Note: This was posted at The Rabbit Room recently. So, you may have seen it there. Do not read it twice. It’s like seeing yourself in time-travel. –sam

Last night I wrote a fable. It’s fabulous. And by that I mean it’s a fable.

With me?

Words really mean things. I want to be some one whose appreciation of this fact fuels more intentional investigation on word origins.

I only have one book on my shelf that I can think of right now about word origins in English. That book is pretty amazing (now I’m thinking of what amazing history the word “amazing” might have), but I ought to have more. I almost have aught.

I remember hearing Ken Myers talking to some fellow about how he was grading a student paper where it was said that a boat had “arrived half-way across the ocean.” The fellow was objecting to this use because the word “arrive” has in it the notion of coming ashore. So one cannot arrive half-way. It means to get there. Specifically to “come to shore.”

So, at Hutchmoot (the Rabbit Room conference) this idea of the power and origin in the original power of words arrived on the sandy beach of my mind. Courtesy of Walter Wangerin, Jr.

Walt (I call him Walt, because I was close enough to yank his pony tail –but I didn’t, amazingly) was amazing. <—– I haven’t looked that up yet.

I felt a thousand things as he spoke, which I feel incapable of putting into adequate words. I feel like a clever monkey trying to explain to Beethoven (who is deaf and dead) the joys of flinging poo. I felt validated, inspired, full, hopeful, peaceful, joyful and the list goes on and on like a long, long list.

But here is one thing. Walt knows words.

He inhabits language like the oldest local. He speaks as one with authority, as if in his naming the thing may finally –again– be itself. It was not that words were used by him, or that he was commanding with them. I can aspire to that. It was more.

He cooperated with words. Co-operated. He and the words were on the same side. He has arrived on their side after a long, literate life’s journey.

His relation of the history of schap (forever on the chalkboard of my mind) was a significant life event for me. Because, in so many words, he told me who I am.

I am a schap. A shaper. This is how he talked about storytellers.

And words are the tools of my trade. I will use them, care for them, add more to my bag and hope that one day I will do more than use them. I will inhabit them. Know them like an intimate friend. Partner with them. Conjure up with them a vision for those without eyes to see. And tell stories.

Like Walt.

Frauleins and Germanmen, allow me to introduce you to a pal who is launching his new weblog today (and by today, I mean yesterday).

Jonathan Rogers is a fine novelist and overall sort of swell fellow. His blog will, I have no doubt, be of great interest to you.

Among his many gifts, Jonathan is an accomplished practitioner of the art of the amusing anecdote. He appears poised to regularly unleash this gift on the public at the aforementioned blog. See, for instance, his initial offering. Is it amusing? Yessir, it is. Is it an anecdote? It appears to be. So, he gets very high marks from the start and it’s my belief that this will only continue.

Why yes, I am intimidated by the quality of his posts, but that can’t be helped. You will continue to see relatively few quality (or “real”) posts here, with quotes, my lame witticisms, and other “fillers” as a regular feature. That’s the best I can do right now. Expectations are important, as Jonathan says, citing some weirdo over at his “welcome” post.

Jonathan is an accomplished author of many fine books (which you can purchase, signed, at very reasonable rates). I am not. I need to devote as much time as I have for writing to that enterprise. This blog, it must be admitted, suffers from some measure of neglect.

But anyway, since we’re supposed to be talking about Jonathan, the chance to listen to Jonathan talk about the art of writing has been of great benefit to me, both in specifics and generalities. Maybe, just maybe, those of you who are, like me, working towards being authors, will routinely receive some of the wisdom he has to offer on this subject as well at his new blog.

Perhaps if we overload him with comments requesting such, he will guilted into action.

Go on over and visit. Amusing anecdotes and more await. The first one is about getting pantsed. Need I say more?

Or, it’s more about connection than it is about self-expression. And, of course, it depends on what we’re after. If we want people (who are not our mothers) to read us, then we need connection way more than self-expression.

I’ve never read Yancey, but I like this video (below). Especially at about the 23:20 point where he expresses how difficult writing is. As Pete Peterson said on the Story panel at Hutchmoot: “Many people say, ‘I write because I can’t not write.’ I don’t get that. I can easily not write. That’s the easiest thing in the world to not do.”

Well, he said something like that and he took the words right out of my mouth, so I’m putting them back in just as I like.

It’s easy not to write. It’s painful. On the self-same panel, Jonathan Rogers explained that when it’s easy it’s not usually worthwhile.

