Hold the Light for People...

It?s been a long year, like a sleepless night
Jacob wrestled the angel but I?m too tired to fight
Every Wednesday for two years we?ve met
I?ve showed you all my anger, doubts, and bitterness
There was no judgment in your eyes
Just the silent peace of God that felt so real in you

Will you hold the light for me?
Will you hold the light for me?

And I stay up late, cause I cannot sleep
I don?t wanna face the quiet, it?s just God and me
Cause I?m waiting for the gavel handing me the sentence down
Cause I don?t believe forgiveness or even repentance now
There was no judgment in your eyes
Just the silent peace of God that felt so real in you

Will you hold the light for me?
Will you hold the light for me?

I wanna feel redemption flowing through my veins
I wanna see with clear eyes beyond lust and hate
I want the war to be over and know the good guys won
I want love to hold me and know I?m not alone

Standing round a willow weeping
We?re praying in the backyard
And the chill of the night, the friendship light reminded me
Who we are

words

My life consists very much in words. Speaking, studying, editing, writing, reading, pondering, translating words.

They keep me up at night

Idylls #1

Tennyson employs some soul-stirring language in his "Idylls of the King". What stirs the soul is his grasp of the human condition. Consider the following:

Then, before a voice
As dreadful as the shout of one who sees
To one who sins, and deems himself alone
And all the world asleep, they swerved and brake
Flying, and Arthur call'd to stay the brands
That hack'd among the flyers, 'Ho! they yield!'


Have you ever been caught with your hand in the cookie jar when you thought everyone was asleep? And then your mom's shout: What are you doing!? makes you jump out of your skin. Brilliant

I was born before the Internet

Some day this will be a phrase to make young people gasp in alarm.

"You were alive before the internet, grandpa?"

"Yep."

"How did you survive back then?"

"Mostly we hunted Wooly mammoths and played checkers to pass the time."

"That's not true grandpa! Boogle told me Wooly mammoths died millions of years ago."

"Who's boogle?"

A strange breed

I found out today that I will be headed back to school (en route to a M.A. in English) at UW.

I paused as the excitement welled up in my heart. I have been waiting patiently (read: not so patiently) for more than two months to hear this news, and the school year starts on Monday.

I realized at that moment that most of my peers and friends rejoice just as fervently for the opposite reason.

I am happily part of a strange breed :)

Call for Captions

Can anyone tell me why this guy is waving? Need a good caption here folks... I mean, honestly, the rest of the group are strutting their stuff and our guy is having a modern moment: "Oh, maybe we should get a picture of this for the scrapbook"

Give me your best shot.

Reflections on Writing Short Story

Writing short stories can be perplexing, similar to a child straining to reach a cookie just out of reach. You can see it, perhaps even imagine what it tastes like, but you can’t quite get it.

Why, you ask? Here are two (2) reasons short stories tantalize authors (and readers!):

1. The Nature of the Genre is Truncated

Narratives in novel form usually have enough space to develop robust themes, scenes, characters and plot. In a short story, the author has to make sacrifices in all of these areas – some more than others. The result is a very satisfying (in a literary sense) refinement of purpose and writing style that leaves a reader groping for more.

Just when you think you are getting to know a character the story is over and you are left to fill in the blanks. This truncation forces the reader to become a quasi-detective. However, it also forces the author to be particularly skilled in his choice of words and order.

2. The Style is often non-traditional

Short stories often deviate from normal (dramatic) structures. Most of the time a reader is thrown right into the middle of the action and has to figure out what is going on. This freedom to break from the traditional method gives the genre a refreshing diversity. However, for an author, it can be equally difficult to continually re-imagine core features in a story.

You say, 3000 words isn't that bad! But mankind has always struggled to say what he means in a clear, compelling and concise manner.