The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,400 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

If at some point in the past you have attended church during the month of December you may feel like you’ve heard the same talks over and over. We pastors tend to retread the same ground over and over each year. Angels, shepherds, wise men, Mary and Joseph and Christmas spirit/shopping/meaning. We may shuffle the deck a little or put a new spin on it here or there but it’s Christmas so we’re headed to Matthew 1-2, Luke 1-2, Isaiah 9 and Micah 5. We don’t intend to preach the same messages but it’s the end of the year and some pastors are already looking ahead to next year’s first series. And if you’re going to receycle a message December is a tempting month to do it with everything else going on. But we want to do everything in our power to avoid the above characterization.

Here are three reasons why pastors think it’s hard to preach in December:

It’s all been said before – This statement is not true but it’s how many people feel. What could possibly be said at this time of year that hasn’t already been said? When we come to December and to these familiar passages we need to look at them with fresh eyes. This is why no matter what we preach we don’t bring the topic to the text. The text determines the topic. When we turn to the familiar Christmas passages we need to let the text speak to us anew. We aren’t preaching about Mary or angels or shepherds. We’re preaching God’s inspired words about these real people and there is a reason he told us about them.

There are too many distractions – There are so many things happening in December that it’s difficult to focus on fresh thoughts about the manger. There are Christmas programs, shopping, events, parties. There’s also the music of Christmas. How does a pastor draw the attention of everyone who is coming into the church, their heads filled with silver bells and sugarplums, to the beauty, majesty and simplicity of Christ?

The message gets preached in so many different ways – Anyone paying attention can hear the story of the manger several times a day through the holiday songs, radio preachers and heartwarming Christmas movies. Often these other mediums can get the message across in much more entertaining and sophisticated ways. The preacher has to compete with all the other ways people are hearing about Jesus’ birth.

The bottom line is that during December, people are talking about and hearing about Jesus. As a pastor it can be easy to add pressure to the sermon prep, trying to find something fresh. Christmas is a time for tradition and nostalgia. Pastors may be making it too hard on themselves trying to preach something new when in reality people are ok hearing the same thing in December. When you go to church this month, whether it’s the same sermon as last year or something fresh, remember, it’s not the sermon, it’s the Scripture speaking to us anew about the amazing thing our God did to bring us salvation.

Wade Murrow – Murrow is modeled after the actor Robert Patrick. But Murrow is shorter, stockier and more intimidating. He likes Ethan but tires quickly of his second guessing himself and uncertainty. Murrow deals with facts and doesn’t spend much time speculating. I stole his last name from the guy who wrote the book “Why Men Hate Going to Church”.

Ethan’s good friend Robert Charles is a big black man. It may seem cliche but the actor Michael Clarke Duncan would make a great  Robbie. Robbie hit rock bottom at a young age due to drug and alcohol abuse. An inner city mission helped him get clean and back on his feet. The military accepted him and he worked his way into a special forces unit. He takes to Ethan immediately and sees potential in him.

Abe and Tara Zabad are Ethan’s parents. They desperately love their only son and will do just about anything for him. They simply want him to be open to God and find out what it is He wants him to do. I modeled the Zabad’s after my parents and my in-laws with a Jewish flavor. I didn’t delve into their Jewish culture much since aspects of it came through incidentally in the story.

 

Some of you have commented that there is an ad showing up on some of my posts. These are visible to anyone not logged in to wordpress.com. WordPress sometimes shows ads in order to keep free blog features FREE. I do not have approval/veto powers on these ads. If you don’t like them you arwe welcome to donate $30 to the blogger which I will then pay wordpress to turn the ads off. I would just recommend NOT clicking on them since I cannot vouch for their content. Look for another Strong related post later today. Only 6 days until the release!

No this post is not devoted to becoming a better person. Perhaps I should be writing about character development in a spiritual sense. After all, the purpose statement of my blog has nothing to do with promoting books. But its my blog so I can do write what I want. I thought I’d fill my readers in on how some of the characters in Strong came to be. Some are based on real people while others are collections of traits from many different people while others are completely made up with perhaps a few minor influences. I’ll start with some of the smaller characters. If you haven’t yet read Strong, you’ll have to bookmark this post so you can come back to it and see who the character was based on and some background information that wasn’t included in the book.