“I’ve written books that didn’t hurt, and to tell you the truth, they’re not all that good.” Jonathan Rogers

Well, this might have been easy to write.

OK kids, back to Yancey.

At one point he advises writers, “Don’t do it alone,” and goes on to say that there are many creative people, but:

“…they’re all into self-expression…but you don’t make a living in self expression, you make a living by connecting with people who want to pay money…to say ‘this is worth my time.’”

Good point, Phillip Yancey. Good point.

Also, you have an amazing ‘fro.

I have shared this vidya content before, but thought it might be good to do again. I thought those thoughts with the thoughts in my mind.

Writers are a pretty pathetic bunch. Especially, perhaps, those of us who want to have a book published, but haven’t yet. We have these odd tensions that are unresolved, like so many guitar strings tuned to the point of snapping. I don’t know if this ever changes, but one thing we writers do is try to convince ourselves that it’s everyone’s fault but our own when we fail. The excuses erupt.

It’s the state of publishing, the “ecomony,” lazy agents, the stupidity of book-buyers (Twilight, Left Behind, choose your hated success story), etc. –whatever makes us feel like it’s not us. It couldn’t possibly be that I stink.

Sit near struggling writers and you will smell the distinct odor of burned martyr. The unvalidated genius at the stake. “It was too good for them!” he cries against the flames.

Of course, sometimes it’s true. I think I know of some cases, myself. (I mean, people really do buy teen-angst, vampire books like crazy.)

I don’t have much to say about this pathetic streak in us, just wanted to let you know that it’s normal if you know some one struggling with P.W.S. (Pathetic Writer Syndrome). So, hug your writer friends and tell them, “There, there…poor baby,” in a gentle way.

As for us, the writers? At best it’s an annoying thing we need to get over. At worst it reveals an idol in our lives that we need to let go of/destroy. Because rejection by a publisher (or agent) is not our personal hell and publication/success is not our personal savior. If we are thinking of this situation in a religious, all-consuming way…maybe it’s a worship issue. We are made to be worshipers. Ourselves, ensconced on a throne built of literary success, makes for a lousy idol.

Here’s a cartoon from Rachel Gardner’s blog. It’s a self-deluded writer’s perspective on things.

Though some of this “Bewail the state of things!” is grounded in truth (and seems to be, perhaps, increasingly true), I still think that if our work is good enough it can and will be published (perhaps by a small press –that option is increasingly attractive in many ways). But things do have to line up for us and we have to work really hard. And that’s not even factoring in the sovereign hand of the God who does things for his own glory and our good, including sometimes allowing (or even causing) us to fail.

Like most things in life, this isn’t easy. Whoever said it was easy is lying, or selling something.

At least that’s what it looks like from here. But what do I know? I’m not a success story.

Yet. But it’s legitimately not my fault. It’s, um….it’s…

Andrew Peterson’s Counting Stars releases today.

After listening to this record (which I got to do for the first time on Sunday), I wanted to sell my house and buy a copy for every person I’ve ever met.

I haven’t done the math on that (not one of my strengths), but you get the idea. You know something is special when you have an immediate, overwhelming desire to share it with others for their good. And this record is so very good in so many ways.

Counting Stars continues Andrew’s uncanny record of hitting me simultaneously like a new piece of art that astounds, while feeling as familiar as the natural soundtrack to my family’s life.

With each successive song-story you find yourself going deeper into the mystery and magic of the world God made, but it is not always “new” ground. It is only that Andrew can call your attention to what you failed to see before, but might if you try (or stop trying). He is not content to let ordinary be bland, he will say something about magic. Here are songs about loving your wife (or husband), looking in on sleeping kids, planting trees, and hope in the night. All told by a wordsmith who is more like a wizard than an ordinary singer-songwriter.

He offers here a humble tonic against ingratitude. A poem for the glory of ordinary chores. A thin place where the wall between the divine and the plain is tenuous at best.

On this record, as you may guess from the title, Andrew again alludes to Abraham. This is one of my favorite recurring flavors of his musical catalog. He makes us feel like we serve and love the same God that Abraham did, not by diminishing the patriarch, but by putting us in our place –surrounded by the love of that same God.

The Magic Hour is one of the songs on Counting Stars, but it also describes my experience of listening to the entire record.

Get yourself a copy here, so I don’t have to sell my house.

