This is a bit of a belated post, but I celebrated my 39th birthday this past summer. Unlike many, I actually like getting older. With age has come emotional stability, the resources to make ideas happen, and what I hope has been a great deal of wisdom. I also feel better than I did ten years ago. I’m not sure why, but I do. I don’t drink much and I used to smoke sometimes when I wrote and it’s been years since I’ve done that. I don’t eat much better but I go on long walks by the river with Goose and this habit alone I think has added to my happiness. I overheard somebody the other day talking about traveling to “find their soul” which I suppose could mean any number of things, from finding out who they really are, to figuring out what they are going to do with their lives. But when I heard it, I was thankful, because I’m not trying to find my soul anymore. I’m honestly not trying to find much of anything I lack anymore. And I say that in the face of not having gotten so many of the things I thought [...]
Well, I woke up on a tour bus to find hundreds of you awesome, unbelievably encouraging folks asking me not to kill the blog. I assure you, I was only thinking out loud. I even felt creepy as though I was being dramatic, but that wasn’t the intent. The blog will stay for a while. But I do think there has to be a way to find focus, and to create books. For me, the future holds another spiritual book called The Way of a Disciple, and then a series of novels, and when I’m smart enough to write it, a book exploring the Lifeboat Theory in depth. That one, my Mother will buy. We are back on set of Blue Like Jazz, and tonight we film the confession booth scene. It’s not much like the confession booth scene in the book, but in a way I think it’s much more powerful. I wish I could give some of the story away, but Steve and Ben would kill me. Just know it’s all going well. Can’t wait for you to see this film. Leaving at 3AM tonight to head to St. Louis, Saginaw and Minneapolis with Robbie Seay, Sandra McCracken [...]
So lately I’ve been considering killing the blog. And in a way, the idea terrifies me, because the old adage “publish or perish” is true, and in an age where people aren’t reading books, the adage might as well be “blog or perish” and soon will be “twitter or perish” and I am sure this will all be replaced with an even more brief and perhaps visual way to communicate with each other. I do think people are reading more than they ever have, but I don’t think they are reading books, and I don’t think what we are all reading is very good. This blog is written in coffee shops, on busses, early in the morning before walking the dog. It is, as you know, rarely checked for spelling or grammatical errors. A book is thought through, over months, edited, rewritten, and then presented. A blog is “published” seconds after it is written. The writing life has changed. And my fear is the true craft is dead. There may never be another John Steinbeck, because the next Steinbeck won’t be able to sell enough books to pay for a year or two of writing the next book. He’ll need [...]
We’ve been filming for more than a week now, and have our most technically difficult scene in the can, along with, perhaps, the most difficult scene for Claire Holt and Marshall Allman wrapped up, too. Our most technical scene involved over a hundred extras, a stage, laser lights, fog machines, multiple cameras and a crane and involved multiple characters with dialogue. It was a long night, but the extras, most of whom joined us from Belmont University, were remarkable. And Claire and Marshall killed it with their difficult scene. Lots of tears on set as they performed with enough strength to drag all our emotions into the fictional situation. Behind the scenes, we are working on getting our donor/extras into scenes, shipping our incentives, and getting my phone book ready so I can thank all of you who donated to the film. We’ve had some very long and potentially stressful nights, but they’ve each gone extremely well. There is still a spirit on the set that we are filming something very special. Can’t wait for you to see at least a trailer…. Here are some answers to questions I’ve gotten about the film: 1. Is this a Christian film? Sort [...]
If you live near Dallas, Nacagdoche, St. Louis (Chesterfield), Chicago, Saginaw or Minneapolis, I’d love to see you on this way-too short tour with Derek Webb, Sandra McCraken and the Robbie Seay Band. This Sunday we start in Dallas and it’s promising to be a good time. All of us go way back, so this tour is something we put together just so we could hang and enjoy each others company. I seriously love these guys as people, and have enormous respect for them as artists. My job is to get out of the way and showcase their talent, so I’ll be speaking in short interludes between their sets, telling stories about them, perhaps asking a few questions, and then sharing some stuff I’ve learned along the way. The tour is called Love Tells the Story, and we will be talking and singing about the power of Love as an invention of God, serving as a metaphor to help us understand his personality. Derek has a new album called Feedback and he’ll be featuring symphonic-like electronic instrumentals that follow the progression of the Lords Prayer. I’ve heard it and it’s terrific, and this will be the first time he’s played [...]
