It’s writing season
Or maybe it’s riding season, now that the mosquitoes are gone.
October was a crazy tangle of last-minute projects. Seems like it’s always that way. As the days start to get shorter and the temperatures creep downward, you can feel the snow on the back of your neck and all those fall projects become urgent. This year we threw in a couple surgeries for Lisa. The weeks just screamed past.
Today is December 1, and I’ve been able to get back to writing a bit. Lisa is healing up like a rock star, so that helps. We’ve been able to finalize the manuscript and cover for Blood Trail recently. This is a short (88 pages) collection of reflections I’ve written over the last few decades. They’re all centered around hunting, but they dig into the meaning of it all as well. Ethics, faith, community, doubt, tragedy… it’s all in there. This might be the most personal book I’ve ever written. If you’re looking for a gift for the hunter in your life, this book makes a great stocking stuffer.
I’ve got a few other projects in the works. A million years ago when I was going to college in Fargo, North Dakota, I started imagining a story. It centered around a young priest who took the fall for his bishop’s indiscretion. Exiled to a remote shrine, he struggles to survive in the wilderness. Befriended by an old tribesman, he slowly develops the skills to thrive in that setting. Unbeknownst to him , he is being prepared to return to the city and confront the man who engineered his exile. It’s a story of growth, conflict, faith, and spiritual warfare. Over the decades, I’ve pulled this story out occasionally, dusted it off, and added a scene or two to the manuscript. When I finally finished the first draft in about 2015, my daughters were shocked. They never thought it would be finished. Lisa has urged me to get it in print this winter, so I’ve been editing like a madman. Watch for Altered Vows sometime early in 2025.
I’m continuing to work on my book about Revelation. Much like Wait for the Lightning, this book will ask what the text meant to the people it was originally intended for. In the case of Revelation, that means understanding Christians living in western Turkey about sixty years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. If we get to know them, Revelation will make a lot more sense to us. Just to tease you, did you know that the word “antichrist” does not appear in the book of Revelation? And the word “rapture” is not in the book of Revelation, or in the Bible at all? This book (working title: No Zombies) should be in print by early spring.
This fall, Lisa and I took a research trip to far northern Minnesota to explore the setting for the next book that follows Death on Disappointment Mountain and Fair Game. I’ve laid the groundwork of characters and plot. This winter I’ll be writing the manuscript. This next book of the adventures of Kim Norby and her friends will be out in the spring as well. Working title is Lost River.
There are a few other irons in the fire, just in case you were worried about me getting bored. Last winter some friends and I planned a winter camping trip to the Boundary Waters, to what we’ve come to call “Mac’s meadow” on the real Disappointment Mountain. Of course, Minnesota never had much of a winter last year. We’re hoping for snow this year so we can go in February. We’ll see.
Meanwhile the horses need care. Smarty and I got all geared up and came to look in the window while Lisa was healing up a few weeks ago. That’s the photo. My day job hasn’t gone away, and there are still a few dozen projects to finish our wonderful house. The trailer house that was home for three years left the farm a few days ago. It was such a gift to have that home in the transition to living on this land. But I can’t say I was sorry to see it go.
We’re sliding down the toboggan run into Advent and Christmas. We’ll be praying that as the sun starts setting shortly after it rises, your days and nights are full of the Spirit of Jesus, the light of the world. As the song says, may your days be merry and bright!