Terry Brennan

Book Reviews

2010-05-07T07:03:00.000-07:00

Here are some recent reviews of The Sacred Cipher.

This is a new one:

http://www.thesuspensezone.com/ReviewTheSacredCipher.html

Here are a couple of short ones from Amazon.com:

This one is a 5-Star review from a 10-year-old girl ...

Fantastic, April 9, 2010
(Review from Ross' 10 year old daughter.)
I got a singed copy of the book for christmas and love it. I could see the scenes and characters moving in my head. I can't wait for the sequel to come out. I would recommend for any reader.The Sacred Cipher: A Novel

This is a 4-Star review:

The Sacred Cipher, February 19, 2010
By B. Pence - See all my reviews

Just completed The Sacred Cipher. I agree with the other reviews that you should not pick up this book if you only have time to read a chapter. The storyline was so realistic that I started doing my own research to determine if this was fact or fiction. Once I completed one third of the book, it was a page turner. At one point, I could imagine the musty smell and the claustophobic feeling the characters in the story were experiencing.

I still feel it would be to Mr. Brennan's advantage if the book was not in the religious section of the book stores. Although there are religious overtones, the book is action filled and I think would make a great movie.

I enjoyed the read and will recommend to my family and friends. Barbara Pence

And another 5-Star review ... (the average of all reviews is 4 1/2 Stars!)

a delightful read, January 28, 2010
By Amanda Haase (Washington, DC)

I wanted a thriller and got even more. This book was a great read, full of interesting characters and plot surprises. When I began this book I thought I knew where it was going and where it would end. I was wrong, and thrilled that the book kept me guessing. I also really liked this history, enough to intrigue and make me want to look some of it up, but not overwhelm. I was also surprised that the back of the book listed it as Christian lit. I would say that unnecessarily limits it. I would probably not pick up this book if listed as Christian lit, and would miss out on a great book. Because of the subject matter there is religion and there are decidedly Christian characters, but it is not a "Christian book". It is a wonderful page turner, I couldn't put it down.

If you haven't picked up a copy of The Sacred Cipher yet, it makes a great Summer Read!

The Enemy Next Door

2010-03-25T16:33:00.000-07:00

There's been a lot of talk and news articles about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington this week. About the diplomatic snub the Obama Administration handed the Israeli head of state - no official reception; no welcome by the President; no photos of the President with Netanyahu - all unprecedented snubs for a visiting head of state. About the aggressively combative position staked out by the President, demanding major unilateral concessions by the Israeli government to Palestinian demands.

The frosty welcome in Washington was in response to Israel's announcement two weeks ago, while VP Joe Biden was in Israel, that Israel would erect 1,600 new housing units for its citizens in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of East Jerusalem. Then, hours before Netanyahu arrived in Washington, a report surfaced that Israel had approved additional housing units in East Jerusalem.

Denouncement of the new settlements was swift and strident. Biden, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and the President all blasted Israel's decision. United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, told the Security Council that “all settlement activity in occupied territory is illegal."

Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 war, but its annexation was never internationally recognized. The Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state and demand a halt to Israeli expansion in the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem, before Israeli-Palestinian negotiations can start.

So, where is this East Jerusalem that is such a hot button? Across the Jordan River? Sort of like New Jersey to New York City?

How about across the street? A map appeared in the New York Times on March 23 but I can't get the link to work here.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/03/23/world/middleeast/jerusalem-map.html?scp=3&sq=map%20of%20settlements%20around%20jerusalem&st=cse

East Jerusalem would not only encircle the entire Old City of Jerusalem and Temple Mount - including the Western Wall, the most sacred place in Jerusalem to devout Jews - but it also would include the Kidron Valley, the Mount of Olives, Gethsemane, the City of David (the hill where Jerusalem was first settled)... about 25% of the land currently within the Jerusalem city boundary.

This is the area where Israel is deciding to build more housing. It's in the middle of Jerusalem! Sort of like Mexico claiming East Harlem as its capital (to escape all the violence south of the border), then complaining because the New York City Council approved a new apartment building - and the rest of the world agreeing with the Mexicans. And Palestine isn't even a country.

Listen to what Prime Minister Netanyahu said to the supporters of Israel at the AIPAC dinner:

"But there’s one thing I’ll never compromise on and that one thing is Israel’s security. Let me express to you the difficulty of trying to explain Israel’s security predicament to the citizens of the United States – a country that is 500 times the size of Israel. I thought how I could best bring it home. I ask you to imagine that the territory of the United States was compressed down to the size of New Jersey. You squeeze the United States down to the size of New Jersey and next you put on New Jersey’s northern border an Iranian terror proxy called Hezbollah which fires 6,000 rockets into that small state. Then imagine that this terror proxy amasses another 50,000 rockets to fire at you. I’m not finished. You take New Jersey’s southern border and you put another Iranian terror proxy on it and you call it Hamas. And it too fires 6,000 rockets into your territory while smuggling even more lethal weapons into its territory.

"You think you’d feel a little vulnerable? You think you’d expect some understanding from the international community when you have to defend yourselves? I think any fair-minded person would recognize that we face security problems and challenges unlike any other nation on earth."

Netanyahu's speech was a long one. He called on the Palestinians to come to the peace table. He outlined a laundry list of things the Israeli government is doing and has done to promote the peace process. And he asked, "What have the Palestinians done?" He also made the following statement:

"The Jewish people were building Jerusalem 3,000 years ago and the Jewish people are building Jerusalem today. Jerusalem is not a settlement. It’s our capital."

Israel's fragile security will never be improved by agreeing to a Palestinian capital not on its doorstep, but in its living room. The possibility of peace in the Middle East will never be enhanced by the US, the UN or anyone else trying to bully the Israelis into surrendering the Old City of Jerusalem, Temple Mount, the Western Wall ... one-quarter of Jerusalem ... into the hands of a putative Palestinian state which as yet refuses to admit that Israel even exists.

The Obama Administration needs to wake up. The United States has one true ally in the Middle East. And we should stop beating them up for building some apartments in their own back yard.

Your Easiest Christmas Gift

2009-12-07T10:56:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

Okay, we've still got three weeks to go, but it's snowing outside and the family is getting ready to put up our Christmas decorations.

So I've got a gift for you.

Well, not exactly for you.

My novel, The Sacred Cipher, just jumped over 80,000 positions on the Amazon.com sales list. I don't know what's going on but, obviously, it's going up.

A week ago I checked the Amazon.com webpage for The Sacred Cipher (listed below). The page has the basic info for the book, how to buy, reader reviews (16 now ... 15 either four or five stars! What are you waiting for. Join the fun). And it also lists where The Sacred Cipher ranks in sales compared to all the other books on Amazon.com. Last week The Sacred Cipher was ranked 169,843 in the sales list.

Today ... hey, we've jumped to 83,381 in sales! What a jump. Yeah ... there's a few more books to hurdle before we can challenge Dan Brown's latest. And these sales rankings change regularly. But, hallelujah, we're moving in the right direction.

So, in celebration of this good news and the coming celebration of Jesus' birth, here's a gift .... for somebody you really care about.

Contact someone you know who is a reader. Have that person send me an email at terrbrennan@gmail.com with their mailing address. All of those who respond will be entered in a drawing that will be held on December 10. Blindfolded, I'll select five people who responded and they will win a free, autographed copy of The Sacred Cipher. I'll mail the books on Dec. 10th so they will show up in plenty of time for Christmas.

It's as easy as that. Merry Christmas! Hey, if you're slick enough, you might even be able to cross someone off your gift list.

Sorry, if you're on my mailing list already, you're not eligible. But all your friends and family are.

So distribute this invitation. Strike while the iron is hot. The early bird gets the worm. And five who respond to this contest will receive an early Christmas gift.

Merry Christmas to all ... and to all a good night.

Terry

The Sacred Cipher can be purchased on Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Cipher-Novel-Terry-Brennan/dp/0825424267/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260030478&sr=1-1

Barnes&Noble.com:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Sacred-Cipher/Terry-Brennan/e/9780825424267/?itm=1&USRI=The+Sacred+Cipher#TABS

Christian Book Distributors.com:
http://www.christianbook.com/cipher-historys-greatest-secret-tomorrows-threat/terry-brennan/9780825424267/pd/424267?item_code=WW&netp_id=606245&event=ESRCN&view=details#customer_reviews

And now, for the rest of the story

2009-08-26T19:40:00.000-07:00

And now, for the rest of the story …

I have a dear friend, husband of a former colleague, who has spent a significant portion of his life working for a highly regarded, multi-national, faith-based organization fighting poverty, disease and injustice throughout the most tangled and torn corners of this earth.

For most of his tenure, he travelled extensively and spent long stretches of time in one impoverished part of the world or another, spearheading the “justice and mercy” arm of this international ministry. Son of a diplomat, he spent much of his time overseas interacting with and trying to influence the leaders and decision-makers of the world’s hot spots.

He is a man of substance and discernment … and boots-on-the-ground experience.

He sent me an email this morning, in response to The Insomnia Special I sent out last night. His words are worth considering:

“As you know I have a great passion and professional investment in
international affairs. Coverage of Iran in Foreign Policy, Foreign
Affairs, the Economist, International Crisis Group among others may
fill out the gaps in the caricatured picture that Rosenberg draws.

“It's irresponsible to say 'Iran's the enemy'. Lest we forget, millions
of young, reform-minded Iranians poured into the streets a few weeks
ago, risking life and limb to protest against Ahmadinejad and his
thugs. There is an opposition worth supporting (and praying for) in
Iran. We would commit the same error as the extremists if we declared
war on the Iranian people.

“The actual situation is exponentially more complicated and nuanced
than Joel Rosenberg wants us to believe. The solutions are many,
varied, and do not need to involve pre-emptive warfare.

“As Christians we have a responsibility to arm ourselves with the
truth. Jesus warns us to "Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”

It didn’t take long for me to take a step back … and send a response, part of which is below:

I really appreciate your thoughtful answer and gentle admonishment. Too often I think like a novel writer. You are right in bringing me back to a more balanced view of the world. Thanks again. I deeply appreciate your wisdom, clarity and friendship.

And then it wasn’t long before he responded in kind.

“Anytime brother. "Like iron sharpens iron, so one brother sharpens another." Proverbs 27:17 Let us seek the Lord to sharpen us together.

“I am by no means an expert on Middle East issues, but I have been a student of international conflict for the last 15 years and by God's grace I've had a front-row seat on many conflicts around the world. I literally did sit in the front row of the UN Security Council audience when Colin Powell briefed the Council on Iraq. Things are rarely as simple as the media or entertainment worlds have the capacity to convey.”

It’s a bit bracing when your ignorance is revealed. Perhaps there are others who, like me, have only a surface understanding of a critically important issue for the future of our world – the Islamic Revolution and its impact on Western culture.

Perhaps it’s time we learned more. This is not an age for the simple.

How To Lose Sleep

2009-08-25T18:25:00.000-07:00

If you want to bring on a sever case of insomnia, read the first two pages of Joel Rosenber's new book, Inside the Revolution.

How about a little excerpt:

"Iran's senior leaders have taught in recent years that the (Islamic) Revolution is now reacing its climax ... that the end of the world is "imminent" ... (they) have vowed to annihilate the United States and Israel, and have urged Muslims to envision a world without America and Zionism. They have come to believe that Allah has chosen them to create chaos and carnage on the planet.

"The key leaders in Iran seem hell-bent on accomplishing their apocalyptic, genocidal mission. They are feverishly trying to build, buy or steal nuclear weapons. Iran is actively testing advanced ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads. Tehran is building alliances with Russia, China and North Korea - all nuclear-armed powers ...

"Iran's leaders are building a network of thousands of suicide bombers ready to strike American targets ... are harboring scores of al Qaeda terrorists ... are digging hundreds of thousands of new graves in Iran itself to bury the enemies of Islam. They are calling for the unification of the Islamic world.

"Put simply, the leaders of Iran believe that Allah is on their side, the wind is at their back, and the end of the Judeo-Christian civilization as we know it is near.

"If, in (God's) sovereignty, He chooses not to remove the Radicals from Iran peacefully, then I believe a major, cataclysmic war, or series of wars, is coming soon ... The question we all must be asking is not if there will be war with Iran, but when it will begin and who will strike first."

Okay, I've been keeping a weather eye (old nautical term) on Iran and the nut balls pulling the strings over there. I believe they are after nukes, want to smear the Israelis off the face of the earth and have the good old USofA in their crosshairs.

Iran is the enemy - whether we like it or not. They've picked us. We haven't picked them.

But war ... the possibility of nuclear war ... seems so absurd that my rational mind immediately dismisses the possibility.

Until you understand one point. In radical Islam, the individual is not important. The Revolution is important. Individuals are expendable. So one million people died - gassed with biological weapons or slaughtered in massive human assault waves - in the last, eight-year-long, Iran-Iraq war.

How much more damage could a radicalized Iran do with a nuclear-tipped ballistic missle - or dozens of them? If you believe Rosenberg, we will either soon find out ... or soon take them out.

In the Halls of Barnes & Noble

2009-08-18T18:36:00.000-07:00

Hey, if any of you guys are getting bored (or bugged) by these email newsletters, please let me know and I’ll take your name off the list.