Erik Remont – Erik is a psychologist who works with the armed forces. He is not an enlisted man but has traveled with the military to different bases around the world. His ultimate goal is to start his own practice. Much of Remont’s back story underwent the editors’ red pen because of where it was in the story. Erik helps Ethan sort out his past and get him moving toward his future. Erik was one character who was closely modeled after a college friend of mine, Jeremy Haskell. He served in the capacity of psychologist with the military. Erik’s manner and practice however are my own invention.

Dr. Siegers – Siegers is a doctor on base who inspects Ethan upon his arrival to North Carolina. He immediately wants to do tests on Ethan to determine the source of his great strength. Siegers is a mix of doctor and business types who have spent their lives dreaming of a prestigious award for their work. They feel they live and work in obscurity and it drives them to do foolish things.

Dr. Kelso - Brilliant scientist but with a touch of madness. He is doing things that could actually win awards were the technology directed toward more noble purposes. Another backstory that didn’t make it into the book: he became bored with his current research project and so developed something so dangerous that he was dismissed from the lab and stripped of his funding. The book skims over this very quickly. He too is a collection of the brilliant-but-mad type but lacks the comedy that makes this type of character over-the-top.

Ethan’s Team – After researching special forces I decided to model Ethan’s team after Delta Force and the Unit as seen on the CBS TV series and written about in the book, Inside Delta Force by Eric L. Haney. The characters on the team resemble “everyman”. Casey Linz was Larry the Cable Guy in fatigues. He’s not as funny but he has the same relaxed attitude. If Vic Dombrow could say one thing to Ethan it would be ”I’ve been here longer than you, I’m smarter than you, I’m better than you so put up or shut up.” We all know people like that.

More characters tomorrow!

Really enjoyed this article from Sunday’s edition. Captures well what we want to accomplish on Sundays at Horizon Church.

“I am standing in the right hand side of my church’s sanctuary, and the congregation is in between worship songs. The worship leader has just invited us to greet one another, so we turn to say hello to the people who have landed nearby.

Since I grew up Catholic, I always think of this as the “Peace be with you” time. That comforting, predictable message made it easy to connect with those that might be strangers. After I began attending Protestant churches, I learned to make up my own greetings since Protestants welcome each other however they want. This morning, people around me are greeting with everything from “Hey, you!” to “Would you like a mint?” to “I like your blouse.” We’re a creative bunch.

I’m a pew hopper who doesn’t like to sit in the same spot every week. Still, there are a few people whom I particularly enjoy sitting near just so I can greet them. I love “knowing” them, even if “knowing” means that I only see them between the hours of 11 and 12 on Sunday morning.

Like the woman who has small, bent hands and oh-so-soft skin. Or the man I call “Trouble” because he has both mischief and laughter in his eyes. Or the woman who personifies kindness who recently wrote me a note so sweet that I reach for it whenever I’m feeling blue. Or the extended family that greets each other with a kiss, even though they’ve already shared that same affection in the lobby.

Love is a beautiful thing.

The worship band begins to play the next song, indicating that it’s time to bring our attention to the forefront again, but one look across the sanctuary tells me the congregation isn’t ready to comply. Even when the singers on stage begin the next song, parishioners continue shaking hands, talking, giggling and whispering. This morning, we’re a rascally bunch.

It strikes me that this is one of the many reasons why millions leave behind their Sunday newspapers and the comfort of their homes week after week and venture to places of worship like this. We’re reminding ourselves that we are not alone.

We’re here seeking God for answers, comfort and direction, of course, but we’re also seeking the kind of connection – the truest form of social networking, if you will – that cannot be experienced anywhere else. Not on Facebook. Not on Twitter. Not in a Kiwanis meeting, a restaurant or a bar. A worship community that welcomes our most authentic selves – bumps, bruises, warts and all – is the holiest of spaces, the power in which cannot be underestimated.

Regardless of whether we are extroverts or introverts, we desire connection. Without it, our cynicism can get the best of us, and a piece of us withers and dies. We need one another, especially in these uncertain days. And although I believe this wholeheartedly, I sometimes forget. The sight before me on this Sunday morning is a welcome visual reminder.

Truth is, I was late entering the sanctuary today, since I was deep in conversation with my friend Monica in the lobby. Week after week we bring our families to this space because we hope to draw closer to God. But we also come hoping to draw closer to one another, if only for a few moments.

