Welcome To My Blog

Ever seen something come back to life? I hear it’s happened before, but I’ve honestly never seen it myself. Until now, perhaps. Last week I blogged about the death of Blue Like Jazz the Movie, and Steve Taylor, Ben Pearson and I were encouraged by the outpouring of grief. If misery loves company, we had plenty of company. Honestly, that really meant a lot. When you are letting a dream go you can’t help but feel like a bit of a failure. And yet there was some talk about crowd sourcing, about raising money amongst thousands. To be honest, it’s not something I’d really heard about, but a couple guys in Nashville decided to take matters into their own hands and see if they could make something happen. The rest of the story is, well, amazing. Zach Prichard and Jonathan Frazier read the book years ago and had been looking forward to seeing the movie some day. When they read my blog, they got together with a friend of mine, Randy Williams, and began talking about starting some ground-swell support. They pulled a few half-nighters and launched an incredible campaign on Kickstarter complete with a film, a twitter identity and [...]

Every so often I have nothing to say and therefore nothing to write about. I may have some opinions, but they don’t seem important and they certainly aren’t worth sharing. It’s not writers block, it’s more a feeling that my inkwell is dry. Writing is not like painting in that a painter can sit down in front of a tree and paint, and when he is done, he can turn his chair around and paint some other tree, or building, or waterfall. Ideas aren’t so plentiful. So what do I do when the inkwell runs dry? I fill it up. Or at least I try. Here are some tips: • Don’t panic. As a writer, you are good at processing and communicating ideas, but you didn’t come up with the ideas. They existed before you and will exist after you. You are simply the filter through which ideas get poured and processed. There are more ideas out there. • Get some rest. Your filter is not a fixed mechanism, it’s a living brain, and it needs rest. Take a break from all things philosophical for a while. Attend a movie, read a book, take a nap, but let your mind [...]

When I graduated high school, I’d not read a single book. If I didn’t graduate last in my class, I was certainly close. In fact, one teacher protested I shouldn’t graduate at all, and it was only a coup from counselors that got me out of high school. It wasn’t until I attended a rather academic camp in Colorado that I started reading. The camp aimed to prepare kids for college, and as such emphasized reading books, lots and lots of books. They must have said a thousand times that readers are leaders. I believed them. I started reading that summer (I was probably 18) and I kept reading, book after book for the next fifteen years. These days, I’m embarrassed to say, I read less than I have since then. I may tackle thirty books each year. I read blogs and articles on the internet, and I watch too much television. I write some sort of article or blog entry almost every day, which is a terrific discipline for a writer, but I’ve slacked off on reading. That said, though, if it’s true leaders are readers, than it’s easier than ever to be a leader. In fact, if you’ll [...]