So, after my friend Matt Farinelli shared his Barnes & Noble story, here are a few more.

Some of the news is good … some disheartening. Just remember, each B&N manager has a lot of discretion in how and which books are displayed in their stores. So even though the sales agreement may say ‘main aisle placement’, it’s often just a suggestion, not a requirement.

***

My wife, Andrea, and I spent all day Saturday going to almost every Barnes & Noble in Manhattan. We were armed with hundreds of Sacred Cipher post cards, a very good pen, and the knowledge that an author can ask to sign the store stock and the store will put a green "Autographed Copy" sticker on the front of the book. Also, the largest B&N stores in the nation were scheduled to promote The Sacred Cipher with a table placement in the 'main aisle' between August 11 and 24.

So we'd go into a store and I'd say to Andrea, "Now, we won't ask to sign the books until we can find the display in the main aisle and you can get a picture of me with the books on the display table."

But not one of the stores had the book on display. Not one.

At most Barnes & Noble stores, the Christian Fiction rack is in the farthest, backest, leasest corner of the store, and usually comes after the Gay and Lesbian, and the Middle Eastern Mystic sections. Farthest, backest, leastest can be the basement, or the top floor or around the corner, down the hall, out the back door and around the block (well, maybe not that far).

In every store we did the 'search the store' thing, looking for the table display promotion. In every one, we ended up in the farthest, leasest, backest. And there it was, on the shelf.

So, like any self-respecting author who wants to sell books, Andrea and I went to the good, old, Customer Service Desk, presented my card and one of the 5,000 promotional post cards I got from Kregel, and asked if I could sign the store stock. "Sure," they said. "We'll just go and get them."

Which gave me the opening I was looking for.

"Oh, where are they? On the shelf? Oh, well, aren't they supposed to be in a table placement promotion in the main aisle? At least that's what I've been told. There's supposed to be a promotion between August 11 and August 24th, right?"

So they would go to their computer, tap a few keys, find The Sacred Cipher, click on 'Promotion' and up would pop ... what do you think? ... "Table Placement Promotion - main aisle."

And, in all but one store, they said, "Oh ... it's supposed to be on display." So they did. Now, each store displayed it differently. And I don't think it ever made the main aisle - you know, the one with tables filled with all the best-seller book names.

But, hey, I was just happy to get out of the backest, farthest, leasest. And into the light of day.

So, once the book was out where people could find it, Andrea and I went out and stood outside the front door of the B&N store and handed out my Sacred Cipher promotional postcards to people entering the store.

Now, in New York City, you get darn tired of people trying to shove something into your hand nearly every day of the week. So I was skeptical of how well this would work. But it did. You know why? Because the cover of the book is soooooo interesting, people would be rushing past, take a look, slow, look again, then take the card. All the while I'm giving them my sales pitch.

And a number of people even turned back to me, smiled, and said "Thanks."

Can you imagine that! In New York City?

Here’s the funny part. We must have given out - maybe - 200 ... 300 postcards over the course of the day? And you know what the total number of copies the stores had? 40! All together, in all of Manhattan, B&N stores had 40 copies.

So ... man ... I hope we created a BIG demand here in NYC. A demand that will get filled, even if B&N runs out of copies.

***

Here’s an experience my friend, Stew, had in Florida:

Just a note to say I bought Sacred Cipher for a friend in the B&N in The Villages here in FL. It appeared to be the last one, but I was disappointed to see it in Christian Fiction. The Customer Service person found it for me.

I told her they would sell more if placed in the section with Dan Brown's book. She was not responsive to that comment.

***

And this, from my sister-in-law in New Jersey:

My friend, Pat, needed a new coffee table & asked me to go with her to Raymour & Flanigan in Exton, PA.

Pat & I were greeted at the door by a very nice young lady named Angela, a Home Furnishings Consultant. As she was writing up the sale in the computer, I asked if we had enough time to go across the road to Barnes & Noble to see if my brother-in-law's book was on display. Angela was curious & asked the name of the book & what it's about. When I said, "The Sacred Cipher" by Terry Brennan, she said, "I've seen that book on Dan Brown's website."

I happened to have a copy of the brief synopsis that was posted on the Internet. I gave her a quick narrative about your background & that you are a first-time published author. When I read it, she got very excited & said, "Oh, I definitely have to buy this book".

(Neither the B&N in Exton, nor one in Marlton, NJ, had the book on display)

Please send me some of the postcards so I can give them to my friends & relatives. It seems that word of mouth, e-mails & blogs just might be as powerful as having the book in stores.

***

Okay, so mabe it's not shelved near Dan Brown's book in the Barnes & Noble, but each of you can go to Amazon.com (as I did) and click on what book you think The Sacred Cipher is most like ... or what author. If you click on Dan Brown, whenever someone goes to look for his book, Sacred Cipher should also pop up as, "People who bought this book also liked ....."

***

Here's an excerpt from a new review. Betty Bantz reviews more than a dozen books a month on her website. This one is short ... but oh, so sweet.

"Truly this is an epic of Raiders of the Lost Ark proportion, only better. Its historic integrity is phenomenal, the pace superb. And the ending is more than satisfying, more than plausible; I can’t wait to see if it actually takes place in the very near future, ushering in the second coming of Christ Jesus.

Action adventure at its best, I highly recommend Terry Brennan’s debut novel The Sacred Cipher. It’s the best book I’ve ever read, bar none."
Thanks a bunch for all your help.

Terry

Making Waves on the Left Coast

2009-08-16T20:21:00.000-07:00

THIS IS AN EMAIL I RECEIVED TODAY FROM A FORMER CHURCH BUDDY, AND FELLOW TRUSTEE AT TRINITY BAPTIST CHURCH ... MATT FARINELLI.

A LITTLE "LEFT COAST" PERSPECTIVE ON THE LAUNCH OF THE SACRED CIPHER.

Dear Terry,

So here's how it all went down:

Yesterday, we decided to take the kids out and go to the bookstore, a favorite past time for my four-year old, Caleb. I figured it would be a good opportunity to grab my copy of "The Sacred Cipher" and snap a few pictures of it on the display. So we get to the Barnes & Nobles Bookstore in Tustin, CA, I send the wife & kids off to the children's book room and begin my search. To my disappointment, I did not find the book on any of the main book displays in the front of the store. So I strolled back to "Christian Fiction" and still, no Sacred Cipher. So, at this point, I'm a little nervous and conjuring up many scenarios as to why this book is nowhere to be found, "perhaps B&N didn't get the memo?", "perhaps the release is only on the East Coast?", "am I too late?"....lots of questions and only one place to go to find the answer - The Customer Service Desk!

So I arrive at an empty customer service desk, wait the customary New York minute for someone to show up, then, in a manner only displayed by a transplanted New Yorker, I grab the computer terminal from behind the desk and begin my book search. Well, a few minutes into my hacking (passwords to those systems are usually quite easy to guess), I retrieve the records for "The Sacred Cipher" by Terry Brennan, and, to my surprise, the computer flashes that the book is "On Display: Trade Paperback: Floor Display: Christian Fiction". Arrgghhh, I was just there and the book was most certainly not on display! At this point, I'm about ready to get "management" involved! Well, it was only a few seconds into my thoughts that a very stern "Ah-hem" came from behind me with a pleasant, but clearly annoyed, inquiry from the multiply-pierced, oddly hair-colored goth-inspired reference lady of, "That terminal is for employees only. Can I help you find something??" Caught. I shoot a glance over at the front door and, to my relief, the rather plump security guard is fixed in position....no need to execute any daring escape maneuvers.

"Sure," I said, flashing a grin of one who knows they've just been caught but hopes to change the conversation as quickly as possible. "I'm looking for this book, the computer says it's in the store, but I can't find it. Any thoughts?" Clearly not impressed with my charm, the young lady clad in black wrests the computer from my hands, taps in her own sacred cipher, hits the return key and, after the annoying little hour glass spins for a bit, scans the codes. Her eyes widen with understanding a bit and, without even looking up at me, says "Oh yeah, that book. We had copies of that out for display, but they're all sold." My worst fears confirmed, I was too late! "Wait here," she says firmly, breaking my thoughts of despair, "and please don't touch anything. I'll go in the back and see if there are any left."

A few minutes pass and a line is now forming behind me. I wait nervously as the clock ticks away and notice that Christine is flagging me from the children's room giving the shrugged shoulder look of "hey, what the heck are doing standing there, can I get some help in here with the kids???" I give her the finger (the raised pointer finger) asking for one more minute then I would come to the rescue. Well, the lady strolls back to the customer service desk with two copies of "The Sacred Cipher" under her arms and she says to me in a rather plodding voice, "You're in luck. These two were being held behind the register for a customer but they left without buying them. My manager said it was ok to give you a copy. You want one or both?" "One will be fine," I said.

So, in the end, I got my copy of The Sacred Cipher. However, I now wish I had gotten the other copy as well because my mother-in-law, who is a voracious reader, snagged a look at my copy last night and informed me that I'd better hide it lest it disappear to her bedroom for a few days....So, sales of The Sacred Cipher are brisk out here on the left coast!

I'm on chapter 8 right now and it's hard to have to put it down. As you know, parenting requires that we interrupt the simple pleasures in life to go deal with the latest mishap our little ones get into...so far, a real page-turner! And that's from a guy who doesn't read nearly as much as he should and is a slow reader at best. Can't wait to hit that last page....

Blessings from the land of sunshine,
Matt

Sell Out Amazon!

2009-08-13T20:40:00.000-07:00

The content below went out last weekend as a newsletter to my mailing list. So it's a few days old.

But this isn't. It's hot off the presses.

I just checked Amazon.com again and guess what? They only have three more copies of The Sacred Cipher in stock!

Way to go, gang! Somebody out there is making a difference.

Let's keep up the momentum. LET'S SELL OUT AMAZON.COM Go for it.

***********

Hey … I just checked Amazon. In the last few days The Sacred Cipher has gone from about 440,000th on the Amazon sales list to 38,800th on the list. We are zippin’. Let’s keep it going.

It was this weekend four years ago when I first visited the Philadelphia Christian Writer’s Conference with an idea. That idea now sits on one of the tables in the bookstore at this year’s conference. It is a very cool … but very surreal … experience to see the book where it all started.
In 2006 I came here with an idea; in 2007 with a finished manuscript and – ultimately – got connected to an agent; in 2008 I came here one month after a publishing house (Kregel) told us they wanted to buy the book; and this year I’ve brought the just-released novel back to its spawning grounds.
Through those years I’ve learned a lot about writing, about editing what you’ve written to make it better, and about myself. One painful thing I’ve learned is that pride is still a snare I too easily fall into.
This year I come with a longing to find balance in my life so I can get back to writing. I’m here to pay back some of what’s been invested in me, but also to re-ignite my enthusiasm for the work of writing and to search for the discipline I need to make the time to write.
But this week … this month … the work is really marketing.
It was eight days ago that The Sacred Cipher was officially launched by Kregel Publications. Currently, there are at least two “blog tours” occurring on the Internet. If you Google The Sacred Cipher you will likely come up with a lot of hits from some of the bloggers on the tour. Some have written reviews of the book, some author interviews, some just a blog posting about the book, often with the first chapter. So, this is great publicity.
I haven’t read all of the book reviews yet, but some of them I’ve seen have just been wonderful. There is a mother of six kids in Nebraska who said she was so engrossed in the book that she stayed up until 3:00 a.m. one morning to finish it. But I’ve been sobered by discovering that, often, when a blogger puts up a posting about the book, but doesn’t include a review, it’s because they didn’t like the book. I’ve seen a couple of those, too. So … we remain humble.
Still, this is a very exciting time. And I have to continually remind myself to celebrate in it. It really is very cool.
The special promotion in Barnes & Noble begins in four days … August 11 … and continues through August 24. The Sacred Cipher will be featured with a table placement in the main aisle of the largest Barnes & Noble stores in the nation. This is a great honor, and very unusual for a novel from a first-time author.
So, if you have a decent sized Barnes & Noble in your neighborhood, please go and visit, ask where the book is, let them know you’re there for The Sacred Cipher. If it’s your desire, purchase a copy – or two.
And … if I may … we can all really make a huge difference right now.
If you are thinking about buying the book – or recommending it to your neighbor or family – please do it now. The first week … the first 30 days … are critical in determining the ultimate success of a book’s sales. If there is an immediate spike in sales, if there is a significant demand and growing interest, both book stores and media drivers like Amazon.com sit up and take notice. And, if we can stir up a huge swell of interest, books can jump onto the best-seller list very quickly – even if only for a week – if there is a big, short-term, spike in sales.
You can also call your local library and ask them to secure some copies of The Sacred Cipher and add them to their shelves.
If you can, do it now.
And, if you want to recommend the book to your family or friends, I have 5,000 Sacred Cipher post cards that were provided by Kregel. If you would like some, let me know and I’ll mail them out to you. In addition to helping build the ‘buzz’ for The Sacred Cipher, it will help to clear out a couple boxes of post cards from my office.
Thanks to all of you for your encouragement – and your willingness to read these newsletters as we’ve gone on this journey together.
And if you don’t want to receive these newsletters, please let me know and I’ll remove you from the mailing list.
One week and counting … thanks so much.
Terry

Launch Day

2009-08-02T10:35:00.000-07:00

Friday was the official launch day for The Sacred Cipher. Even though the book has been available at Barnes & Noble for more than two weeks, and Amazon.com has been shipping for a couple of weeks, it was still the day set by Kregel Publishing. So it was worth celebrating.

