Category Archives: Breaking News
What to do when LIFE happens
I just posted this on my Conquering Depression blog so I wanted to share it with my reading followers.
My wife, at diverse times, is convinced I am crazy.
Okay, so maybe my behavior, at diverse times, is consistent with her conclusion. For instance, it was mid February. Sherry and I had just returned from a much needed break, a trip to Orlando to relax and have fun and visit our dear friends Mark and Donna Sutton. On a Wednesday afternoon, Mark and I spent several hours brainstorming a devotion book to accompany “Hope Again”. In a rather alarming revelation, Mark told me he had gone to have a check up the day before and his doctor wanted to keep him overnight for a cardiac treadmill. But, Mark told them he had to keep his appointment with me! Wait a minute, I said. You refused a treadmill because you might have heart problems so you could meet with me?
Before the Avengers arrive, See Cinderella.
I’ve wanted to write a post after seeing Cinderella. I was so afraid it would be another Maleficent. But, Rebecca Reynolds, writing for the Rabbit Room has said it more clearly and in a more moving way than I could ever write it down. Check out her post. Now! Quickly before we lose hope again!
Writing Prompts Prompt Good Writing
I posted a blog on the American Christian Writer’s Forum today and I’d like to duplicate it here.
There once was a website called Storypraxis. Perhaps you remember it with fondness. If you subscribed to the site, you would receive a “writing prompt” every 3 days. Your job was simple. Write quickly for 20 to 30 minutes using the word or phrase as stimulus for a short, short story or a poem. No editing. No deep thinking. Just write that story and submit it. If the story was good, you would be featured in that month’s “magazine”.
I participated (participate was one of the prompt words!) and found it the most simulating and exciting writing exercise. Here is why.
1 — Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. Writing prompts force me to try something different and getting true different results. Sometimes this is satisfying. Sometimes it is frustrating. Always, it is a positive growth experience and quite educational.
2 — A rut is a grave with both ends kicked out. I write Christian speculative fiction. The question I need to ask is if I am able to write other genres. Can I write romance? Can I write a historical novel? Can I write an inspirational story based on personal experiences? Writing prompts force me to consider other genres and I have found that some of them I really like!
3 — A cartoonish character is always a problem for me. I want my characters to be as real as possible. Writing prompts allow me to explore new characters. I stretch my imagination and try putting myself into the shoes of many different types of characters, even that of a lawn mower. I have found creating rich, complex characters has become easier.
4 — Editing is the hard work of being a published author. I love to bleed all over the page and to do so with superlative descriptions. Then, the time comes to pull out the scalpel and whittle away the excess fat! Often though, all that is left is scar tissue! Writing prompts force me to write with editing in mind since there is no time to go back and edit. Being on a word count or time deadline helps me to become a better writer up front!
5 — I always have a plethora of ideas. I jot them down, even when I awake from a great dream in the middle of the night. Writing prompts allows me to do a “taste test” of a story idea. If it comes to life on the page and promises there is more than just those few paragraphs, it is an idea I need to devote more time to. Many of my writing prompts have become entire scenes in my books or even ideas for future books.
In short, writing prompts have become a necessary part of my ongoing writing discipline. They are part of my weekly “workout” to keep my creativity, my writing, and my imagination sharp and healthy. Do an internet search and there are many websites, blogs, and twitter feeds devoted to giving you a writing prompt. Or, you can click on the “Flip Side” tab. I’ve uploaded a pdf of a group of writing prompts I received through Storypraxis and the short pieces I wrote based on those prompts. See what you come up with!
Eric Peters and the Voices!
I’ve listened to singer/songwriter Eric Peters for years. My devotion to the Rabbit Room and the Square Peg Alliance came from my son. We started listening to the artists of the Square Peg Alliance years ago. And, when I discovered the Rabbit Room website and their devotion to not only music, but to classical Christian writers I was sold.
In 2010, Sean and I attended the first Hutchmoot gathering in Nashville. Eric Peters sang at that gathering. In 2012, Sean and I were fortunate enough to make the 90 second window during online registration and we made it back for Hutchmoot. During that gathering, I was shocked to hear Eric’s story during his “Recovery Through Song” breakout session. I had no idea about his struggle with depression. He was very open with that young adult audience about his depression. Afterwards, Sean and I sat under an outside tent for a personal concert by Eric. I was stunned and moved as Eric was brought to tears and almost speechless trying to share more about his battle with depression. I totally understood.
Writers Can Burn Out Too!
