by kyle | Oct 20, 2017 | Fiction, Journey
Have a seat and get some coffee. I haven’t seen you in a while!
I guess I was waiting for lightening to strike, as I pondered what I should tell you. Lightening did strike, in a way. I don’t want to overstate it, though. I just made some decisions.
Let’s go back a bit and I’ll catch you up. I’ve wanted to be a fiction-writer since the age of 10. I started writing at the age of 11, but at age 18 I began a season of feeling inadequate and didn’t write for 2 decades (sadly, you read that right.)
by kyle | Aug 22, 2017 | Encouragement, Inspiration, Journey
The other day I was thinking about a good friend who has a lifelong health issue. As someone who is talented, intelligent, and likeable, he might have ended up arrogant, in which case we would not have become friends! But the “thorn” he carries around day by day has made him a good listener, sensitive, someone who knows how to value others. A good friend.
They say that hurt people hurt people. A hurt person might easily hurt someone else as an expression of his brokenness, not necessarily because he is a terrible person. Knowing he has been hurt doesn’t help much, if he has hurt us or someone we care about. I’ve found that it does help to soften my view of him and possibly lead me to forgiveness.
by kyle | Jul 26, 2017 | Inspiration, Journey
I’m at that point again. Well, I get to that point often, I hate to admit. The point I’m talking about is when the details of what I need to do swirl around me like a meteor shower, with its corresponding lack of visibility. Not that I’ve been in one. But it seems like one.
So before my blood pressure and anxiety begin to rise, I frantically reach for the steno pad I always have on my desk. I think, I have to make a list. What’s my priority?
When I want to improve in fiction and I know there are a dozen tasks I could do toward this goal— read a book on craft, get a novel from the library and study it, work on my own writing, study editing, work on description, etc. I could benefit from all of these, but what to do first?
by kyle | Apr 12, 2017 | Journey
In early May I will embark on the next part of my journey. For the first time in 3 ½ years I’ll be returning to France for a visit. Just a visit this time.
My first trip to France took place in 1989, and it changed the course of my life. After that I knew that a missionary career in France was my calling for that period. Two years later I arrived in France. The next twenty-five years took me back and forth several times, and I finally returned to the US for good in 2013.
For me this is more than a tourist trip.
by kyle | Nov 29, 2016 | Encouragement, Journey
Thanksgiving is barely over. The highway home was crowded with others like me who had visited family for a few days.
Aside from a couple extra pounds, one thing I brought back with me was actually, well, 8 things. My old photo albums from high school, college, and beyond. They’d been in my mom’s shed in a box for about 20 years, when I first left to live overseas. I had not looked at them since.
Flipping through the photo albums that chronicled my adult life was like rediscovering myself, like reassembling scattered, forgotten pieces of my identity. I needed that wash of memories to bring me back to the previous chapter and stitch it together. You see, when I left Europe three years ago to return permanently to the U.S, after nearly a quarter of my life spent there, I closed the door on a life, a career, a culture…and opened another one.
by kyle | Sep 14, 2016 | Fiction, Journey
A new step in my writing journey was to attend the ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) Conference in Nashville in late August. I’d signed up months before, and when the time came I decided, instead of flying, I’d take a road trip.
The town of Asheville, NC, is about halfway to Nashville, so I made plans to stop there overnight both coming and going. I highly recommend Asheville. Not only is it a charming, fun, artsy town but there is a ton to do. (Apparently it’s a national capital for craft breweries, if you like beer…) Of course there is the Biltmore House, the largest private residence in the U.S., outdoor activities (like hiking, rafting, ballooning), and downtown Asheville (very cute), including the River Arts District. I dedicated a morning to the Arts District to satisfy my pottery cravings.