About 25 close friends gathered at our assistant pastor's house for food, fun and fellowship ... and a reading from this newly minted author. This was my first. I kept worrying I was being too long-winded, but everybody appeared to stay with me. And there were even so very thoughtful questions after the reading. Then more than an hour of book signings. You know, with friends there is always so much more to write than simply "thanks". So many of those folks have walked with us through so much over the last four years.

Then we get home from church today and what do I find waiting for me? There will be a "blog tour" occuring through the early weeks of August (I don't even know for sure what a blog tour is) with at least 80 bloggers participating with book reviews or author interviews. Well, one of the bloggers shared her review early with the folks at Kregel Publications. So they sent it along to me.

Here's the link:

http://deenasbooks.blogspot.com/2009/07/sacred-cipher-by-terry-brennan.html

This is pretty crazy stuff.

Thanks to all of you who have been so supportive and encouraging during this amazing journey.

A Big Delivery!

2009-07-09T21:07:00.000-07:00

Hi, Gang ...

I'm sitting here holding my book. My book!

Our book! The Sacred Cipher. Right here in my hands.

Andrea's Book! She got the first one out of the box.

Tears ... a knot at the crook of my throat ... a deep, fantasy-land breath. A knowing smile ... a shiver of the shoulders ... the longing glance of a lover.

Like giving birth, I guess. Without the pain.

This is Miranda's book. Dawn's book. Cat's book ... all the great folks at Kregel. Rachelle's book, too ... my agent.

I wrote them a note, including: "God is good. But He also uses good people to do His work. Thank you for helping us give birth. Thank you for an emotion I can't put words to. Brother of Joy ... Sister of Awe ... Son of Grace. Thank you for making this moment possible. My life ... our lives ... will never be the same again."

Sounds all muushhy, doesn't it? Well, guys, I really gotta say, this is an indescribable moment. I got home late tonight after a meeting at church. Walked in the door around 10:00 and Andrea, my wife, is shooting pictures like it's Christmas morning. I think I sprung every muscle in my shoulders lugging the 35-pound boxes out of one of those go-to-the-grocery-carts.

Slicing the box open, knowing what was inside, yet ... still ... shock and awe when the box is open and there, four square, is this thing that you created ... no, that God created through you. It's a part of you, but it lives on its own. Has a life of its own. And is staring back at you.

I don't know. I just keep coming back to giving birth. A gift from God with your name on it. Wow.

Well, there probably won't be much sleeping in this apartment tonight.

Thanks to you all for walking with us through this exciting time. It's been a remarkable journey.

And, hey, you too can hold one of these little beauties in your very own hands. Can you say Barnes & Noble? ChristianBook.com? Amazon? C'mon, you can say it. I know you can.

And, if any of you are in the vicinity of the Spring Lounge in NYC ... Spring Street at Mulberry Street, just off Little Italy ... tomorrow night (Friday), come on over for a little celebration. I'll let you buy me a Guiness.

Wow ... this is so cool. Wanted you to share this night with us.

Warmest Regards,

Terry

Big News Hits Home

2009-06-21T17:50:00.000-07:00

Okay, in the last month I got a job as Vice President of the National Organization on Disability here in NYC, our daughter got a graduate assistantship that will cover all her expenses for an MPA at Pace University and my wife, Andrea, got a job as a nanny – her dream job – for a lovely little boy and family and she can walk to their house.

But, I gotta be honest. The most exciting news might be this.

Barnes & Noble has put in an order for The Sacred Cipher.

(Pause)

Okay, if you were like me, you were whooping … jumping up and down … pounding on any solid surface you could find … scaring the neighbors … and causing dogs to bark up and down your street.

I mean, I’m only a little bit excited … like heart attack, brain freeze, catatonic crazy excited, know what I mean?

Here’s the deal – Barnes & Noble has agreed to promote The Sacred Cipher in its largest stores around the country with “a table-placement in the main aisle” from August 11th to August 24th. They put in an order for 1,500 books. The Sacred Cipher is scheduled to be released by Kregel Publications on July 31.

What does that all mean?

Well, 1,500 books would be one-third of the originally projected initial press run. If initial demand for the book is strong, perhaps the press run will now be increased.

More importantly, the largest book-selling chain in the nation will not only be stocking The Sacred Cipher in its largest stores, but it will also give it a prominent promotional position in the store. “Table placement” means a display of some sort, usually a bunch of your books attractively arranged on a table surface with other similar novels. Not simply stuffed onto a shelf with only the book’s spine showing.

Cat Hoort, my marketing rep at Kregel Publications, and Rachelle Gardner, my agent, both said the same thing. “VERY exciting… this doesn’t happen very often.”

I have an old friend who worked for Zondervan, one of the largest Christian publishing companies in the country, and her take on this was similarly psyched. “It's almost like a trial for the book and if it does well you will see the sales through Barnes and Noble sky rocket.”

So, my faithful readers, we are racing down the homestretch to launch day – July 31 – and the momentum is already building.

What to do?

Well, remember what I wrote last month about BUZZ. Call your local Barnes & Noble, or drop in. Ask if they will be one of the B&N stores stocking The Sacred Cipher. If not, why not! Go to another local book store. Ask, “Will you carry The Sacred Cipher? I know Barnes & Noble will.”

You can still pre-order from Amazon.com or Christian Book Distributors (CBD.com). The book-selling industry watches Amazon sales closely.

Or, you can engage in some cyber conversation about the book. Below are some websites where you might find readers of similar interest.
An Anti-DaVinci Code Site:
Amy Welborn – author … Catholic issues
http://www.amywelborn.com/
http://blog.beliefnet.com/viamedia/

A Pro-DaVinci Code Site:
Dan Brown’s bookstore on Amazon … there is a customer discussion section
http://www.amazon.com/Dan-Brown/e/B000AP9DSU
Dan Brown’s UK fan club site
http://www.danbrownofficial.co.uk/

Barnes and Noble “Book Clubs” Chat Room
http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/bn/

Barnes and Noble’s Community Blog “Unabashedly Bookish”
http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Unabashedly-Bookish/bg-p/UnabashedlyBookish
There are different book clubs reading specific books – fiction; mystery; religion & spirituality

Barnes and Noble Community Room for chat
Very active … lots of topics … user info says all views are welcome
http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/bn/board?board.id=CR

Facebook groups:
http://www.facebook.com/srch.php?q=jason+bourne+vs+jack+bauer&k=200000010
http://www.facebook.com/srch.php?q=davinci+code&k=200000010
http://www.facebook.com/srch.php?q=indiana+jones&k=200000010
http://www.facebook.com/srch.php?q=robert+ludlum&k=200000010
http://www.facebook.com/srch.php?q=dan+brown&k=200000010

A Jason Bourne blog that appears fairly current – not overly active
http://en.wordpress.com/tag/jason-bourne/

The Book Club Forum … UK … same kinds of chat
http://bookclubforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=244228

Joel Rosenberg
http://www.joelrosenberg.com

Lastly, I’ve come across some websites of people called “influencers”. These are, primarily, other authors or “book types” who have active blogs or websites and who are regularly involved in book reviews and/or author interviews. For instance, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance (CFBA.org) will be hosting a ‘blog tour’ for The Sacred Cipher from August 14th through August 17th.

I’ll list a lot of these “influencer” sites in the next newsletter.

And if you can’t remember the plot, here’s a short reminder:

History's greatest secret could be tomorrow's greatest threat More historically and biblically accurate than The DaVinci Code and just as adventurous as an Indiana Jones movie, The Sacred Cipher combines action and mystery to draw readers into a world of ancient secrets and international escapades. When an ancient scroll appears in a secret room of the Bowery Mission in New York City, Tom Bohannon is both stunned and intrigued. The enigma of the scroll's contents will send Bohannon and his team ricocheting around the world, drawing the heat of both Jewish and Muslim militaries, and bringing the Middle East to the brink of nuclear war in this heart-pounding adventure of historical proportions. The Sacred Cipher is a riveting, fact-based tale of mystery and suspense.

So Close to Home

2009-05-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

So, now I won't wonder so much about fantastic fiction plots and whether they are 'plausible'.

Last night, around 11, my daughter walked into our living room.

"Dude ... did you see the news? These guys tried to blow up a synagogue in Riverdale!"

Seeing as how we live in Riverdale, she got my attention.

Seeing as how we had lunch a few blocks from where the bomb was planted, it really got my attention.

Four men from Newburgh, NY ... a couple of hours upstate ... were arrested last night for attempting domestic terrorism, attempting to detonate car bombs in front of a synagogue and a Jewish center here in the sleepy, suburbs-like far northwest corner of the Bronx - a green oasis of large homes and quiet streets called Riverdale.

The men, reportedly four Black Muslims who were determined to wage jihad on America, had been under surveillance for months after contacting an FBI/NYPD informant. The informant recorded their conversations, even videotaped the men making their plans. Then the informant set up transactions where the men purchased inert C-4 plastic explosive from Federal agents and also purchased inoperable surface-to-air Stinger missles. Their plan included trying to shoot down military aircraft during takeoff and landing at Stewart Air Base in Newburgh.

The suspects were arrested Wednesday night, shortly after planting a mock explosive device in the trunk of a car outside the Riverdale Temple and two mock bombs in the backseat of a car outside the Jewish Center, authorities said.

The Riverdale Temple is at 237th Street and Independence in Riverdale. My daughter and I enjoyed a lunch 'date' at the Blue Cafe, 235th Street and Johnson, on Wednesday afternoon, less than four blocks away.

The plot of my new novel, The Sacred Cipher, which will be released on July 31, involves a 'normal' guy who inadvertently falls into a series of events that make him the target of terrorists, endanger his family and lead him into an international firestorm that could trigger nuclear war in the Mideast. Sounds like a good story, right? But stretches the limits of plausibility, right?

Well, how whacked is it to think there may be guys who are planting plastic explosives in a car to blow up the church around the corner from your house?

This is one crazy world ... seems to be a world often devoid of peace.

Thank God, there is a God, whose name is love ... and peace.

Eye-to-eye in the Middle East?

2009-05-20T08:05:00.000-07:00

Not surprisingly, Monday’s meeting between President Barak Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needs to be assessed more in light of what was not said in their joint statement than in what was reported.

Obama and Netanyahu said they agreed on the critical need to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. "We don't see closely on this, we see exactly eye to eye on this," Netanyahu said in a joint news conference with Obama at the White House.

Eye-to-eye does not necessarily mean heart-to-heart.

Netanyahu wanted Obama to give the Iranians a three month deadline to come to the table for serious talks on their burgeoning nuclear development program. Clearly, the Israelis are getting tired of Iran’s ingenuous assertions that their nuclear enrichment program is aimed at developing power plants.

On Newsweek’s web site, Dan Ephron reported (http://www.newsweek.com/id/198252) the American government is concerned that a firm deadline would damage its attempts to repair 30 years of tension with Tehran and that it wants to assure the US can arrange meaningful negotiations with the one man who can make binding decisions in Iran - Grand Ayatollah Ali Khameini.

Obama and Netanyahu are not the only government leaders with differing views on how to best deal with the Iranians. A Senate Foreign Relations Committee report issued earlier this month, Iran: Where We Are Today, states that some U.S. government officials favor strict deadlines while others believe they would amount to a "recipe for failure."

As if to underscore the tenuous and problematic nature of the talks, the Israeli Embassy in Washington was evacuated at the same time that Netanyahu and Obama were meeting—the result of a bomb scare.

What kind of scare would erupt in the Middle East – and around the world – if Iran developed another kind of bomb … a nuclear bomb? How close is a nuclear confrontation in the Middle East?

Sounds like part of the plot for The Sacred Cipher – coming to a bookstore near you on July 31st.

Terry's May Newsletter

2009-05-19T15:34:00.000-07:00

Hi,Thank God it's Spring!

While we’re eagerly awaiting the release of The Sacred Cipher – still slated for July 31st – there’s an awful lot of real news pouring out of Israel and the Middle East.

Israel’s new Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will be in Washington this week for a series of meetings with American officials, including a critical one with President Obama. The global importance of these meetings does not center on Israel’s position regarding a Palestinian state, but rather on our government’s willingness to fully understand Israel’s inevitable conflict with a nuclear Iran.

Two weeks ago, Vice President Biden told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington that “Israel has to work for a two-state solution” with the Palestinians. General James Jones, the President’s national security advisor, wired a European leader that “The new administration will convince Israel to compromise on the Palestinian question. We will not push Israel under the wheels of a bus, but we will be more forceful toward Israel than we have been under Bush.”

At the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu travelled to Egypt to meet with President Hosni Mubark and made s surprise visit to Amman, Jordan to meet with King Abdullah II – both meetings aimed not at resolving the thorny Palestinian question but rather at building upon growing determination among Arab leaders to prevent Iran from going nuclear.