Monica and I have a few jobs and a half dozen children between us, all which make connecting outside these walls increasingly difficult. Yet our hearts require the kind of connection that feeds our souls, in spite of the fact that nurturing friendship quickly falls off our lengthy “to do” lists.

In the lobby, we both heard and ignored the music that poured from the sanctuary, summoning us. As we crammed our last sentences into our quick conversation, a mutual friend passed by.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in church?” he said.

“This IS church,” I said, laughing.

And so it is.”

Eileen Button is a weekly columnist for The Flint Journal and the author of The Waiting Place.

 

Some have laughed at my list of acknowledgements in the front page of Strong because it includes the Busti Public Library and particularly Tim Horton’s. I thought I’d give you the run down on my acknowledgments so you knew why I included them.

I first thanked Jesus Christ. We are surrounded by people with creative ability. They paint, design, compose, write. One only need look at the world around us to realize that creative ability comes from someone far beyond us. The same creative genius who designed this world has also gifted individuals with just enough of that creativity to reflect Himself in the world. I know I’m not the greatest writer in the world or the most creative person but what I do have I realize comes from God.

I thanked my parents. They have always been encouraging when it comes to my writing. They bought me a book that listed every publisher and every agent in the business to help me shop the book around. When I was a kid my mom sometimes had to shoo me out of the house because I was engrossed in a book on a beautiful day. She just wanted me to get some exercise. Other than those few times I was encouraged to go outside my parents encouraged my reading habits which I think led to my desire to writing.

I thanked my in-laws because they’ve always been so encouraging. My father-in-law was the first person to read through a rough draft of the book in its entirety over 2 years before it was published.

I thanked Rich and Deb Lambert because they were some of the first people I sent chapters to. They gave me their honest opinion and of course were (and are) always encouraging.

Misty Sack was my first real editor. She helped me clean up the first third of the book and realize that I needed to rewrite the first chapter. She alerted me to some of my rookie mistakes and as a result my first edit by Tate Publishing didn’t reveal many mistakes in those first 50 pages.

I thanked Natalie Sowa because she was the friend who introduced me to National Novel Writing Month which, as I’ve written, was instrumental in helping me get the story out of my head. I’m still waiting to read her first novel.

Matt Schiavone is a former neighbor who served in the armed forces. He gave me first hand knowledge of basic training, living in the barracks and general knowledge about military life.

I spent alot of time in the Busti Library doing research.

Wegmans and Tim Hortons get a thank you because I wrote most of the book in those places. I alternated between the two. Tim Horton’s had food available 24/7 but more distractions. Wegmans didn’t have food until 6am but it was like a graveyard. Both were great places to write.

I thanked my former church, Lakewood Baptist, because whether the people of the church knew it or not, they were giving me the freedom to pursue something I loved.

I began my publishing journey thinking I would send my manuscript to a publisher, it would be selected and they would take care of the rest. If that happens in the publishing world it’s more like winning the lottery. I knew I didn’t want to go the self publishing route because I’m not a very good promoter. I also knew I didn’t want to order a thousand books and have them sitting in my garage. I heard of Tate through a pastor friend. They are a cross between a self publisher and a traditional one. They differ from a self publishing company (known as a vanity press) in that they don’t just take any manuscript they are sent. They are choosy about what they publish because as a company they want to make money. They also differ from a self publisher in that they will edit your book, design the cover and layout, market it, open doors for you in bookstores for signings and submit your book to catalog companies for distribution, all avenues a self published author could never find.

They are similar to a self publisher in that they do require an author investment. This covers the cost of all those services but in the long run you are getting more than you could ever achieve on your own. The fact is, once you are published by a legitimate publishing company and not just a vanity press, you are a published author and your book can sit on any shelf in any bookstore and compete because of how it looks and hopefully how it reads.

Tate has a threshhold for their authors. If an author can reach sales of 5,000  units they can write again with Tate minus the author investment. They also receive their initial investment back. Of course I am aiming for 5,000 books sold but to reach that number will require many people promoting it and getting the word out. If any of you have read the book you can help by writing a review of it at barnesandnoble.com. Tomorrow I’ll start walking you through the characters of the book and where each of them came from. Keep reading. You might learn that you’re the inspiration for one the characters!