“The only thing worse than nostalgia is amnesia.” Ravi Zacharias, famed speaker and author once said this. For months, I felt like one of the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness. In an unprecedented turn of events, I had not been involved in any of my church’s activities for over a year. When my co-author, Mark Sutton was our pastor, my second “job” kept me occupied at our church. When he retired, it seemed I did too.
At first, I was very uncomfortable. My connection with the “inner circle” was severed. My knowledge of the direction of the church was no different than the person sitting next to me in the worship service. The very fact I was SITTING in a worship service instead of running around behind the scenes helping to make things happen was a disturbing but new development for me.
TIP #4: GET OUT THE SCALPEL AND EDIT!
TIP #4: GET OUT THE SCALPEL, IT’S TIME TO EDIT!
I love to write. I love to just sit in front of a blank screen and bleed all over the page. There are snippets and gouges and puzzle piece bits of story saved all over my hard drives. Sometimes I see a file with an intriguing title and open it up to find a little nugget of gold I had forgotten I had written. More often than not, however, I open a file and find a little rat pill.
Not everything I write is worth saving. Not everything I write deserves your attention. Like excessive adverbs! I enjoyed reading the Harry Potter series but I don’t believe there is a single adverb in the English lexicon that J. K. Rowling failed to use in her book series. But, when you’ve sold billions of dollars worth of books, you can pretty much write anyway you want.
Tip #3: MAKE time to write!
Tip #3: You Don’t FIND time to write, you MAKE time to write!
My good friend Marilyn once asked me how I found the time to write. I simply replied, “you don’t find time to write, you make time to write.” This wasn’t a lesson I learned from John Maxwell. This is a lesson self taught. I mentioned in a previous post about being a dreamer versus making your dream come true. As I pondered on HOW I could make a novel come true, I stumbled across NANOWRIMO which begins TODAY.
National Novel Writing Month helps you fulfill that DREAM of finishing a novel in one month. When I first learned of this method, I tried it out. I failed. But, the next July after completing “Conquering Depression” with Mark Sutton in the summer of 1999, I set aside the month of August to write a novel. I started it on day one and finished it on day 31. That novel became “The 13th Demon: Altar of the Spiral Eye”.
Since then, I have learned these powerful lessons:
Make Writing a PRIORITY not only for yourself, but your family unit. Read the rest of this entry
A Taste of “The 10th Demon”
I’m pushing my book series for Halloween. Scary books with demons and vampires and ghouls and . . . well go the order page and check them out! And, for those of you who are faithful readers here is Chapter One of the upcoming “The 10th Demon: Children of the Bloodstone”
30.495352,-87.251186
7:46 A.M. CDT
Quantum flux surveillance
Grimvox Mammalian Neural Interface
Subspecies “Canine”
Chapter 2
“Animals, especially dogs and cattle . . . have shown noticeable agitation in the presence of UFO phenomenon.”
Hugh Ross
“So, this here lady says she’s lost her ‘Poopems’?” Theo King asked Jonathan as they stood on the perfect lawn of the small house. In contrast to the tiny gnome guarding the flowers around the front porch, Theophilus Nosmo King towered over six and one half feet tall and tipped the scales at three hundred fifty pounds. Very little of his mass was fat. He wore a black and gold Saints football jersey and long athletic pants. He pulled off his sunglasses and wiped sweat from his face. “Who would call their husband Poopems?”
Jonathan Steel put a piece of gum in his mouth and looked up at his partner. “We are what we do.”
“Ah, I get it. He’s like Cephas. The old man shouldn’t eat cabbage.”
“He likes cabbage.”
Tip #2: Don’t Be a Dreamer!
TIP #2: DON’T BE A DREAMER!
We all have dreams.
I had a friend years ago who has since passed away, sadly at the age of 38 from lung cancer. He was one of the most creative people I have ever met. Every day, he would call me at work and start off our conversation with:
“Bruce, I have this great idea!” At which point he would share with me what really was an incredible idea! I would get excited about his idea and as the day progressed I would begin to unpack the idea and come up with ways to make the idea a reality. By the time evening came, this idea had become more than a gestating thing for me.
Writing Tip #1: Yes, Say “NO”!
It’s been a while since I posted on my own website. I’ve been busy over at that other site, www.conqueringdepression.com promoting our new book, “Hope Again: A 30 Day Plan for Conquering Depression”. I just received a letter from my warehouse and I need to move many more of my copies of “The 11th Demon: The Ark of Chaos” if I want to put out the next book by the spring. So, here is the deal. I’ve now officially published four books since 2011 and for the next few posts I want to share with my readers some tips I learned about the process of finally getting that book on the shelves. These tips came to me over the past 20 years and they apply not only to publishing but to any creative endeavor.
Bruce Hennigan 
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