Tag: novel

Monday morning briefs

Time for an update on all things around Casa de Blundell. It’s been a while since I did one of these and there’s lots going on — so this might be a bit longer than a typical brief…

Needless to say, there’s lots of goodness going on and lots of…. well….. waiting.
Continue reading Monday morning briefs

The book is spreading

St. Peter’s Brewery is now available in print through multiple vendors online. You may also be able to purchase the book in your favorite brick and mortar book seller. Simply request St. Peter’s Brewery, (ISBN-13: 9781442174788 ISBN: 1442174781).

I’ve contacted our local Barnes and Noble and they said the book was not available to order in store yet, but something in their computer showed it would be available Dec 28th. We’ll cross our fingers and see.
Continue reading The book is spreading

St. Peter’s Brewery – order your copy today

Look at what came in the mail today!

I’m pleased to say that as of today, my novel – St. Peter’s Brewery – is now ready for public consumption.

ORDER THE BOOK NOW

Continue reading St. Peter’s Brewery – order your copy today

One step closer

St Peter's Brewery book cover draft

As part of getting my book finalized for publication, I’ve been working on several online projects “behind the scenes.”

You can now visit the website for St. Peter’s Brewery at :: http://www.stpetersbrewery.info, follow the conversation on Twitter (@stpetersbrew), become a fan on Facebook and join our Flickr group and share a picture of your favorite sanctuary/sanctuaries.
Continue reading One step closer

St. Peter’s Brewery :: #Nanowrimo comes to an end

Yup, that’s it. My month long challenge of writing a novel has come to an end – a full day early. M$ Word says I finished with a 50,737 word count. Nanowrimo says I finished with an official 50,849 word count and Google Docs says I finished with a 51,716 word count.

I’ll be honest, I like Google’s number better, but Nanowrimo is the official score, so I’ll stick with that for now.

At times it was much harder than I imagined (aka writers block) but at other times it was as if the words just jumped off pages. It was an enjoyable process none the less and depending on how the editing process goes, I may just do a followup next year – we’ll just see if Laurie lets me :-).

As for now, I’m putting my writing on hold and plan to spend the month of December catching up on sleep and enjoying some books I’ve been putting off.

Jan 2, 2009 I plan to start the horrible process of editing the book and then we’ll go from there. I’m looking to self-publish the book either with Lulu or CreateSpace and depending on the editing process, I’d love to have it ready to go by March? We’ll see how it goes.

(BTW if you’re glutton for punishment – I might be looking for some copy editors in 2009 :-))

I’ll end this post with another passage from the book. I haven’t decided if I absolutely love it, or if I’m scared of it yet (that probably makes no sense to anyone else) ::

“You know, I realize this week has been rough for various folks in our group,” Matt began. “But as I was reading this weekend and then talking with Julie about politics and other random malarkey, I began to think how different the Kingdom of God is, compared to the kingdom of man. It’s this upside down, twisted kingdom that I don’t know if we’ll ever really wrap our minds around.”

Jimmy looked up from his plate and listened carefully as Matt continued.

“I hope that no matter what happens politically, no matter what happens in the world around us, it can be said that I serve the king of an upside down kingdom. A kingdom where the meek shall inherit the earth, where those who morn are comforted, where the last are first, where the oppressed shall be freed. Where rather than appearing in a palace to lead his kingdom with a sword, my king came and appeared in a lowly manager — surrounded by animals.”

Matt continued strumming his guitar as Julie opened a Bible and began reading a passage that Jimmy was surprised sounded very familiar to him.

“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat…”

As Julie continued reading, Jimmy leaned over and whispered to Kim, “What is that she’s reading, it sounds familiar.”

“It’s from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew’s Gospel,” Kim replied with a smile. “I think the beginning of the fifth chapter.”

As Julie finished her reading, Matt continued telling his story.

“So as I’m thinking about this upside down kingdom and reading this passage in Scripture it brought me hope to know that when we’re at the end of our rope, that’s when God can really go to work. And when we lose what’s really dear to us, that’s when we’ll be embraced by God. Because God loves us all, especially those who suffer and mourn, in fact he says he will comfort them.”

Matt continued strumming his guitar as he sat looking at the various faces in the room. Jimmy tried to focus on his food again, hoping not to make eye contact with anyone else in the room.

“And so for those of you who have had your kingdom and your world collapse recently, I want you to know that God offers a different kind of kingdom for us all,” Matt said. “And I want you each to know that not only does God suffer with you, but each of us suffer with you as well.”

St. Peter’s Brewery :: the 40k word mark

1506
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lab.drwicked.com

I passed the 40,000 word marker tonight. WOOT!

On the downward slope for sure! 40,018 words total (or 80%) and less than 10,000 words left! Only seven days to go! Finish line here we come!

And with another word/mile-marker – I’ll share another brief segment of the book ::

G.T. explained that even after changing his major and transferring to the Baptist college, he still struggled with his decision.

“I just wasn’t content or happy,” G.T. said. “It was like something was still missing. But I figured I’d better stick with it now. I’d spent too much time and money to back out by that time.”

After he graduated college, he began seminary and went to work as a youth pastor for a congregation with roughly 150 members.

“Seminary was just ‘what you do’ if you want to go into full time ministry,” G.T. said. “It didn’t always make much sense to me, but I guess I learned a lot along the way. It was all classroom and book knowledge that was just poured into your head and there wasn’t much practical examples or training to prepare you for real world ministry.”

G.T. stopped his story with a rather loud laugh. He tried to continue on with his story in between laughs.

“I remember after I graduated seminary I got a job as a pastor at a slightly larger church than before,” he said. “A month after I took over the position I was asked to perform a funeral for an older member in the church and I was absolutely clueless as to what I should do. I had to scour all of my books for examples of how to perform a funeral. Finally I called up the pastor from my old church and asked for his advice. He was able to give me enough notes to make it through that first funeral. I’m sure that family thought, ‘What is wrong with this guy?!’”

G.T. paused while he took several bites of food. Jimmy thought through G.T.’s retelling of his story.
“So basically you decided to go into the ministry because some dude in your past said you should?” Jimmy asked. “And then you spent a couple years getting a Master’s degree simply because it was the thing to do?”

G.T. finished chewing his food.

“Yup,” he replied. “Pretty good summary. I thought it was the right thing to do and figured if my pastor thought I should do it, he must have a pretty good insight from God.”

“So then what?” Jimmy asked.

“Well as I was at this first church I began to really study Scripture in preparation for each week’s sermon,” G.T. said. “And the more I read and studied the more I began to realize that I was supposed to have a relationship with God on my own, not dependent upon a pastor or an elder or even my parents. So I really started encouraging the congregation to start reading their Bibles on their own. And I started suggesting that they shouldn’t depend on me to hear from God. They weren’t all too receptive to that idea. The deacons and the elders met and basically told me, ‘We don’t pay you to tell us we’re supposed to hear from God on our own. You’re supposed to tell us what God says.’ So that was the end of church number one.”