2012

2012

An announcement!

I’ve been blogging since 2006. I’ve posted regularly for quite a while, but in the last half of 2011, I started struggling. I didn’t always have inspiration for a post. I questioned whether I should continue with this blog, as I am working on a novel and wondered about splitting my writing time.

Friends encouraged me to continue, and I know that an author needs a presence online to help chances of publication in this brave new world of books and ebooks. Even with this, I limped to the end of the year.

Keepin’ it fresh, yo?
What do I do? How to keep it fresh after 5+ years of blogging?
Good ideas are worth stealing, and I’m going to borrow an idea from my writing and geekery friend Athena Grayson and her blog. She has themed days that keeps her going with a structure and regular posts. That’s what will happen here at Spoiled For The Ordinary.
1. Mission Mondays. I started this blog without much of an idea of a theme. Over time I wanted to bring out ideas and news about missions and being a world Christian. The time I spent in missions led to the title of this blog and a radical change in life for me. Now I will be deliberate with it and highlight different stories related to the mission of God’s Kingdom on Mondays.
2. Writing Wednesdays. The other major focus of this blog is on writing. I talk about my writing journey, Christian fiction issues, and publishing in general. Heaven knows writing blogs are a dime a dozen out there. Still, I’m interested in the process and will continue to add my own 2 cents to the never-ending flow of words – because writers never met a word they didn’t like (maybe “actually” is getting there, but I digress).
3. Free Fridays. Freedom!  I’m not limiting myself here. I can post random stuff. I’m not committing myself. There may or may not be content on Fridays. Because I am giving myself that freedom. Nuff said.
There will be breaks in this. I am a regular contributor to the Christian Sci-Fi and Fantasy tour, which routinely runs Mondays through Wednesdays. This will supercede things when I participate.
I hope this helps me keep motivated and lets readers know what to expect and when to find things. I’m excited for 2012, and I want to continue on this journey with all of you. Yes, you in the back as well. Okay, even you Mark.
Here we go…

2012

2012

An announcement!

I’ve been blogging since 2006. I’ve posted regularly for quite a while, but in the last half of 2011, I started struggling. I didn’t always have inspiration for a post. I questioned whether I should continue with this blog, as I am working on a novel and wondered about splitting my writing time.

Friends encouraged me to continue, and I know that an author needs a presence online to help chances of publication in this brave new world of books and ebooks. Even with this, I limped to the end of the year.

Keepin’ it fresh, yo?
What do I do? How to keep it fresh after 5+ years of blogging?
Good ideas are worth stealing, and I’m going to borrow an idea from my writing and geekery friend Athena Grayson and her blog. She has themed days that keeps her going with a structure and regular posts. That’s what will happen here at Spoiled For The Ordinary.
1. Mission Mondays. I started this blog without much of an idea of a theme. Over time I wanted to bring out ideas and news about missions and being a world Christian. The time I spent in missions led to the title of this blog and a radical change in life for me. Now I will be deliberate with it and highlight different stories related to the mission of God’s Kingdom on Mondays.
2. Writing Wednesdays. The other major focus of this blog is on writing. I talk about my writing journey, Christian fiction issues, and publishing in general. Heaven knows writing blogs are a dime a dozen out there. Still, I’m interested in the process and will continue to add my own 2 cents to the never-ending flow of words – because writers never met a word they didn’t like (maybe “actually” is getting there, but I digress).
3. Free Fridays. Freedom!  I’m not limiting myself here. I can post random stuff. I’m not committing myself. There may or may not be content on Fridays. Because I am giving myself that freedom. Nuff said.
There will be breaks in this. I am a regular contributor to the Christian Sci-Fi and Fantasy tour, which routinely runs Mondays through Wednesdays. This will supercede things when I participate.
I hope this helps me keep motivated and lets readers know what to expect and when to find things. I’m excited for 2012, and I want to continue on this journey with all of you. Yes, you in the back as well. Okay, even you Mark.
Here we go…

A Few Good Posts

A Few Good Posts

Amazing how a holiday throws a person out of sync…

Anyhoo.

I came across a few interesting posts last week I wanted to share. Food for thought. I don’t necessarily agree 100% with everything, but I’m always up for seeing people think about issues!
I recently found an old internet pal (old being relative on the net…) was blogging regularly about writing. I’d like to introduce you to Athena Grayson, and she has a great post on evaluating your beliefs as a writer, and trying to understand the opposite perception. We all have messages to share in our fiction, and we don’t want them to be preachy. If we can see other views a little more, we can work more realistic and rounded characters into our stories. Good stuff – especially since it references The Schwartz!
Mike Duran, the ever-linkable blogger and author, has done it again. Out of his post “Did Flannery O’Connor Write Christian Fiction?” came another provocative post, “On Taking the Lord’s Name in Vain.” I encourage everyone to check out the second post especially, but both are instructive and the O’Connor post led to the second one.

Finally, I saw that Novel Journey was announcing some major changes. It seems they are rebranding somewhat to be bigger and better, and are now known as Novel Rocket! It seems the journey gets a boost here – so check out the new swag!
There’s always good stuff out there for the writing world (since if we’re not writing books, we’re writing blogs. Or tweets. Or cereal boxes…) I’ll try to keep the best ones coming to your attention.
A Few Good Posts

A Few Good Posts

Amazing how a holiday throws a person out of sync…

Anyhoo.

I came across a few interesting posts last week I wanted to share. Food for thought. I don’t necessarily agree 100% with everything, but I’m always up for seeing people think about issues!
I recently found an old internet pal (old being relative on the net…) was blogging regularly about writing. I’d like to introduce you to Athena Grayson, and she has a great post on evaluating your beliefs as a writer, and trying to understand the opposite perception. We all have messages to share in our fiction, and we don’t want them to be preachy. If we can see other views a little more, we can work more realistic and rounded characters into our stories. Good stuff – especially since it references The Schwartz!
Mike Duran, the ever-linkable blogger and author, has done it again. Out of his post “Did Flannery O’Connor Write Christian Fiction?” came another provocative post, “On Taking the Lord’s Name in Vain.” I encourage everyone to check out the second post especially, but both are instructive and the O’Connor post led to the second one.

Finally, I saw that Novel Journey was announcing some major changes. It seems they are rebranding somewhat to be bigger and better, and are now known as Novel Rocket! It seems the journey gets a boost here – so check out the new swag!
There’s always good stuff out there for the writing world (since if we’re not writing books, we’re writing blogs. Or tweets. Or cereal boxes…) I’ll try to keep the best ones coming to your attention.