Author of the Fire Prophet
How do you write? What’s a normal
writing day like for you?
I’m a pastor as well as a writer, so I
have to balance both roles. When I’m
writing, especially a first draft, I have to have specific word goals, or I
will never get anything done. I don’t
trust that the “muse” will show up whenever she wants, and that I should just
wait for her. That’s futility. I actually believe she only shows up after
I’ve started writing. I also believe in
the power of writing a bad first draft.
So in other words, I place a high value on discipline, trusting that the
creativity will come. It’s futile for me
to do the opposite – placing the value on creativity, hoping discipline will
some how appear on its own. (Does discipline ever do that?)
So, typically I’ll write five days a
week, shooting for 1500 words a day.
Certain weeks this pushes to 2000 a day.
This will usually take 2-3 hours, depending on how much I’m feeling it,
and how distraction-free I can be.
Incidentally, I also vary my writing
location based on how I’m feeling. If
I’m confident in my ability to focus, I’ll write at the “office” (iowPanera
Bread). If I find myself getting
distracted, I’ll stay home. If I’m
desperate, I banish myself to a dusty corner in the basement of the public
library.
What was your favorite book as a
teen?
I read “This Present Darkness” by Frank
Peretti as a teenager, and it blew my mind.
Someone had taken the mysterious stories in the Scriptures about demons
and angels, and put flesh and blood on those bones. For the first time I remember thinking about
the spiritual world, considering that there might be more going on there than I
realized. The pictures Peretti drew in
that book both haunted and challenged me.
In some ways he inspired my writing the Son of Angels series.