The answer to the question, “when and where should I write?” may seem an easy one to answer – whenever and wherever one can. But that would not be my answer. It is a rare ability to be able to jot down a few lines of a story, then pick up a gallon of milk at the store, scribble a few more lines and then cut the grass, add a few finishing touches to a page and then help cook dinner. I’m unable to write this way and do not anyone who can. I believe writing must be done in large chunks, one, to maintain the continuity of the story and consistency of the author’s “voice”, two, to prevent one from constantly referring back to one’s notes or previous pages to remember what one wrote last time and three, to carefully craft the “arcs” of a story (exposition, crisis/rising action, climax, falling action, denouement). Writing in small chunks doesn’t allow one to create the bigger picture as effectively (in my opinion).

To answer the question, “when to write?” you have to first answer the question, “when am I at my best?” If you start by asking, “when do I have free time?” your book will go unfinished. Writing your book in your free time is like funding your college education with the change you find under your couch cushions. Very few people have the free time to write a book. It is time that must be carved out intentionally. Back to the question at hand, “when am I at my best?” Some are people of the morning, others function best in the evening while some, like my beautiful wife are middle of the day people. I happen to be a morning person so I adjusted my schedule as best I could in order to write early in the morning. “What about my job?” This is where the commitment to write has to rise to the top of your priorities. I was typically expected in the office around 9. The only way I could see around this imposition on my day was to start early. One day a week, typically Friday,  I would rise at 430 or 5am and head to a place that was either open 24 hours or at least open early enough to serve me a cup of hot tea and write until 9 or 930am. In this way I was able to generate thousands of words in one morning of work and through preparation know what I was going to write the next Friday morning. This would work whenever you are at your best. The key is to write when your mind is clear and you are not pressured by anything else (unless you write to deadlines).

Where to write? The following are my suggestions but this is one subject where flexibility is supreme. I like to write away from my house. With four kids there just isn’t much privacy, peace or quiet any time of the day. My preference is a public place where I don’t know anyone. No interruptions. I only want to be thinking about one thing, my book. At home, there are a million other things I could do. The library would be nice but it’s not usually open at times when I’m available or at my best. If it works for you by all means use it. My favorite place to write is a coffee shop for several reasons: one, I can keep refilling my tea mug, two, people are accustomed to seeing open laptops and don’t judge me for being anti-social, three, very few people spend time in a coffee shop at 5am so it’s quiet, four, the seats are not too cushy (a cushy chair doesn’t keep you sitting up and alert) and five, there’s Wi-Fi (usually) and so story research can be done on the spot.

The most important thing is to find what works for you. If and when I start to write my next book I already have a few places picked out.

I thought if I sat at the computer long enough the story would write itself. It would just flow out like sands from an hourglass, smooth, consistent and effortless. This never happened. Writing a book is work. It can be a hobby too but if your objective is to finish the story, expect to work.

Here are some tips on getting the story out that helped me.

1. Don’t edit as you go! It will slow you down. Any errors or problems you encounter can be fixed later. It’s always easier to deal with something that’s written down than something that’s still in your head. That leads to tip number two.

2. Write for word count. What I mean is, don’t worry about being concise or using the perfect word at first. Use as many words as you need to convey the idea. It’s easier to cut words out than to add sentences. Say more than you think you need to say. Looking back at Strong I realize that there was so much more detail I could have added. I wrote for word count but could have taken it even further. It’s similar to a principle I learned in drama class. When it comes to creating a character on stage, overdo it at first. Mine as much as you can from the character and go over the top in portraying him. If needed you can always pull it back. If you underplay the character it’s hard to give it more energy later on after you’ve gotten comfortable with it.

3. Take risks. As you’re writing, ideas will come to you that seem crazy or stupid. Maybe you’ll start to write about something you have no idea about. Don’t be afraid to go with it. After all, it’s your story. Are your favorite stories the ones that are predictable and boring or do they have weird, memorable characters and events? You can also research a topic later and add the necessary details. Just don’t stop when you’re following tips one and two.

4. Go where the story takes you. In my last post I said that I had outlines and chapter titles before I started. That was somewhat helpful in mapping out the general idea of the story but sometimes my characters did things that took the story in a new direction. Let your characters really live in the world you’ve created and think about how they would actually respond. If your gut instinct differs from your “notes” go with your gut.

Tomorrow I’ll write a few tips for when and where to write. Make sure to click on the Strong link about to read more about the book and order it through Paypal.