little over an hour. Good news: I'm told Lifeway has picked up the series and plans to do an "end cap" display of them in August.

While at dinner Monday, I received a call from my friend and former DTS prof, Bob Pyne, who was there to launch his book with his coauthor and my friend Joni Powers. I met up with them for dessert at the uber-cool Thai restaurant/church-plant location, Spoon, located in the eclectic Westside community just a mile from the convention center. The church planter joined us as he could throughout the night and blessed us with both his presence and a chocolate-chip-mousse-filled crepe (or its Thai equivalent) on the house. The evening gave the whole convention experience (ugh) a needed humanness (ah!).

Sidebar: You know how when you walk into a cathedral you can feel small, but it's a great small? You realize how big God is and how amazing it is that you're considered so precious. Well, at a convention, you can walk in and feel small, but it's a bad small. You realize how little you matter to anyone there. So it's always good to go with friends because they make it easier to remember you have a whole other life and relationships outside of the convention/book signing/sales floor that won't rise or fall based on how many books you sell or the predicted success of your latest.

I took Kelly and her foodie husband to Spoon the next night, and they gave it two thumbs up with phrases like "fresh" and "outstanding flavor" and "excellent." (I'm telling you, if you're ever in Atlanta and want some fantastic fare that's a little left of center and right on the money, check out Spoon.)

Kregel gave away lots of copies of the third edition of Sexual Intimacy, and even had color photos of it in the daily news for convention-goers. And I did a book signing of pre-release copies of Informed Consent. A highlight of that time was meeting a couple from a book store in Tillamook, Oregon, which is near our family vacation spot on the Oregon coast. (I told them I may name my next protagonist Peter Iredale, the name of the boat shipwrecked near Tillamook at Ft. Stevens. It'll be our inside joke.) They gave me their card and invited me to do a signing next time I'm in town.

My last event was a tour of CNN's national headquarters, during which I found out how to become a news source for them.

I'm glad to be home. Though it's July in Texas, I have moss growing on my sidewalk. We've never had moss here, let alone in July. But after going without sun for about seven weeks, I think I see some light peeking at me this morning. Sunshine on a green lawn in July? It's extra great to be home!

The Christy Report

Greetings from drizzly Atlanta. I left Texas on the first beautiful day we'd had in about six weeks and arrived in Droughtville Atlanta enjoying its first drizzle. I'm having a gray summer (no, I don't mean my hair).

Moments before I arrived at my airport gate yesterday, my daughter phoned to tell me she arrived in D. C. safe and sound. Later Gary told me he called his brother's fam to check on her, and she was off skateboarding with one of her cousins. Actually, he called me from far out of Dallas, where he was off antiquing. Good for him, I say. Put the women on planes and go play. (When I talked with him late last night, he was just emerging from seeing a guy movie.)

So...last night I got out the black dress, the black velvet heels, the cubic zirconia earrings, and the sequined jacket and headed to the Christy Awards with my friend Kelly Stern. Highlights of the night included shaking the hand of Phyllis Tickle (Publishers Weekly's fab religion editor) who received a lifetime award, hearing a knock-it-out-of-the-park keynote by Lauren Winner (Girl Meets God, Real Sex), meeting up with friends Patrick and Mary DeMuth (Christy finalist), and dining with friend and class act from Kregel, (who published our intimacy book), Dennis Hillman.

This morning I've met with my publisher and then my agent, with whom I tossed around ideas for what I want to do next. But first things first. Tomorrow we launch three books.

Atlanta-bound

As I write this, my daughter is with her dad at the airport. In fifteen minutes her plane is scheduled to leave for Washington, D.C.--without either of her parents on it! She is flying alone to visit her cousins for eight days. (How in the world did Jacob ever let Benjamin leave his sight?) Gary just called to say he got her on the plane and left her safe, sound, and unafraid. (More than I can say for her mother.)

Shortly before Gary returns, I take off for the airport headed for the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS--ickers) in Atlanta, where, if it has rained daily for a month, would still be drier than North Central Texas right now.

Tonight I have tickets to attend the Christy Awards. Then I enter a whirlwind schedule launching three books. Interviews, meetings, book signings, publicist consultations. Lots of hand-shaking. I'll update you as I have access. TTFN.

Unnatural Deselection

The Associated Press reported this yesterday: In a study being published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers report that an older woman’s slim chances of conceiving could be further decreased if she opts to have her embryos screened for defects before having them transferred to her uterus.