Author Joel Rosenberg (The Last Jihad; The Ezekiel Option; The Copper Scroll) was interviewed on CBN News last week. Rosenberg, a communications strategist for Netanyahu in 2000, said on his blog (http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/) the new Prime Minister “understands that the current Iranian leadership are members of an apocalyptic, genocidal death cult who believe it is their Allah-given mission to destroy Israel and the U.S. and end Judeo-Christian civilization as we know it.”

There appears to exist a fundamental political and philosophical fracture between the US and Israel on what is the most crucial problem facing those in the Middle East. It is into just such a critical geo-political cauldron that The Sacred Cipher’s story is launched.

Stay tuned!

۩۩۩

About 75 days and counting before the release of The Sacred Cipher. And I could use your help.

First, if you plan to purchase The Sacred Cipher, one strategy would be to either pre-order, or wait until launch date, and order from Amazon.com. Sales on Amazon are watched closely by people in the book-selling industry and a sales spike on Amazon gets a good bit of industry buzz going.

Another strategy would be to go to your local bookstore and ask if they will be stocking The Sacred Cipher when it is released. If a couple of people in your town/neighborhood/area could visit the same bookstore, they would take notice.

A third strategy to help build the all-important BUZZ for the book would be to engage in some cyber conversation about the book. Below are some websites where you might find readers of similar interest.

An Anti-DaVinci Code Site:Amy Welborn – author … Catholic issues
http://www.amywelborn.com/http://blog.beliefnet.com/viamedia/

A Pro-DaVinci Code Site:Dan Brown’s bookstore on Amazon … there is a customer discussion section
http://www.amazon.com/Dan-Brown/e/B000AP9DSU

Dan Brown’s UK fan club site
http://www.danbrownofficial.co.uk/

Barnes and Noble “Book Clubs” Chat Room
http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/bn/

Barnes and Noble’s Community Blog “Unabashedly Bookish”
http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Unabashedly-Bookish/bg-p/UnabashedlyBookish
There are different book clubs reading specific books – fiction; mystery; religion & spirituality

Barnes and Noble Community Room for chat Very active … lots of topics … user info says all views are welcome
http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/bn/board?board.id=CR

Facebook groups:

http://www.facebook.com/srch.php?q=jason+bourne+vs+jack+bauer&k=200000010
http://www.facebook.com/srch.php?q=davinci+code&k=200000010
http://www.facebook.com/srch.php?q=indiana+jones&k=200000010
http://www.facebook.com/srch.php?q=robert+ludlum&k=200000010
http://www.facebook.com/srch.php?q=dan+brown&k=200000010A
http://www.facebook.com/srch.php?q=davinci+code&k=200000010
http://www.facebook.com/srch.php?q=indiana+jones&k=200000010
http://www.facebook.com/srch.php?q=robert+ludlum&k=200000010
http://www.facebook.com/srch.php?q=dan+brown&k=200000010

A Jason Bourne blog that appears fairly current – not overly active
http://en.wordpress.com/tag/jason-bourne/

The Book Club Forum … UK … same kinds of chat
http://bookclubforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=244228

Joel Rosenberg
http://www.joelrosenberg.com/

And if you can’t remember the plot, here’s a short reminder:

History's greatest secret could be tomorrow's greatest threat More historically and biblically accurate than The DaVinci Code and just as adventurous as an Indiana Jones movie, The Sacred Cipher combines action and mystery to draw readers into a world of ancient secrets and international escapades. When an ancient scroll appears in a secret room of the Bowery Mission in New York City, Tom Bohannon is both stunned and intrigued. The enigma of the scroll's contents will send Bohannon and his team ricocheting around the world, drawing the heat of both Jewish and Muslim militaries, and bringing the Middle East to the brink of nuclear war in this heart-pounding adventure of historical proportions. The Sacred Cipher is a riveting, fact-based tale of mystery and suspense.

Thanks for all your support.

Terry

April Newsletter - Home Stretch

2009-04-23T12:22:00.000-07:00

Finally looks like Spring, eh? Well, I’ve finally come up for air after a marathon season of editing for The Sacred Cipher.

Ever since I sent out the February Newsletter I’ve been under the gun with the editing process. At one stretch, I worked on the edits for the book every day for three weeks straight.

The result is that the book is better now than ever … and it’s still scheduled for a July 31 release date.

I was working with a dynamite editor at Kregel Publications, who really challenged me and my writing. The toughest challenge was in building more richly developed characters, and then strengthening each character’s motivation … why they were doing what they were doing. And then there were a gazillion different edits, fixes and rewrites of sections.

I just went through another week of work on the second round of edits. This time, a different editor reviewed the manuscript and found things we missed the previous round.

But it’s still the same story. The characters are just more real.

And now, the editing is DONE! Yeah! And the book has been sent off to the design department who will develop the inside design and layout of the pages. The book will go to press sometime in May or early June.

And be in your bookstores in July! If you want to get psyched, you can click on the trailer link below just to check out the 30 second trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-QiJHa78E0

But here’s what I need you to do. And there will be more about this next month.

Identify the person or persons in your life who operate in lots of different circles – who know lots of different people. Talk to that person about The Sacred Cipher. Tell them how great a book it’s going to be (there you’ll have to take a step of faith).

And … ask that person to talk to their friends about the book. That is the best way to get Buzz going, and Buzz sells books.

The second thing you can do … if you are inclined … would be to join fan clubs, chat rooms, blogs, facebook groups for things like The DaVinci Code, or Bourne Identity and other Bourne movies, or Indiana Jones, or something in that vein. And then talk it up about, “This great new book that’s about to come out. It’s a lot like The DaVinci Code (or ????) …” That’s another great way to help get the word out.

And, if you are wondering what to say about the book, send me an email (terrbrennan@gmail.com) and I'll send you the Synopsis so you can brush up on the content. Hey … you guys are going to love this story. It’s a great summer read.

Thanks for your interest … and all your help.

Catch you next month.

The Noble Tradition

2009-03-27T14:04:00.000-07:00

If there has been one constant in all the writer's conferences I've attended, besides eating too much, it is that Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird - Some Instructions on Writing and Life, is always one of the most highly recommended books that starting writers "must have" in their generally unread collection of How To books.

It only took me four conferences to get to the book table early enough to snare a copy.

And this year I finally read it.

You should, too.

Bird provides so much fodder for comment I almost don't know where to start.

But I do.

How can a good Christian woman be so profane in her writing? Yikes!

How can a good Christian woman be so funny in her writing? Yikes!

How can ... well, you get it.

However, in between the yuks and the profanity is a garden of wisdom and solid counsel. Too much to cover. But here are some slices I loved from her chapter on Publication. (Other chapters include School Lunches, Jealousy, Broccoli, Radio Station KFKD and my favorite, Shitty First Drafts. Hey, they're not my chapter titles!)

After listing a litany of things that publication is not, Lamott allows herself to dance with the joy of being a published author.

"But the fact of publication is the acknowledgement from the community that you did your writing right. You acquire a rank that you never lose. Now you're a published writer, and you are in that rare position of getting to make a living, such as it is, doing what you love best. That knowledge does bring you a quiet joy."

Lamott is great at chronicling the pitfalls and false security of pursuing publication as the Holy Grail of your writing, but she also says this.

"But the truth is that there can be a great deal of satisfaction in being a writer, in being a person who gets some work done most days, and who has been published and acknowledged. I carry this around in my pocket, touch it a number of times a day to make sure it is still there. Even though so much of my writing time is stressful and disheartening, I carry a secret sense of accomplishment around with me, like a radium pack implanted near my heart that now leaches a quiet sense of relief through my system. But you pay through the nose for this."

Yes, the price is high. Deadly days of pounding out words and wondering if they make any sense ... if they will ever connect with another human being. It's a lonely work, full of self doubt that culminates in allowing people, most you've never met, skewer you and your work in public. Some fun, eh?

Lamott leaves us with some perspective.

"Being a writer is part of a noble tradition, as is being a musician - the last egalitarian and open associations. No matter what happens in terms of fame and fortune, dedication to writing is a marching-step forward from where you were before, when you didn't care about reaching out to the world, when you weren't hoping to contribute, when you were just standing there doing some job into which you had fallen."

Wow. Words like this make it all worth the price.

How is your "Change" spelled?

2009-03-24T21:51:00.000-07:00

So, here we are on March 24th, two months into the historic presidency of Barak Obama. The man who vowed to bring change not only to Washington, but to the entire country as well.

Obama appears to be fulfilling his promise.

I’m just wondering if the change this President is orchestrating is what 26 million Americans were expecting when they cast their votes for him.

What we know so far is that President Obama’s change will include universal health care (run by the government); a college education for anyone who wants one (paid for by the government); a punitive energy policy (run by the government, but paid for by every American through higher heating oil and gasoline prices); and the largest Public Works endeavor in the history of this nation (run by the government and paid for by our sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, great grandsons and ...).

Okay, so we’re not that surprised that a liberal Democrat who posed as a “centrist” to get elected … like, for instance, Bill Clinton … would attempt to flex his muscles on the heels of an electoral “mandate”. And we’re not surprised this muscle flexing includes socialized medicine, socialized education and socialized public works.

What we are surprised about … and perhaps those 26 million who voted Democratic are surprised about … is that now this President is asking for the power to seize American business.

No, not just nationalize the American banking system, which has already begun.

No, now the reports out of Washington are that President Obama wants to give the Secretary of the Treasury the power to seize American businesses and to enforce a limit on compensation for executives. Not just businesses that have accepted some of the $700 billion bailout bribery – but any business the Secretary thought could create a problem for the economy should it fail. Not just executives who are on the government take, but any executive.

Now it appears as if President Obama's change will include socialized banking and socialized business … the government telling us who should survive, and how much they should make while they’re doing it.

Okay … I’m just being paranoid, right? The last time I wrote about Obama Socialism here, I got roasted on several fronts.

But, listen to this.

Dick Morris was on one of the talking-head shows after the President’s news conference. This is the Dick Morris who was the brains behind the Clinton campaigns and President Clinton’s closest advisor. A conservative Republican he is not.

So, this is what Dick Morris said about President Obama’s plans for change. Morris said the President wants to make a good show of trying to save the economy, but he wants to fail. He’s planning to fail. Then, when the country is in a real crisis, on the brink of disaster, Obama Socialism will come in like a flood to save the day.

That’s what Bill Clinton’s closest advisor said Tuesday night on national television.

President Obama held a news conference last night for one purpose … to put pressure on Congress to pass his proposed budget. He called it the centerpiece of the economic recovery program.

Good faith estimates from the Congressional Budget Office indicate the President’s proposed budget will add $1 trillion more, each year, to the federal deficit for the next ten years and beyond. That our interest payments on the national debt will be $800 billion dollars a year. Just the interest.

Barak Obama’s budget will bankrupt the country. No nation can afford to throw $1 trillion into the black hole of economic stimulus … see one-third of the nation’s wealth evaporate … then pay for socialized medicine, socialized education, socialized banks, socialized business and the largest public works project in our history.

Perhaps Dick Morris is wrong. Perhaps President Obama is not willfully steering this nation into catastrophe. Perhaps he is not planning to destroy this nation so he can rebuild it in his own image.

Whether Barak Obama is acting willfully to bring this country to its knees or not, he is clearly focused on accomplishing the change that he pledged to bring to this nation.

Change that is spelled r-e-v-o-l-u-t-i-o-n.

The Hell Formerly Known as Editing

2009-03-19T06:56:00.000-07:00

This blog originally appeared on March 17th as a guest blog on Rants & Ramblings, the blog of my agent, Rachelle Gardner. It recounts some of my experiences during the editing process for my first novel, The Sacred Cipher, scheduled for release in July.

It was June 30, 2008 and my wife and I were driving home from the Adirondacks when Rachelle called. “How does it feel to be a published author?”When I stopped dancing around the car – yes, I had parked first – my head was spinning. It still is. But the dreams of fame and fortune, which so quickly sprang to mind that day, have been put on hold. First comes editing.

I signed a contract with Kregel for my first novel, The Sacred Cipher. We’ve been through two rounds of editing with three more to come. The release date has been shuffled from April to July 31 of this year.The first thing I must say is that the people I've worked with at Kregel have been great. They are all professional; holding to high standards; clear and articulate in their counsel, questions and needs. They’ve been compassionate and sensitive in their delivery, open to suggestions or differences of opinion and deferential to the author's vision.No complaints on that side.But the editing process is exhausting and, at times, frightening. Twice I thought this train was headed off the bridge.My editor, Dawn Anderson, presented me with a laundry list of edits, deletions and revisions – some quite extensive. The big issues (extensive character development; character motivation; plot pacing) were too big to tackle at the beginning. They overwhelmed me. So, first, I read through the entire manuscript.Then I went back and started fixing the 'smaller' problems, keeping the big issues in mind and keeping notes of my own thoughts. That helped me make progress while I was still thinking through the major issues.In addition, Dawn asked two perceptive, but alarming, questions about timing – one at the beginning of the book (I wrote that four years ago!) and a second about the conclusion – so substantial, I thought the book was dead. It took four days to find a solution.POV was a nagging, consistent issue, but dealing with the characters was my biggest problem. Each of the main characters needed more depth and development but the great challenge was motivation … why would they do this? Too many times, my first answer was, “I don’t know.”I worked on the revisions at least four days a week for nearly a month. Even with all the revisions ... 98.5% of my editor’s observations or requests were valid … the story is the same, the characters are the same (though deeper) and the plot still moves. I'm okay with it.It helped a lot to hear from Rachelle that significant edits and revisions like this are not unusual. So, I didn't take the requests personally.All that said, editing is a big deal. The revisions were harder work than the writing. At least, that's how it felt. I think I was having selective amnesia. I know there were several very bleak days in the writing, as well. But, in the editing stage, there was more at stake. More downside risk. Much more challenge to be a 'better' writer.As a result, I am physically and emotionally spent. Squeezed out and hung to dry. Brain dead and bug eyed. And tired of talking about this book. (I've done a really good job of marketing to everyone I know ... and they ALL ask!). But the edits keep coming. A freelance editor will be reviewing it for substance, internal editors will do a line edit, then a copy edit.Honestly, I'm numb. There have been so many days of doubt. I think the book is good ... the folks at Kregel are excited about it. And I believe it's better now than ever.But I’m not dancing around the car anymore. Not now. I won't be able to believe this rumor about being a published author until I have one of those 362-page suckers in my hand. This process is just too fragile to take anything for granted.

