Call of the Creator: Fantasy Writing from a Christian Worldview

Much to my surprise, I hit the editing deadline I had hoped to conquer this month.  Last night, with enough time to sit down afterward and pop in Russel Crowe's Robin Hood for an hour or so, I applied the final line edit to my novel. (And for the sake of calling it something and not just 'my novel,' let's go with Curse Bearer for now. It may prove to be a working title like Sword of the Patron did, but it's closer to pleasing my publisher as titles go, I think.) Anyway, this first pass of publisher-requested edits has been a lesson in what makes a person an author instead of a hobbyist. Editing is hard work. It has its fun points, as you see the exfoliation of all the padding, redundancy, and just plain author self-indulgence, but there are also points where its a war. Self-doubt, vision, publisher expectations, artistic debates, and just plain fatigue all face off in a new Battle of the Five Armies. It's no wonder I'm relieved to get to the first milest...

So, some of you may be wondering, "Hey, what has you so busy you can't get us our installment of the Windrider serial, you slacker?" And I do apologize that there's been such a gap since last time. Consider this my solemn promise I will have the next episode up and for consumption on January 15th. The thumbnail image above is part of the "other" stuff I've been focusing on. Those of you who traverse the same web-roads I do may already know that Port Yonder Press is going to be releasing a book later this year called The Book of Silvari: An Elven Anthology (sometime during the summer/fall of 2011.) I have been blessed with the honor of providing illustrations for at least one of the stories in this work, particularly, Ruth Mills' excellent fantasy yarn "The Renewal." It has been a great joy working with Ruth to convey a couple of the most cinematic moments in her work...and hey, I can't complain abut having an illustration credit in t...