Timothy's Thoughts

P ornography is a problem. And it’s not just men. I won’t bother to repeat the statistics because on a personal level you either have a problem with it or you don’t. The reason I bring it up on this blog is because due to the title of one of my books, the Google Alert I’ve set up for it generates a number of results linking to web pages where people are looking for specific kinds of pornography. I’m sure they sit in the privacy of their own home or maybe even at work and think that no one knows what they’re doing. Of course, God knows, but even if that doesn’t bother them, there’s really nothing you can do online that someone else can’t see. I don’t figure those people who are online looking for pictures and videos of mothers doing strange things to their children are finding evidence of my book like I’m seeing evidence of their search, but it got me thinking. There are people who think they should write books to reach the sinner. Some of these people write books with bad language and...

W e had a full house at church yesterday. There was still some seats left. Some people sat in the choir loft. We had a video feed going, so I was upstairs taking care of that, though I wouldn't be able to tell you if anyone actually watched it or how many. Even if no one watched it, it was good practice for us. I'm sure the day will come when we'll need that capability. Sometimes it's good to practice something just so you'll be able to do it later. I'm sure that can be applied to writing, but frankly I don't feel like writing much more at the moment.

L ast week, I lost a dear friend, Wyndol Hart, a deacon in our church. He died from complications following a heart attack. He was well loved by the whole church. The young children quickly learned that he carried candy in his pocket, ready to hand out to them all. He was well known not only at our church and in our association, but he was well known by the southern gospel music crowd. As I write this, I’ve just remembered that he was always the one who organized the Valentines banquet, selling tickets and arranging for the entertainment. I’m sure that by the time that event comes around the Planning Committee will have it under control, but it’ll be different. He was very involved with our effort in building our new family life center. I can’t help but wonder if it doesn’t say something about God’s timing when we look at how it all worked out. It was a long drawn out process, but we had finally completed the building and we had the dedication service. Within a week of that service he...

I ’m really frustrated with some of the bloggers I follow. I see most of their blogs through the RSS feed. I’ll decide I want to say something about what they said and I’ll click through to the blog. So then I can’t actually comment because it takes so long to load all of those widgets they’ve got running on the side of their blog. Do I really care which books they’ve been reading or what songs they’ve been listening to? No, I don’t. So why show it to me? Some of that stuff is okay, but some of it doesn’t work very well. And the only reason much of it exists is as a way to advertise something the widget creator is selling. He gets free advertising because some writer wants to put her bookshelf on her blog. That stuff will kill a blog. So cut it out!

A nother author mentioned the gender imbalance at the ACFW conference. That was one of the first things I noticed when I learned of ACFW. There just aren’t that many guys who attend. It looks like a big women’s meeting and for the most part it appears to be run like a big women’s meeting. This may make me sound like a male chauvinist, but there’s a big difference between the way men conduct meeting and the way women conduct meetings. I don’t like the way women conduct meetings. Stick a man in front of a large gathering and he’s all “let’s get on with this thing; we’ve got stuff we’ve got to get done.” With women it’s all peaches and cream. “Isn’t that a wonderful speech she just gave? Let’s give her a hand to show her how much we appreciate her.” It could very well be that more men don’t attend the ACFW conference because they would rather listen to fingernails on a chalkboard than to sit through a women’s meeting. But let’s consider some other possibilities. Logic Men tend to think ...

R ay Bradbury talks about his writing journey in the video below. I apologize beforehand for the product placement in the video, but near the end of the video he talks about what he decided is the right stuff to write. What the video and then we’ll discuss it. “I was writing for me and I discovered that was the way to go.” On the surface, that sounds vain, but when we consider what he’s saying it makes a lot of sense. While our ultimate goal in writing is to communicate with the reader, writing that doesn’t draw upon our innermost feelings will come across as hollow. There are a number of stories that I could write just because I’ve read or watched so many of them. Being able to write a story is one thing, but understanding the motives of a story is another. If we aren’t writing about our own emotions, we won’t get them right. We might end up with a villain who is just bad because he’s a villain and a hero who is good because he is a hero. The reader will be much more interested in a...

I ’m not one to be big on the power of positive thinking, but I’ve noticed that how you see yourself has some influence over what you are able to accomplish. An example of where it works is in public speaking. If you walk into a classroom thinking that you have nothing to say and the students are just humoring you because they don’t want to teach the class themselves, you will fail as a teacher. But if you walk into a classroom confident of your ability to teach them something and with self respect for your ability as a teacher, you’ll be able to do a much better job as a teacher. However, before you take the attitude that if you think it it will come true, let’s consider why it works. Thinking you’re a great teacher doesn’t make it so. I’ve seen a number of people who are overly confident in their abilities and the result is that people laugh behind their backs. To be a great teacher you must prepare to be a great teacher and only then have the confidence in your abilities. If you do...