The Shades of Love

2009-02-27T12:58:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to share this for a week. Wasn't sure how to go about it. So, I'll just spit it out.

Here's Terry's Tip for Feb. 27. I recently finished reading three great books ... The Given Day by Dennis Lehane and The Road by Cormack McCarthy.

Dennis Lehane wrote Mystic River. I started that book (my son, Matt, loves Lehane), but the language was tough to take.

I was amazed by The Given Day. It's a wonderful story, epic in proportion, intimate in family.

But what shocked me was the lyricism of Lehane's writing. His wonderful turn of phrases, sparkling word pictures. It reads like the best Steinbeck. But I loved how he intertwined smells into his scene tapestries. Smells ... something I ignore too frequently in my scenes. But how strong, and powerful and seductive are smells.

The Given Day is a rough story in spots, Lehane is gritty, but I didn't want it to end.

The Road is absolutely mind-blowing. McCarthy has a style like none other I've ever seen. No chapters, for one. He creates a foreign, forbidding world and enchants you into its center. Two characters you ache for. That's all I can tell you without giving too much away. It's spectacular.

The third book? Yesterday I finished reading The Shack. Wow! What a revelation. My wife got it from the library and we all read it before it was due back. Now, I've got to go out and buy myself a copy. There's just too much in there to absorb, and remember, in just one reading. Fascinating.

Odd thing ... all three books are about love. Expectations of love in The Given Day. Responsibilities of love in The Road. And the gift of love in The Shack.

It's all love. Two are enslaving. One is freeing. We all have a choice which one, or two, or three we would like in our lives.

Ciao.

Pretty cool, this writing stuff.

State of Who's Union?

2009-02-25T14:42:00.000-08:00

One of the great benefits of history is that it gives us perspective ... perspective of not only what happened in the past, but why it happened. And a perspective with which to measure and assess the present.

I listened to all of President Obama's State of the Union speech last night. It is certainly clear to all Americans that "Now is the time ..." for perspective.

Over the last two years we have endured what may be the greatest economic collapse in the history of this nation.

No one knows for sure where this fiscal disaster will stop. What we do know is that the rate of decline continues to accelerate. One third of the total jobs lost during this two-year recession have been lost in the last three months. The last quarter of 2008 saw the greatest decline in home values in generations. Home values in many California communities have declined 50% ... 35 to 40% in many Florida communities.

We are suffering through an economic cataclysm of historic proportions. Only history will tell us if this time is, in fact, The Great Depression.

At the same time, our nation has undergone the greatest political cataclysm since Thomas Jefferson authored the Declaration of Independence.

Last month, I watched all day as our nation inaugurated an African-American man as President of the United States. Make no doubt about this point ... that day was the change of an age. Nothing will ever be the same again.

The age of the Baby Boomers has ended ... at least their control over the age.

When I was a boy, African-American men and women in the South could not chose their own seats on a bus. They could not eat in "white-only" restaurants; they could not drink from "white-only" water fountains.

A colleague of mine, a man who must be at least 10 years my junior, told me recently his grandfather was born a slave. Imagine that. A grandfather who was born a slave.

And, today, we have an African-American man as President, and there has not been rioting in the streets or acts of civil disobedience ... or the secession of states to form their own union.

This is a new age ... something we have never seen before.

So, we are living through the greatest economic and greatest political cataclysms - perhaps - in the history of our nation.

Which leads me to wonder ... what comes next? And what will it mean?

In the days after 9/11, the people of this nation were, in the vast majority, willing to surrender some of their rights for security - whether real or imagined. We were all afraid of what would come next. I know, living in New York City, I was. And we wanted the government, the military, to protect us from these mad terrorists.

Now, in the first days of his Presidency, Mr. Obama has closed the detention camp at Guantanamo and ordered an end to torture during interrogation. In the days after 9/11, putting suspected terrorists in detention anywhere, and using extraordinary measures to protect our citizens, may have looked a lot more palatable. Today, in hindsight, they look like big mistakes.

So, last night, I heard our President - and God bless him and help him make wise decisions - say that he wanted government to dictate what proper business practices would be in this new age; that he wanted government to determine how banks should function; that he wanted health care for every citizen; that every student has the right to go to college; that he wanted to tax the richest 2% of Americans to help pay for his plans.

And ... all this is the face of the largest spending bill in the history of this nation - the $1 trillion economic stimulus package - that was passed by Congress in less time than it takes to renew your driver's license at the DMV office.

Yes ... we need to do something to try and shore up the economic disaster that threatens the very fabric of our society. Doing nothing is not an option.

But, what I wonder is, what will history tell us, once we have a chance to shine the light of perspective on this time?

Will it tell us that the Federal government made all the right decisions, spent all its money wisely, resurrected economic growth - and then got out of the free market system?

Or, will history tell us that we just entered a new age. The age of a socialist America?

I listened to all of President Obama's State of the Union message last night. And what I heard made me fear even more for the future of this nation.

I'm concerned that, in the name of economic stability, we are inviting socialism to replace democracy. That we are ready to jettison our republic in favor of expediency.

And I fear for our future. Good intentions in dangerous times have led us to disastrous blunders in the past. And what happens when there is another cataclysm added to what has transpired so far? What happens if, God forbid, terrorists once again defile this nation and its people?

Is that the day we move from the age of democracy and freedom to socialism and dictatorship?

Is that possibility so far away? Or, is Now the time?

Edward Elgar - An Enigma

2009-02-18T18:22:00.000-08:00

Hi,

Did you ever dream of breaking a secret code? Well, here's your chance.

This month, we're going to give you a little sneak peek at one of the plot elements that help drive The Sacred Cipher. And we'll also give you a chance to solve a 100-year-old code that has never been broken.

****

He was a chemist – in his basement. He was a cryptographer and code breaker – in his spare time. He went to work in an insane asylum – to find the peace he sought to compose music.

Sir Edward Elgar, one of the most beloved and influential English composers of this age … a romantic scientist of music … died 75 years ago.

Elgar passed away on February 23, 1934. Yet, his music is as alive today – as modern and well-known; as ingrained in our society – as the music of the Beatles.

Who is Edward Elgar?

Have you ever heard the Pomp and Circumstances March … the music that is played at every school graduation ceremony? Then you’ve heard Sir Edward Elgar.

But, if you watch much TV, or many movies, then you’re likely to have also heard Sir Edward Elgar’s work. There was a series on television about World War II – Band of Brothers. Click on this youtube connection below and see if this sounds familiar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUgoBb8m1eE

This music is Nimrod, one of the “Variations on an Original Theme” Elgar wrote to widespread acclaim in 1899 – his now famous Enigma Variations, some of the most beautiful music this world has ever heard. Elgar’s compositions are vast and varied, far too many to comment on here – his Cello Concerto; the Music Makers; his 1st Symphony and his masterful the Dream of Gerontius (1900).

The 75th Anniversary of Elgar’s death will be celebrated on February 28th by a commemorative concert played by the renowned English Symphony Orchestra (ESO) at the Worcester Cathedral in England. Continuum has just published a book on Elgar, Elgar: An Anniversary Portrait … Introduced by Nicholas Kenyon. The liner notes read:

This collection of essays offers a new insight into the composer's life.

Edward Elgar was a man of many contradictions. He was born an outsider, into a family of lower-middle class, Catholic, origins. Yet his fame, and ability to write music that struck a chord in the national consciousness, led him to adopt a sycophantic attitude towards the Royal Family and high society, even though he always felt ill at ease with them.

Elgar was a depressive with a problematic marriage, who craved recognition, but in many ways he regretted the piece of music which made him famous. 'Pomp and Circumstance' made him the leading English composer of his age, but also contributed to the jingoism which he so disliked during the First World War. Yet, unquestionably, he was the greatest musical genius that England had produced in centuries.

This Portrait, by some of the scholars and musicians that understand him best, offers new light on a wide range of aspects of Edward Elgar's life and work.

Why do I care about Sir Edward Elgar? On the surface, my interest has little direct connection to his music. It has to do with the Dorabella Cipher – a code Elgar wrote in 1897 as a birthday present to a friend … a code that has never been broken.

The Dorabella Cipher is one of the key elements that Tom Bohannon and his team – Dr. Richard Johnson, Sammy Rizzo and Joe Rodriguez – use to solve the mystery of The Sacred Cipher, my first novel which will be published by Kregel Publications and released on July 31.

The Elgar Society (http://www.elgar.org/) holds an annual competition for those code-breakers who are attempting to crack the Dorabella Cipher. In 2008 there were seven entries submitted, but the cipher remains a mystery and the £1,500 prize has yet to be awarded.

Can you break the Dorabella Cipher written by Sir Edward Elgar?

If you want to win the prize, perhaps reading The Sacred Cipher may help. But, if you can't wait the five monts until the book is released, next month, we'll give you some more history of the Dorabella Cipher, and some more clues.

And, oh yeah, Sir Edward Elgar is the man who opened the EMI Recording Studios on Abbey Road in November, 1931. You remember Abbey Road, right? Some English group made an album of that title. Can’t quite remember their name.

Click below to see a rare piece of film - Elgar conducting his Pomp and Circumstance at the opening of the Abbey Road Studios.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxqFdcZz974

January/February Newsletter - Rock & Roll

2009-02-01T13:03:00.000-08:00

Are you ready for some Football!

Well … okay … not exactly.

Are you ready for some Rock And Roll?

Here you go, then … something to get you psyched up for the Super Bowl.

Click on the link below and get zapped. It’s safe … it’s clean … and it’s only 29 seconds long. Try it. It’ll get your toes tapping.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-QiJHa78E0

WOW … wasn’t that cool?

One of the great folks in the marketing department at Kregel Publications put that together last week as a trailer to the upcoming release of The Sacred Cipher. I’ll tell you … what a rush it was the first time I loaded it up.

And now it seems like there’s more and more every day.

If you go to this link http://store.kregel.com/productdetails.cfm?pc=1745 you’ll see Kregel’s preliminary page on presenting The Sacred Cipher. The book is now slated for release at the end of July.

I know … the release date has been a moving target. But I’m told that’s not unusual.

One of the reasons the date’s been shifted from Spring to Summer (I think it will be a great beach read) is that I’ve been working furiously with the Kregel editors on some much needed revisions to the manuscript.

Just imagine what happens when a rookie novelist runs into an editor who was nominated for Editor Of The Year in 2008! That’s right … a whole lot of homework.

But we’re making great progress and, the best thing is, the edits and revisions are making it a much stronger book. It’s still the same story – just told with a good bit more skill – the editor’s, not mine. But I’m learning.

So, here’s your homework for February.

Go check out Amazon.com and search for The Sacred Cipher. Yes! It’s there. (Hey, I am not the Terry Brennan who writes about “Primate Ecology” or “Organophilic Clays” … I don’t even want to think about that.)

Go check out Target.com … yes! Nothing on Barnes & Noble, yet.

ChristianBook.com also has the book on its site, at the best discount, but there were some errors in their posting (wrong release date), so it may be down then come up again next week.

But, here’s what I’d ask of any who feel so inclined … go onto one of these sites and put in an order – before the book is released. Talk to your friends, relatives, co-workers, folks in line at the supermarket. Get them to pre-order it also.

Call your local Barnes & Noble. Ask them if they’re going to have it in stock when it’s released in July. If not, why not?

GET THE BUZZ GOING!

It’s the buzz that makes the book. “Word of Mouth” is the best, most effective, strongest kind of book marketing that exists. Let’s all get the buzz. Baby needs a new pair of shoes.

Or, in the immortal words of Clark Griswold, “If there’s enough money left over, we’ll all go to Disneyland.”

Or, was that John Elway?

Happy Super Bowl. And have a great February.

It's Still a Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T10:28:00.000-08:00

When my Mom was a kid, she and her sisters would grab a bucket and walk to the Reading Railroad yard at Wayne Junction. They would walk up and down the tracks, picking up stray pieces of coal.

That's how they heated their house at Christmas.