The screening process involves taking one cell from a developing embryo to look for chromosomal defects and discarding embryos that fail to meet the standard. In the past doctors thought selecting the "best" embryos would increase an older woman's chance of becoming pregnant. (Many of these same doctors, it should be noted, stood to make up to $5,000 for a single screening test.)

The test group consisted of 408 women, ages 35 to 41 who underwent three IVF cycles. Roughly half had embryos screened, and those who opted to do so had a 25 percent success rate vs. the 37 percent rate of those who opted not to screen. One theory is that the biopsy of the cell needed for pregenetic screening harms the embryo development more than was previously thought.

To E or Not to E

A couple of weeks ago, someone interviewed me about my upcoming book release. I had the luxury of taking my time to write out answers because I received the questions via e-mail. (How cool is that?) After I completed them, I sent my answers to a couple of friends to look over and make sure that I, A) had no typos and B) sounded reasonably sane. (I can fool some of the people some of the time.)

One question was about how I manage my time. And I included in my answer a rant about being buried alive in email. I’m several hundred messages behind, especially since my hip surgery. Yesterday I started with twenty in my personal “in” box (we won’t even talk about my work account) and at the end of a day spent mostly answering e-mail, I had twenty at 10 PM. They were just twenty different messages.

Many messages I truly appreciate. Especially from relatives far away and friends who actually have my phone number stashed somewhere. But email’s blessing and curse is that I’m more accessible. That means I can interact more with serious learners and know how they’re processing what they’re learning and provide individual guidance. (Love that.) But I am also fair game to answer stuff like, “I heard you write books and my best friend's cousin's brother is the next John Grisham. In your free time, will you help him get published?" Yet if I answer such questions with silence, I’m a snob, right? (“That Glahn woman never even bothered to respond.”)

I basically wrote all this in the interview and Kelley wrote back like the good friend she is and said, “You sound like you’re whining. Not that I disagree, but I’m not sure that’s the tone you want here.”

Of course she was right. So I nixed that part. But I had to laugh when a few days later on July 1, the New York Times ran an essay titled, “The Six Stages of E-mail.” To summarize the writer outlined the stages this way:

Infatuation I just got e-mail! Who said letter writing was dead? I come home and ignore all my loved ones … to make contact with total strangers. I’ve got mail!

Clarification So e-mail isn’t letter-writing. It saves so much time. It takes five seconds to accomplish in an e-mail message something that takes five minutes on the telephone.

Confusion Viagra!!!!! Best Web source for Vioxx. XXXXXXXVideos. Add three inches to the length of your penis. Virus Alert. FW: This will make you laugh.

Disenchantment Help! I’m drowning. I have 112 unanswered e-mail messages. Most of my messages are from people who don’t have my phone number and would never call me.

Accommodation No thanks. Not my thing. Try me in a month. Try me in the fall.

Death Call me.

I'm hovering somewhere between accommodation and death. I think that stage is called "whining." What about you? How do you keep up with it? Helpful hints, anyone?

In the News...

Did you catch this? The House passed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2007 by a vote of 420-3. The Senate will tackle its version soon. A quiet bipartisan effort toward passage and reconciliation of language between the two versions continues. The bill will prohibit discrimination on the basis of genetic info with respect to health insurance and employment. So let's say they find you have "the Alzheimer's gene." Under this bill, a potential employer can't refuse to hire you because of a disease you will "develop." Or your insurer can't deny you coverage for a pre-existing yet still-to-develop genetic condition. You mean they can discriminate now? Yes, and they do. The bill's a good thing.

Also, in February, Virginia became the first state to approve a resolution acknowledging "the maltreatment and exploitation of Native Americans and the immoral institution of slavery." In May, Maryland became the second state to approve a resolution apologizing for its role in slavery and the discrimation associated with it. (If you're interested in knowing more, go to http://www.nativeres.org/.)

Did you see the NY Times article this morning about The Founding Immigrants. Worth chewing on.

And in case you wondered as I have if the bodies of the two missing climbers on Mt. Hood have been found, correspondence with the family of Kelly James (the climber who was found) included this: "The other two climbers' families still have no closure. It may be September before the teams can search the crevices of Mt. Hood for their bodies. Please remember their loved ones."

The latest issue of Kindred Spirit, the magazine of Dallas Seminary, which I edit, is now out. This one focuses on hunger in its many forms. And yes, that's my godson on the cover, and no, I actually didn't plan it that way!