Note: Tonight a 8pm (EST) Andrew will be playing a Counting Stars concert live on the internet. He will be standing on the internet, playing. See about it here.

“They say it is the first step that costs the effort. I do not find it so. I am sure I could write unlimited ‘first chapters’. I have indeed written many. The Hobbit sequel is still where it was, and I have only the vaguest notions of how to proceed. Not ever intending any sequel, I fear I squandered all my favourite ‘motifs’ and characters on the original ‘Hobbit.’”

J.R.R. Tolkien, in a letter to C.A. Furth, Allen

Some old links from way back last week:

1. The Huchmoot gets some press. They even mention me in this, which is sure to attract zillions.

2. My pal, Loren Eaton, posts about author John Brown’s advice to short story writers who want to be pros. Then Brown himself shows up to comment. Loren is tops.

3. Author Lars Walker, of Brandywine Books, also gets attention from a famous author I’ve never read, Andrew Klavan. The post Klavan picks up featured Lars talking about how his pastor was “outed” by a scummy journo for attending a support group for men with same-sex struggles.

(Buy Lars Walker’s latest novel here.)

4. Mark McGuiness says to do your important, creative work first, then let the madness of everyone else’s expectations hit you. (Instead of waiting till your to-do list is done to start your own, most important, work.)

5. Ever read Garrison Keillor’s thoughts on getting an MFA in Creative Writing? Neat.

6. Does anyone know why Leonardo Day-cap-rio is frequently seen wearing a West Virginia hat? Here he is at the World Cup, sporting the ole’ flying WV. I was watching that game and was amused to see this. Weird. (We continue to be your source for celebrity gossip, wardrobe discussion, all the latest. Right here.)

Fin.

It’s a busy season for my man, Andrew Peterson. I call him “my man” because –and this is kind of a technicality– but, I own him. He returns from a series of concerts in Sweden to a clamor of excitement surrounding his art.

1. Andrew won a Christy Award for writing the very best Young Adult novel in what is known as the Christian market for North, Or Be Eaten! Bravo! Well done. It’s an amazing book, as is its predecessor, On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. His literary career is on the ascent and well-deserved it is. I love his music, but I think he might end up being a better author at the end of the day.

2. Speaking of his music, his new record is available for pre-order now. Go here to see the various ways you can support AP’s work and support your own ears (and heart) by putting your order in today. I just finished watching the video for “Dancing in the Mine-Field.” Another grown-up love song from AP in the tradition of “Don’t Give Up On Me” and others. Having just gone over the ten year mark with my wife, I was moved once again by AP’s gift for song-craft with deep truth. It’s excellent, and only one of the nifty bonus opportunities available when you pre-order. There’s t-shirts, immediate download of the record now, that video, coffee with himself, and I think a lock of his hair. Check it.

Congrats on the Christy, AP, and the new record.

I’m just waiting for your feature film to hit theaters. Your art exhibit? I hate you because you’re good at everything respect you so much.

Disclaimer: AP’s been very good to me -generous. But I was a fan before that and shall remain so until he crosses me to the end.

Here’s a video his label put together to promote Counting Stars. It’s good. Watch it.

One of my favorite living authors takes on the job of adapting one of my favorite dead (in a manner of speaking, see book) authors’ works. N.D. Wilson is set to adapt C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce for the screen. I am, of course, not sure how it might work, and the Narnia movies (especially the atrocious second film) have been a major disappointment. But if N.D. is on the job, I’m much more interested. His outstanding Notes From the Tilt-a-Whirl is reminiscent in may ways of The Great Divorce. I love that book.

This from Variety (which, as you know, I am constantly quoting)…

“Mpower Pictures (“The Stoning of Soraya M.”) and Beloved Pictures are teaming to co-produce C.S. Lewis’ fantasy novel ‘The Great Divorce.’

Veteran producer and Mpower CEO Steve McEveety will lead the production team. Childrens’ book author N.D. Wilson (‘Leepike Ridge,’ ‘100 Cupboards’) is attached to write.”

Note: CSL’s name for his short book came as a reply to William Blake’s poem, “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.”

Note the Second: If you buy either of these books here I get a pittance. (Click on the cover image.)

100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson   1. Fantastic 2. Truthy 3. Uhmerkin (sound it out)

The Once and Future King by T.H. White   1. Wordy 2. Whimsy 3. Humanism

The Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin Jr.   1. Moving 2. Unique 3. Lyrical