My Dad came home from The War and worked as a second-shift machinist at a factory in Philadelphia. He came home for lunch at 8:00 each evening ... worked until after midnight. Never complained.

By the time my Mom and Dad passed away, they had enjoyed a house in the suburbs, with a pool. Dad had bought, and discarded, his Cadillac. They had travelled to Europe, the South Pacific and most places in between.

And they had a son who went to college.

Times change. God's soverign will never does.

The banking system may implode. All of us may be living through the greatest economic catastrophy since the Great Depression (don't know what was so great about it). And such a calamity would certainly strike the publishing industry as well, limiting resources and opportunities.

But people not only survived the Great Depression. Some prospered during. Some prospered after.

The people of Israel stood at the edge of the Red Sea, Pharoh's army braying at their backs, and they praised God. Before the water moved. They sang songs of praise.

Thats what we need for encouragement.

The water will move.

Until then, it's our job to praise God and do what he gives our hands to do. Whether that's picking up coal along the railroad tracks, or working at our craft ... making ourselves the best writers in the world.

If we have faith, this will be our best Christmas ever.

May God bless us ... every one.

Sunsets Don't Last Very Long

2008-12-23T07:20:00.000-08:00

One of the benefits of recently moving (if there are any benefits of moving ... where did all this 'stuff' come from?) is that, for the first time in our 30 years of marriage, I have a real, functional office. With bookcases, for all my collected rare (or just old) books. And a private place to write.

Another benefit of this office is that it has windows that overlook the Hudson River. Very rare ... and very peaceful. A true blessing.

I was sitting here yesterday evening, working on my next book - Scorpion Pass - as the sun was setting over the Jersey Palisades. One of those dramatic moments when a reality of life strikes.

Sunsets don't last very long.

There are many changes, rapid changes, in the evolution of a sunset. From early hues to hot orange to fading pink and then, ultimately, grey clouds and darkness.

Life is like that, isn't it. It doesn't last very long.

Childhood doesn't last very long. High School seems like an eternity when you're going through it but, really, that doesn't last long either. College goes by in a blur (probably too many evenings at the Rathskeller); "the best years of your life" are generally missed in a rush to establish a career ... and then you're old.

Early hues to hot orange to fading pink then, ultimately, grey hair and darkness.

I tend to miss too much of life. Spend too much time lamenting the past or looking to the future.

That's too bad. Because sunsets don't last very long. Yesterday, I caught some of it. But I was too busy to sit and watch the whole thing. Too often, that's the story of my life.

Don't miss Christmas. Make it the best one ever. And say Happy Birthday to Jesus.

An early Christmas Present

2008-12-22T12:01:00.000-08:00

Pastor Jim Cymbala of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church had a few words to share after Brooklyn Tab’s Christmas concert this past weekend. Something for us to consider in the last dash to Christmas.

There are at least three reasons – in addition to the redemption of mankind from the sentence of sin – Jesus Christ choose to be born in Bethlehem, to become a man like us.
The first, said Pastor Cymbala, is that God loves you. A simple statement, yet often so hard to personally accept. God might love everybody else, but can He really love me?

Yeah … God loves you. If you were the only son (or daughter) of Adam throughout all time, Jesus would have become flesh and blood just for you. God loves you. That is His character.

Second is that God feels what you feel. The Bible tells us that God is Creator of all things, including man. It also tells us that God feels our pain, our loneliness and our discouragement. God feels what you feel.

And, because He loves you, there is the third reason. Jesus came into this world to give us hope. The hope that comes from the fact that God loves us, God feels what we feel and God cares so much about us that he asked His son to become our Redeemer to give us hope.

And so, we have Christmas.

***

I’ve held off on a November newsletter because things were moving along rapidly at Kregel Publications regarding the release date of The Sacred Cipher and I wanted to make sure I shared solid information.

While Kregel is still working to lock down its production schedule for the spring, it appears The Sacred Cipher will be released to bookstores in May.

The folks at Kregel have been great, and very encouraging. According to the marketing department, Sacred Cipher is one of their “lead titles for the season” and they are being very deliberate to ensure its success. What a blessing!

I have seen one result of Kregel’s commitment to The Sacred Cipher – the cover design. It is stunning … dramatic … and really cool. Kregel engaged an outside designer/artist to work on the cover and rejected two initial designs until they got the design they wanted.

So, my first Christmas present this year is one I'll share with you ... the official cover of The Sacred Cipher. Cool or what! Keep an eye out for the January newsletter. I hope to have a lot more details to share with you by then.

From the Brennans – may you and your family be blessed with joy, peace and God’s rest this Christmas.

Terry, Andrea, Meghan and Matthew

Merry Christmas!

October Newsletter - Dallas, here we come!

2008-10-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

Hi,

My intention is to make this a short, monthly update to keep you informed and help get you excited about upcoming books.

So, to the news ....

My first novel, The Sacred Cipher, will be released by Kregel Publications in April. I knew it was going to be in the spring, but now we know it will be April - the first month of Kregel's fiscal year. That's exciting.

(this is an experiment ... below is a drawing - very small version - of my attempt to draw the secret scroll which is at the heart of The Sacred Cipher. The symbols are my rendition of Demotic, the third language on the Rosetta Stone. Check out the book to learn more!)

It's also exciting that Kregel has designated Sacred Cipher as part of its "A" list of releases this spring, which I believe means it will receive prominent promotion in Kregel's catalog and focused attention by Kregel's sales force.

But what's really exciting is that Kregel has decided to fly me down to Dallas in March for the first Christian Book Expo which promises to be the largest gathering of Christian book sellers and Christian book publishers in the nation.

Christian Book Expo is a convention sponsored by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). The Expo was created to raise awareness of Christian authors, books, and publishers following interviews with 15 publishing CEOs and 23 Christian publishing houses who wanted a consumer-based show that would connect with actual readers.

So the Expo will be open to the general public. There will be a huge exhibit floor with publishers booths, as well as workshops, evening programming, author signings ... and media coverage. Kregel's plan is to have Sacred Cipher available at the Book Expo, to have signage and promotions for Sacred Cipher in the booth, have me do a book signing and possibly even a reading and reserve some booth time for me to do a "meet and greet" with the folks at the show. Wow! Isn't that cool?

My agent, Rachelle Gardner, said some authors get really freaked out when they go to a book show and there's really big pictures of them and their book covers.

Me? I'm already really freaked out.

We are just receiving so much favor and grace with this book - it is clearly a God thing and not a Terry thing. Important to keep in mind, I think, come March.

The folks at Kregel have been absolutely fantastic to work with. I couldn't have asked for more. We should get our first look at the book's cover sometime early next month. That will be the subject of next month's newsletter.

In the meantime, this week I submitted the edited and revised manuscript for my second novel, Hunger's Ransom, to my agent and she will be forwarding it to the Kregel staff. We're hopeful it will be reviewed, and accepted, at Kregel's editorial staff meeting in November. Stay tuned.

And I've just begun work on the sequel to Sacred Cipher, a book called Scorpion Pass. Pray for me that I can get a good jump on this book over the next eight weeks.

Okay, that's enough.

Stay tuned for more exciting adventures of "Terry Through Book Land" - probably late night, community-access time on the Jewelry Channel.

Ciao, baby ...

Terry

Seven Years Ago Today ... Not so Cool

2008-09-10T16:17:00.000-07:00

I'm exhausted, but I figured I had better pop my head up here ... just in case anyone is checking in.

The chances of that are better today than last week.

Tuesday I sent out a blast email to 165 addresses ... the initial venture in what I hope will be a newsletter. The blast email announced to those I know - well, some, and barely - that my first novel will be published by Kregel Publications in the spring:

The Sacred Cipher

History's Greatest Secret May Be Tomorrow's Greatest Threat

Of course, at the bottom of each of those 165 emails was my contact information, including my blog address.

I think I've gotten about 70 responses to the blast email thus far. That's 70 people who may have been curious enough to check out this blog site, only to find out that I haven't been here for the past couple of weeks. Not good.

So, for anybody who's checking in - here I am!

Now, do I have anything to say? That is always the question.

Try this on for size.

My wife and I live on the Lower East Side of New York City, in a wildly popular and trendy neighborhood nicknamed NoLita (North of Little Italy). It's a cool place. We don't live in a cool place. We live in The Bowery Mission, which clothes and feeds and rescues the homeless and addicted. A wonderful place ... a place of miracles ... but not always a 'cool' place to live.

(As an aside, and just to give you a glimpse of how cool this neighborhood has become, a building two blocks away was just gut renovated. Five story, pretty old brick building that was derelict for the entire 11 years I've been here - until now. Sits on the corner of Spring and Elizabeth Streets. The owner has converted the building into six, full-floor condos ... perhaps 2,000 square feet each - maybe more. The price? Starting at $6 million each! That's how cool .)

Anyway, back to the point.

I was coming home the other night ... may have been Monday ... and as I crossed Bowery and walked toward the entrance to The Mission, my attention was caught by something to my right. I turned. And looked into the sky.

Up into the darkness of the night were two shafts of light.

My throat got thick. My heart skipped, stopped, then tripped along. For just a moment ... a fleeting, unexamined moment ... I thought I might break. And I stood on the sidewalk and stared.

The beams of light were most likely two of those special-event spotlights that some businesses will shine up into the sky to attract attention. They certainly got mine.

The lights were aimed at about a 40 degree angle, running upward from south to north ... from downtown to uptown. So unlike their predecessors, when you come to think of it. But who stops to think when there are two shafts of light piercing the sky of downtown Manhattan.

It was seven years ago when it last happened. Seven years ago today (now that it's 12:39 a.m.).

The lights didn't shine seven years ago today. Someone had the bright idea for the lights to shine as a way to commemorate what happened seven years ago today. There were two, huge, powerful shafts of light launched from the now-famous "Ground Zero". Nothing will ever replace The Towers, but the light shafts gave a sense that something was there again. They rose high into the night sky, their lumens lessening until they were just wisps of grey fading into dark.

For some reason, for many of us who lived through those awful days when Manhattan became a ghost town, the shafts of light brought comfort. And hope.

Monday night, someone was throwing a party and hired a couple of spotlights.

They weren't pointed in the right direction, but those arbitrary shafts of light brought a memory, resurrected a fear, rekindled a hurt. For a moment. For a moment, time stopped.

New York City wasn't so cool when Lower Manhattan was off limits - barricaded from 14th Street South. When there were armed soldiers stationed on every street corner. When there was no traffic. No ... there was NO traffic. No cabs, no buses, no trucks, no cars. Anywhere. Just soldiers, jeeps, and a couple of million people scared to breathe the air or think about what was coming next. Not so cool when every breeze carried the smell of burning. Not so cool when every public square was wallpapered with the leaflets of the grieving, uselessly searching for the dead.

No, not such a cool place, then.

You probably could have gotten one of those apartments for a buck-fifty a month. Who'd want to live here, anyway?

Seven years.

The City has been reborn. The buzz and the money have returned.

The grief has never left. All it takes is two shafts of light to pierce the darkness. And memory returns.

A Relief Pitcher

2008-08-27T18:03:00.000-07:00

The annual American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) Conference will occur in a few weeks in Minneapolis. While I've been to several other writer's conferences over the past three years, this will be my first visit to this venerable, national gathering of the best and brightest in Christian fiction.

As a "rookie" to ACFW I was included in a 'first-timer orientation' email loop. The loop has been a mixed blessing.

It's one thing to get 30 or more extra emails each day. It's another thing when most of those emails are concerned with what women should wear to the Saturday night dinner. Or are an on-going discussion about whether coffee will be available or how much chocolate is too much.

Okay, it's a guy thing ... I don't care about prom gowns and I'm not concerned about OD'ing on caffine or a chocolate binge. So, those emails I've learned to delete.

What has been interesting, for me at least, is the often agonizing dialogue about how to throw your "pitch".

For the uninitiated, a "pitch" is what a writer will share with an editor, publisher's rep or an agent when they are trying to sell either a manuscript or work-in-progress, or trying to sell themselves. The "pitch" is generally about seven sentences and can be delivered in about three minutes. In sales, it's often called your elevator speech.

Sadly for the rookies, the writing business has a lot of unwritten traditions and expectations that people are expected to know and follow ... and which cause a great deal of anxiety for those going into a big-time conference for the first time.

What is a one-pager? What should be in a one-pager? What does it look like? What is a summary? What is a synopsis? How do they differ? What should I bring with me? What do I pitch ... the one-pager; the synopsis; the summary? When do I pitch? How do I throw the pitch - fast ball ... curve ball ... slider?

And on and on it goes.

I've been empathizing with every one of them who is agonizing about bringing the "right" thing to the "right" person at the "right" time. Should I bring a business card, a one-sheet, a two-sided one-sheet, a proposal (what should be in a proposal?), a manuscript (finished? unfinished?), a tuxedo?

So I wrote this in one of the email loop responses:

I remember the second writer's conference I went to. I had appointments the next day with an agent and a top publisher. One of my author/mentors told me these two appointments were critical and to give each of them the synopsis and first few chapters, "perfect - squeaky clean." I was up until 4:00 a.m. working on my laptop and then I was standing outside the door of the local Staples, grumpy and bleary-eyed, when it opened at 7:00 a.m. to get hard copies off a CD.

