Timothy's Thoughts

I n my day job, I work in an engineering environment. Surrounding me on a daily basis is a bunch of really bright guys. There are some women, but mostly guys. A lot of the time, an engineer will be working on a project, just trying to get it done, but keep in mind that these are bright guys. Someone will come up with an idea. It may be something that can be implemented right away, or it may be something that requires some research. Inspiration strikes and someone decides that he would like to go investigate something, rather than doing what he is doing. Well, the company sets aside some money for that, but that money is limited. While it’s good to pursue fresh ideas, there are too many of them to let everyone do whatever he wants, no matter how good his intentions. There are similarities between this and the publishing industry. For an engineering company, there is usually some group of people who decide which ideas are worth pursuing and which aren’t. Those that show the most promise ...

E ditor’s Note: Being a little pressed for time and having nothing else for Fiction Friday, I sat down with Sara to see where it would take me. Sara: Don’t stare at me like that. Timothy Fish: I didn’t realized I was staring. Sara: You’re just sitting over there running your finger around the top of your coffee cup, like you expect me to say something. Timothy Fish: That’s sort of the idea. Sara: Then what do you want me to say? Timothy Fish: I don’t know. I think I’m out of words. I was hoping you would say something. Sara: I can’t really say anything if you don’t say it first. Timothy Fish: True. Sara: Maybe I should start putting words in your mouth. Timothy Fish: That would never work. Sara: I bet it would. Here goes… Timothy Fish: Sara is the most wonderful person in the whole world. And she’s really pretty too. Sara: See? I told you it would work. Timothy Fish: I think that’s about enough of that. Say goodbye, Sara. Sara: Goodbye, Sara. Timothy Fish: Cute.

M aybe you haven’t noticed, but The Shack is still going strong, though its sales figures are finally beginning to drop. Yesterday, Albert Mohler posted about The Missing Art of Evangelical Discernment . His post is long, but the basic points I took from it are: The Shack was written for the purpose of promoting a particular brand of theology. That theology has long been known to be against biblical teaching. These idea have been creeping into evangelical thought for decades. The Shack has triggered the popularization of these liberal concepts even among mainstream evangelicals We need to reacquaint Christians with what the Bible really teaches. It doesn’t bother me so much that someone would write a book that includes what The Shack supporter Timothy Beal calls a “nonbiblical metaphorical model of God,” a “nonhierarchical” model of the Trinity and a “theology of universal salvation.” We’ve always had people supporting these idea in one form or another. Timothy Beal didn’t have to ...

Unfortunately the answer is not more agents. Having more agents would not increase the number of books being published or purchased by consumers. The unwelcome truth is we need more readers and fewer writers. (Rachelle Gardner, comment to her Jan 13, 2010 blog post) F ewer writers. Now there’s a thought. I still have this image in my head of Rachelle reading through her slush pile with a sniper riffle in hand. “There’s an author who shouldn’t be writing.” Bang! “That’ll take care of that.” But I know that’s not what she meant. We obscure authors would love for the publishing industry to function more like the image we have of it in our heads. We finish a manuscript, send it to a few agents and they all are anxious to represent us. One of them sends it off to a few publishers and it starts a bidding war. But that rarely happens. We finish a manuscript and we can hardly get an agent to give us the time of day. And don’t even think about sending it to a publisher. They fact is that eve...

A ny one who has been reading this blog long knows that I don’t do reviews often. You also know that I don’t like guest bloggers. And you also know that I’m trying to obey my better judgment and not write bad reviews. Today, I think I can manage that last one, but the other two go out the window. I’m going to write a review and of all things, it is going to be about a guest blog post. I don’t usually read guest posts, even when they appear on blogs that I read daily, such as Rachelle Gardner’s blog. If I do happen to read the post, I certainly don’t comment. That just encourages them. But the other day I saw a guest post on Rachelle’s blog and I read it—at least, enough to get the general idea—then I left a comment. Why? What is so special about this particular post that is different from most guest posts? The post is titled Would You Pay More For An Agent? and it is written by Chuck Sambuchino. The first thing we notice about this post is that it fits the general theme of Rachelle’s ...

I ’m writing non-fiction again. I estimate that I’m about 15% complete with the project. This project isn’t another computer book. I rather expected that I would write another one and that I would write it sooner than now, since my first book has done better than I ever expected. I haven’t been getting rich, but it has allowed me to claim a profit on my income taxes. The book I am writing is about plot devices. I suppose it is somewhat risking for me to write this book, but where there is no risk there is no reward. It’s a book that I would have liked to have read, if I had found one on the subject, but I haven’t found a book where the author covered the topic the way I have chosen to cover it. So, I’m excited about it. Much of it, I could have used it as fodder for this blog and some of it I think I have, but it would take at least six months for me to disseminate this information through blog posts and I think I would grow tired of having the blog follow that theme for so long. As th...

T his is a book review and to keep the federal government pencil pushers happy, I am writing this review of my own free will. I purchased the book with my own money and neither Tyndale nor C. J. Darlington paid me any money for my comments concerning this book. She didn't even buy me a cup of coffee. That being said, I'm going to try to keep to my previous commitment concerning book reviews and keep this review positive. Fortunately, that isn’t impossible with this book. First, let me say that this book is not what I expected. “Christy Williams never imagined that a stolen Hemingway first edition would leader her back to the sister she left fifteen years ago,” the back of the book says. “But when things begin to unravel, she finds herself on May’s doorstep, fearing for her life. After a bittersweet reunion, will the two discover that some hurts can’t be healed or is there a tie that’s thicker than blood?” After reading that, I expected that the story would begin with Chris...