I’ve been dabbling in fiction writing. I have a short novel I’m slowly working my way through. And something hit me about the storytelling process: In a book, the characters think they’re living one story, but the author knows they’re living a different story. Think about a book like Harry Potter. Harry and his friends…
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I came to a scary realization the other day while I was writing. I was outlining a book, and was ready to start writing, when I realized I didn’t actually believe the premise of the book I was about to write. I could have written all 30,000 words, published, and not meant a single word…
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Do you ever feel like you get lost in a sea of people who are exactly like you? You’ll experience this intensely if you go to a writer’s conference. You might think you’re something special—that you have a unique gift to give the world. But then you go to a writer’s conference and find out…
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Gun control. Oh, snap. I’m about to talk about this. Unfortunately, I think very few people actually empathize with both sides of the debate. Pro: The US was founded from a general distrust of the government. We were escaping what we thought was a tyrannical government. So we didn’t want the government to be able to…
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When I was making the leap to self-employment, I always convinced myself that it wasn’t much risk. Worst case scenario, I’d call up my parents crying and ask if I could live with them for a few months. Then I’d get a normal job and recover from my financial crisis. To be honest, that would…
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Science tells us humans are born with a sort of binary response system when it comes to conflict. It’s fight or flight. Black or white. Off or on. When something bad happens we either run away or turn to fight it. Even sin and salvation in the Old Testament was a sort of binary system. You either…
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We live in a hopeless world. People are faced with problems and they can often only see one or two options in the middle of their chaos. Either fight or flight. But one of the coolest things about Christianity is that we are able to find hope in all situations. We know that there’s more…
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To-do lists aren’t at all sexy. But all the sexiest jobs require them. I rely on mine as much as I rely on my laptop. To-do lists help me dump all the tasks out of my brain, onto digital paper, and focus completely on the task at hand. It’s my only sanity while I deal…
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I always feel a little guilty at Starbucks when I’m on my laptop, looking at Facebook. I feel judging eyes on me as they look at my laptop and think, “This guy’s taking a whole table just to check his Facebook.” At that point I’ll usually pull up my to-do list on the screen so…
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You were fearfully and wonderfully made. God says that about you in the Bible. He says He watched as you were formed in your mother’s womb. He even had plans for you while you took shape. God even reached down and guided that formation of your body—to make you exactly who you are. As David…
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