The folks at the appointments never asked to see it.

It's so hard, coming into this strange world for the first time, because everybody inside the world (even through they ARE great people) seems to know the secret code and all of us on the outside are trying to figure out the secret code and we don't even know the language.

Here's the bottom line. All you need is passion, and a great idea. Leave the rest at home (not really, but I hope you know what I mean).

Whether you have a glitzy, drop-dead designed one-page, a synopsis, a pitch or five squeaky-clean chapters is not as important as having passion and a great idea. The rest of it you can learn by going to the seminars at the conference and reading books on the craft (Sol Stein; Donald Maass; Stephen King On Writing).

But ya ain't goin' nowhere without passion and a great idea. If you can share passion and a great idea - coherently - with an author, editor, agent or publisher, you don't need anything else. Honest.

Two years ago I came to my first conference amazingly ignorant. I didn't know anything or anybody. My first paid critique was a disaster, and so was my finished manuscript. But I had another idea I was passionate about. So I wrote that book over the next year and got an agent. Last month I signed a contract with Kregel and the book will be coming out sometime next year.

Last week I went to my third Philly Conference and took along my 26-year-old daughter. We've got an idea we're collaborating on. All we had was a storyline we had verbally brainstormed. Nothing on paper.

She was in a first-evening Practice your Pitch seminar, just to observe and learn. But they broke up into small groups and each person in the group was to give their pitch to the rest of the group. So while the others were pitching, Meghan was scribbling away in her notebook. When it came her turn, she shared her seven sentences and everybody loved it. She pitched to three other mega-authors. Two of them spent more than an hour each in separate brainstorming sessions, helping Meghan flesh out the plot. One of them told her, "You finish that book by next year and make sure you bring it to me. I want to endorse it."

She had no business card, no pitch, no one-sheet, no proposal, no synopsis, no manuscript. No tuxedo.

But she had an idea we had hatched - and it's a really good idea - one she was passionate about. That's a pitch that others can catch.

If you believe in what you're doing, share that. All the rest works itself out.

So, that's the lesson for today. I don't have an answer for the chocolate and the coffee. Forget about the prom dresses.

Cinder Block Blues

2008-08-20T14:58:00.000-07:00

The first guy with the cinder block had it clutched to his chest, like a fireman holding a baby he had rescued from a flaming building. Two arms were underneath it, the right arm slightly askew from the bottom, just past the corner of the right side.

He was wearing a blue t-shirt. What else, I don't know. I was looking at the cinder block.

The first guy with the cinder block had copper colored hair, before the patina set in. Brown, with pervasive red highlights, wispy in the front but enough to lift in a wave and sweep back over his head. His cheeks were full, chipmunk-like, with the yellow and burgundy flush of peaches in total exertion.

The cinder block was grey.

The second guy with the cinder block was different.

Let me stop here a moment and share an observation.

Prince Street in NoLita does not often entertain cinder-clock carriers. Everything else, yes. Cinder-block carriers ... well, this was a first.

Prince Street in NoLita is a "great neighborhood" in Manhattan, particularly for those who don't live on Prince Street in NoLita. God only knows why, but this section of Manhattan - hard against The Bowery and its historical queasiness and the Lower East Side (LES) and its ethnic barrios - has suddenly become the "in" place to be. Not "in" for the residents, but "in" for the one million tourists who seem to prowl its streets every weekend.

Walk down Prince Street, or it's sister to the downtown - Spring Street - and it's unlikely you will hear English. None of the people with the maps out, the shopping bags in their hands or the odd dialects emanating from their mouths, have grown up in Dubuque.

Can you say melting pot? Can you say, get the tourists out of my neighborhood?

Needless to say, the guy with the cinder block was an interesting diversion.

The second guy with the cinder block was shocking. What was this, a cinder block parade? Was this another clever marketing ploy for Obama '08? Was someone giving away cinder blocks?

The second guy with the cinder block was thin. He was also tired. Perhaps frustrated. The cinder block sat, upright, on the sidewalk. Guy Number Two had dark hair. He was older than Guy Number One. I think he wore jeans, but, hey - who can tell after two cinder blocks?

Most memorable is that Guy Number Two took a deep breath, looked like he wanted to be someplace else, then bent over and lifted the cinder block onto his left shoulder. Shazaam! A whole new way to carry cinder blocks on Prince Street. Stop the presses!

Okay, perhaps not so dramatic.

Until you got to the corner of Prince and Bowery, directly across the street from the New Museum of Contemporary Art which is, in fact, a new museum. An icon, already. Seven floors of off-center boxes, clad in chain-mail, with no windows. This is a building?

Anyway, at the corner of Prince and Bowery, was the Girl With Two Cinder Blocks. It was an odd alignment.

Girl was on her cell phone. Obviously, not with Guy Number One or Guy Number Two, who were too busy carting cinder blocks down Prince Street to carry on a reasonable conversation. But, Girl was on her cell phone. At her feet sat TWO cinder blocks, one of top of the other, the one on top vertical.

Was she calling for help? Was she calling for directions? Was she calling for more cinder blocks?

The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind. The light changed and it was time to cross Bowery and get home.

New York City ... this is My Kind Of Town (wait, wasn't that Chicago?)

Do you have a point of view?

2008-07-17T16:03:00.000-07:00

For some of us, there are no rules.

Take a guy like Stephen King. I just got finished reading his book, The Stand - the original, uncut version of 1,140+ pages - and one of the main things I got out of the book is that King doesn't follow the rules.

Well, at least not some of them.

King's novels sell a lot of copies. A LOT of copies. So he abides by Rule Number One - make your publisher happy.

And King's novels are a great read. So he abides by Rule Number Two - make your readers happy.

Rule Number Three is - follow Rules Number One and Two.

However, there are other writerly rules. One of the first I learned was POV. And POV killed my first novel.

Sol Stein defines POV as: "the character whose eyes are observing what happens, the perspective from which a scene or a story is written."

At my first writer's conference I was told there is no such character as "narrator". And, for the first time, I heard about POV. So the novel I had spent four years writing and had come to pitch was tossed in a drawer. It had no POV and was told almost entirely by an omniscient narrator. OOOPPPS! Time to try another profession.

But, wait. Hold your hyphens!

Have you read a King novel? Stephen King is POV-challenged. In fact, in The Stand, King is bouncing around from one person's head to the next from sentence to sentence. In double fact, there are even two scenes where he gives us the thoughts of a dog. I kid you not.

Now, in Waynes World of Writing, Stephen King is just lower than diety. Clearly, he can do no wrong.

How many writers do you know who can go back to their publisher and require them to restore the 150,000 words that were cut from the original published version of The Stand? Taking it from a 700-page book to an 1,100-page book.

But he don't know no POV!

Which brings us to the QUESTION OF THE DAY.

Do people speak in words? Or in numerals?

When I was a newspaper editor, I would skewer writers who would quote people in numerals.

"I told Jack I was going to hit 6 home runs today."

No, you numbskull ... people speak in words (six) not numerals (6).

Boy, did that get me in a lot of arguments. (I won, because I was the boss)

What do you think? The first 3 responses will each receive four calling birds and 5 golden rings.

Love for Rent

2008-07-07T12:56:00.000-07:00

This is so bizarre ... writing in the ozone with no guarantee that anybody else is out there.

If you are, hopefully you haven't been holding your breath, waiting for the next post.

Just finished the first draft of my second novel. Perhaps that is wishful thinking. I thought it was finished two weeks ago. Turns out I didn't have enough words. The first one was too long by nearly 30,000 words. Now this one is too short.

Maybe I can combine the two of them and then just cut it in half in the middle. That would be interesting reading.

Oh, yes, there is a reason why I've surfaced once again - besides the fact that I finished a first draft today and can now think and act like a (fairly) normal person again.

Neither of the books I've written have a romance. They are both adult action/suspense/thrillers. They both have significant women characters.

But - not in the chic-lit sense, at least - neither one has a romantic sub-plot.

Now, I admit, I'm over 45 and there is snow on the roof. But when I'm writing a suspense novel, I'm thinking of driving the plot, stepping up the action. I'm not thinking of getting a squeeze with Mata Hari. My wife would never go for that, anyway.

My point (question) is, how do you do that?

I'm a plot-driven writer, not a character-driven writer. I don't spend weeks creating a persona for each character, delving into the inner sanctums of each person's navel. In fact, I'm generally surprised when characters begin to display personality quirks because I certainly didn't plan them.

So, if there's any of you out there (if there is anyone out there) who enjoys developing romantic sub-plots in suspense or thriller novels, give me some clues. I know how you crime drama folks do it - every gumshoe has a dame. But, how about the rest of us?

There may be snow on the roof, but how can we get some fire in the furnace?

Gol, dang it!

2008-06-04T16:46:00.000-07:00

I think that's what Gabby Hayes used to say, when the "seven deadly words" still reigned on TV.

I was writing a scene today that I hope is powerful and emotional - an argument of verbal violence at the crux of a disintegrating marriage.

Tell me, are Christians really so insulated to think that real people say, "Dag nab it" (Walter Brennan?)? I did have a girlfriend once whose mother always said, "Christmas" as her one and only epithet. Very thoughtful, genteel.

So much not like me.

I get in a shouting match and that match ignites my mouth in ways that embarrass me but reveal both my ancestry and upbringing. You can take the kid out of the street ...

Aren't there a lot of people like me - saved by Jesus, alive by his grace - but still with a mouth that, at times, invites a thorough soaping?

So, to my point.

Why can't my characters talk like me? Or like my accountability partners - sweet, wonderful men of God who at times could burn the paint off a barn?

It seems so phony and arbitrary to have a character, who's about to blast a gasket, come out with polite prose instead of street vernacular. Some of my characters are dying to let it fly.

Or ... or ...

Is that just lazy writing?

Truth be told, I'm not sure.

Truth be told, there are times when I'm not disciplined enough to keep the odd 'damn' from slipping past my lips. Truth be told there are times when I think that kind of language is just normal.

Then I write a line like this.

“Shut your mouth,” he growled, hair-trigger danger boiling in his eyes and balled in his fists. “Shut your mouth, do you hear me. Or you may not be able to open it.”

Don't need no 'damn' in there, do I?

Ah, but it feels so good to let some spicy language fly onto the page, doesn't it?

Dag nab it, I just don't know. What am I'm going to do? Christmas!

Out of the Ashes

2008-06-03T10:46:00.000-07:00

There's nothing like talking to someone else to put your own miseries in perspective. Or, to look at the glass half-full, there's nothing like talking to someone else to make you more thankful for your blessings.

Take Mike Dellosso, a bright, energetic, inventive young man who is launching his first published novel, The Hunted, today. Mike is a teacher in Hanover, Pennsylvania, has a wonderful wife and, I believe, two young daughters.

Mike is also battling colon cancer.

Take Marlene Bagnull, a faithful servant of God. Marlene is an author, editor and speaker. She is, perhaps, more famous for organizing the annual Christian Writer's Conferences in Philadelphia and Estes Park, Colorado. There are so many labels you could attach to Marlene ... prayer warrior; faithful servant; tireless worker; ambassador of Christ; adversary of the evil one ... but not one of them would be sufficient to fully encompass all that Marlene is, or does, every day.

Marlene is going to the doctor today to try and get answers about some "abnormal results" to recent blood tests. Her husband, Paul, has just 13 weeks to go before he can retire, but his ankles are so painful he needs braces and still has trouble walking. And tests last month revealed spots in his lungs. Marlene's daughter is pregnant with her third child and may have labor induced after 39 weeks ... with Marlene to watch her two grandkids. And the Philly Conference is only two months away.

Why is it, do you suppose, that so many of God's people appear to be getting clobbered at the same time? I can't tell you how many faithful, earnest Christian families in our church are going through the most difficult 'pressing'. How many faithful warriors are discouraged and beaten down. It appears a plague has been unleashed upon believers; that we live in a time that makes you wonder what will come next.

These continuing reports of trial and trouble have at least one salutory effect. At least for me. They keep me humble. And protect me from self-pity.

I lost my job of 11 years at the end of October. My daughter, who worked in the same parachurch organization, was dismissed May 8th. I've had three interviews for a position I'm perfect for and got the call yesterday that I'm no longer in consideration. (I hate being unemployed.) And the book I love, that I had so much fun writing, still can't find a publisher willing to take a chance on an unpublished writer.

Me ... I'm Irish ... I can easily get in a black mood.

But then I think of Mike Dellosso, whose day of triumph today is being tempered by chemotherapy. I think about Marlene Bagnull, whose tireless service is being tempered by health alarms. And I think about how all of us are tempted to take our eyes off our Loving Father ... who will never leave us as orphans ... and put our attention on our problems or circumstances.

Please, if one person reads this, please pray with me today for ALL our Christian brothers and sisters who are captured in the midst of God's pressing. For all of us who are battered and wounded and weak. Pray that the God of heaven and earth, the Almighty Creator of all things, will burst through our circumstances and seize all of us in his arms, holding us close to his heart until night turns into day and despair into shouts of joy.

For the first time I understand this verse - Psalm 63:3 "Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you." (NIV)

Christ's love and hope is our fullness. Hang in there.

Terry

Keep Your Eyes Open

2008-04-28T14:46:00.001-07:00

I don't know what title is attached to a guy who spent 22 years in the newspaper business, a guy who wrote 'stories' nearly every day for the first 12 years and then wrote more than once a week for the last decade. A guy who's clippings fill up a couple of file drawers.

In the book business, if he's not published (yet), you call him a rookie (I loathe the word 'novice').

So, this rookie may make a few rookie mistakes along the way, but that's okay. They won't be deadly.

Say, did you know that there's a thing called "rookie stripes" at the Indy 500? At least while I was covering auto racing for seven years, during the month of practice leading up to qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 any driver who was at the Brickyard for the first time had pieces of parallel tape applied to the back of his car. The strips of tape were there to enable drivers coming up behind the car to know there was a rookie driving and to take appropriate caution.

(I think, in the last couple of years, the stripes have been dispensed with. The cars are going so fast now - over 200 mph - by the time a driver would see the rookie stripes they would already be too close.)

Wouldn't it be great to have rookie stripes in real life?

Ooops ... watch out for that advice, it comes from a rookie! Don't want to hire that plumber - look at those rookie stripes!

Anyway, you're forewarned from me.

To the point? Oh, yeah. Keep your eyes open. We live in Manhattan, so there are lots of great 'locations' as settings for scenes (as 'Law & Order' has proven on its many spinoffs). My wife and I have taken to wandering around the city, looking for a quiet place to sit. Often, I'll write while she reads a book. And, often, the setting ... wherever it is and whatever it is ... will find itself as the setting for a scene in one of my chapters.

Sure, not every place is Manhattan (Believe me, Manhattan is cool. Lots of other things, too - like dirty and noisy - but this city is really cool). But, no matter where you are, where you are has something unique about it. Use it. Color it, shape it, squeeze it, date it - who cares. But get out and write about real places. Eyeball witness adds great texture and richness to writing.

If this is a rookie observation, that's okay. Just give me a wide berth as you zip on by.

Ciao,

Terry

Lost in Space Bar

2008-04-21T17:11:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago I had a really great idea for a book. It took me a year to write it.

Everyone I talked to about the idea, including other authors, loved the idea.

Everyone who read the completed manuscript has really enjoyed it, told me how good it was. I got connected to an agent, who also liked the book. Liked the way I write. Agreed to represent me. So we submitted it to 13 publishers in mid-January.

In spite of the odds, in spite of the competition, the shrinking publishing market, the fact that I'm a "rookie" at novels - I was sure this book would click, someone would agree to publish it and off we'd go.

Now, it's past mid-April. Four of the 13 publishers we submitted it to have declined. The other nine seem to be lost in space bar.

My agent admits she's surprised by the lack of interest generated by the book. Yeah, it burst my bubble, too.

But here's my quandry, oh-great-web-universe in the ozone. Now what?

I've got three other book ideas kicking around: an old one that is complete but needs a major overhaul to come off life-support, and two others that are sketched out in synopsis form and the first few thousand words. But neither of the two in summary form is as much fun as the first book. Only one includes terrorists, international intrigue and weapons of mass destruction ... the things that stoke my engine.

Seems the market now is for "small" stories, intimate stories.

Now, this ... this is work.

Give me a good disaster any day. Must be that old reporter is still kicking around in my psyche.

God Lives on the LES

2008-04-11T20:44:00.001-07:00

My wife, Andrea, and I have lived on the Lower East Side of New York for the last eight years - more or less. We've gone to the theater, the opera and concerts in Central Park. We've visited the major museums on a regular basis. Discovered a plethora of little, out of the way restaurants that are out of this world. Seldom have we trolled the dive bars where music is plentiful and excellent.

I thought we were pretty plugged into the city. We live in one of the most trendy sections of Manhattan - NoLita: North of Little Italy, where SoHo is spilling over into uncharted territory. Our sidewalks are packed with tourists every weekend and much of the 'normal' time.

But when God has a curveball aimed for your head, there ain't no duckin' and divin'.

Andrea has been down at her sister's place in New Jersey this week - cleaning out the storage space and the attic for a much-needed yard sale. Me, I'm trying to find story ideas in a desert of blank. At the end of the week, I'm looking for someplace to go ... something to get my mind off the things that are always on my mind.

Recently, The Times ran a story about all the blue grass music that is available in the city. I was looking through that article, searching for a place to fritter away my lonely Friday night. One of the spots was the RockWood Music Hall - two blocks from home!

So, after a dinner of Guiness and pizza at our local Spring Lounge, I wandered over to the RockWood Music Hall (yes, having told Andrea of my plans in advance) in search of some music, and no trouble.

Guess what? God was waiting for me.

The RockWood Music Hall is a little, hole-in-the-wall bar on Allen Street, just off Houston, two blocks from where we live. It's smaller than our apartment. I squeezed myself inside the packed confines. I wanted to hear some music. (I'm a dive rat from way back ... saw Dylan at the Cafe Wha in Greenwich Village in the mid-60's). And what do you think I heard?

The Zach Williams Band (http://www.zachwilliams.com) playing some great rock & roll (my opinion), story-driven songs ... about Christ and faith.

What?

One song was about the stuggles Zach had when his wife fell off a horse and was diagnosed with several fractured vertebrae. How God saw them through. Another was about - somehow, with a great beat - the seven deadly sins.

I'm sitting there, on a bar stool, looking for rock & roll, and this guy is evangelizing (subtely) the ultra-cool of the LES.

What is going on here?

After the set, I asked the band's handler/manager: "Are you guys Christain?"

He looked at me as if I was from Mars.

"Yeah!"

"Well, God bless you."

Later, after the next band was playing, I got to talk to Zach on the sidewalk outside the RockWood Music Hall. He and his wife live in Brooklyn - Park Slope. The rest of the band are primarily from Canada, most of then non-believers. Zach says:

"Man, I've been praying for you. I've been asking God to send me a mentor, someone of maturity (read, old guy!) to help me. Help me with discernment. Tonight, this was a showcase for Warner Brothers. Last night, we did a showcase for Atlantic Records. Tomorrow night there's a guy flying in from Florida - a believer - who's tied in with (some record company). Can I call you?"

Ahhh, sure. (Gee, I just wanted to tell the guy how much I enjoyed his music). I just live around the corner, in The Bowery Mission.

"The Mission! I'm going to be doing a benefit for The Mission in July ... something on the river."

You have got to be kidding.

Kids With a Promise, one of the ministries of The Bowery Mission, has an annual fundraiser on the Fourth of July. The ministry charters a luxurious, very large, yacht and has a dinner cruise around Manhattan Island, ending up in the East River, right below the barges that are about to unleash one of the largest and most spectacular fireworks displays in the country.

And these guys are going to be the music?

Ready for another curveball? My daughter works for Kids With A Promise, overseeing the minsitry to children in the inner city ... After School Programs and summer Day Camps. These are the kids that the July 4th cruise will benefit.

And here I stand, in the rain, on Allen Street on the Lower East Side of New York - outside the RockWood Music Hall, looking for good music - talking to a Christian troubadour who is trying to bring the saving grace of Jesus Christ to the "very together", very cool denizens of the LES.

And that's where I happened to drop in on the Friday night I'm lonely and looking for something fun that is not debauched.

Hello, God? Are you listening?

Absolutely, you knucklehead!

I can't tell you how awesome it was to walk out the door of the RockWood Music Hall, take Zach Williams by the hand, and share the power of Christ's love for all of us whackoos!

Miracles happen every day ... even in New York City.

Praise God.

Terry ... blown away at The Bowery Mission.

Fact Check

2008-04-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

Monday night, the last day of March, my wife and I attended an author's night at the Tenement Museum (http://www.tenement.org/) on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Joseph O'Connor, the Irish-born author of Star of the Sea and the 2007 released sequel, Redemption Falls, was interviewed by fellow author Kevin Baker (Dreamland). Star of the Sea, set in 1847, tells the story of a few of the two million Irish who fled their homeland during the great potato famine when over one million Irish died of starvation.

Star of the Sea, which sold one million copies, was O'Connor's first venture into historical fiction. He has written five other novels, two short stories, five works of non-fiction (including The Secret Life of the Irish Male), three stage plays, three screen plays and was editor of a serial novel, Yeats is Dead!, by 15 Irish writers. Not bad for a relatively young man of 44.

Okay, so you get the picture. O'Connor, who lives in Dublin, is an accomplished and successful author. Went to Oxford. Had a year's fellowship to study historical correspondence at the New York City's main research library on Fifth Avenue and Bryant Park. The guy's a pro.

Here's one of the stories he related Monday night.

Pius Mulvey, the main character in Star of the Sea, (not necessarily the protagonist - the book is written in several voices), is walking the deck of the title ship, late in the night, watching the shadow of Ireland fade in the distance, perhaps watching the stars over Ireland for the last time. O'Connor said he wanted to insert some "softer element into what was a rather stark description". So, as Mulvey searched the heavens, he recalled a "nonsense phrase" a teacher had given him to remember the distance of the planets from the sun:

Mary's Violet Eyes Make John Sit Up Nights Praying.

"So, I got a letter from a fellow at the National Astronomical Institute. He said Pluto was not discovered until 1930. Great. The book was selling well, so, before the second printing, I took out 'praying.'

"The second edition comes out, and I get another letter from the same guy at the Astronomical Institute. 'Well, you know, Neptune was not discovered until 1847, so, unless your 'teacher' was an astronomical genius ...' You think he would have told me this the first time.

"So, I changed it again for the next printing. Out comes Neptune. So, my universe kept shrinking the more the book sold!"

O'Connor's point, for which he had many illustrations, is that readers demand accuracy, even in works of fiction. If we're using known places, things, times, people - even though it's a work of fiction - we better get our facts straight.

Or the letters will start filling your mailbox. (Not a bad result, really. At least somebody's reading.)

The man with no socks

2008-03-28T08:05:00.000-07:00

The well-dressed man with no socks seemed oblivious to the cold.

Odder, still, was how short his pants were -- that a man in a nice suit and well-shined dress shoes, would opt for pants that ended at his shins, exposing his bare ankles to the biting March wind, instead of longer pants, hiding his shortcomings.

One thing for sure. I wasn’t getting on the train with this guy.

He walked briskly, with purpose. His pace made it difficult for me to catch up, determined as I was to see what kind of face belonged to those exposed ankles.

He wore a three-quarter length trench coat (again, shorter than it should be), unbuttoned, flapping in the breeze. Light, russet hair in short, looping curls. The suit was grey, with light pinstripes. Neatly pressed.

Unaware of the closing pursuit, he plowed his way along 32nd Street, toward the train stop on Park Avenue. I dodged another pedestrian, stepping to the curb to avoid the parking sign pole, and came abreast of my quarry.

New Yorkers generally come to master the fine art of “apparent gaze”. There are, of course, all the unwritten urban rules of eye contact. Young women keep their eyes downcast, searching the sidewalk, in fear of catching the unwelcome glance of an uninteresting man. Train riders (we call it the train, you know – never the Subway) learn to feign interest in the multitude of ads rather than lock onto the eyes of another rider.

We see past what we’re looking at in order to gather in what we should not see.

Coming abreast of the man with no socks, I flipped on the switch for “apparent gaze”. My, that is an interesting shop window, isn’t it? Click – the shutter snapped. No tie, either. Glasses with dark rims. A poor attempt at a mustache. An unwavering stare into some unseen destination. He didn’t flinch as my “apparent gaze” passed over his countenance. Perhaps he didn’t see me. Perhaps his “apparent gaze” had developed the ability to see sideways.

He walked past the entrance for the 6 train, into the human flow of the Park Avenue sidewalk. His pink ankles disappeared last.

Losing my job of 11 years … no, better explained as losing my position, my title, my authority, my self-image … I felt much like the man with no socks.

Smartly dressed, with no place to go, and an urgency to get there.

Desperately clinging to the trappings of normalcy, dangerously close to tripping over the portal for lunacy.

I wouldn’t get on the train with me, either.

A rookie's first at-bat

2008-03-25T08:48:00.000-07:00

One of the things that most intrigued me during last August's Philadelphia Christian Writer's Conference (http://www.writehisanswer.com/philadelphia) was author Patricia Hickman's explanation of "emotional blueprint".

She was describing one of her books, a story which was derived from the experience of several family members.

The problem she faced - one that I've faced several times in this fledgling career - was how to convey the real and powerful elements of a very personal story without damaging her family relationships.

Patricia Hickman's solution was what she calls "emotional blueprint".

Instead of writing your sister's story or your mother's story ... or your story ... and finding a posse of angry, or embarassed, relatives banging on your front door (or banging on the front of your head), go back and explore how that circumstance or situation made you feel. Try to experience how it made the others feel who were personally involved.

Hickman ("Words to Go" at http://www.wordsunwired.blogspot.com.)
then instructs writers to take that experience, and the emotions and memories from that experience (an emotional blueprint) and overlay on top of it a fictional story.

New names, new place ... new people, dealing with the same circumstances and the same emotions. But it gets us off the hook. We can now fully mine the depths of our personal experience and still protect all those we care most about.

I found it to be a great tool that I'm already putting to use.

Many thanks to Rachelle for helping me to enter the new millennium.

Terry

This Blog is Under Construction

2008-03-02T05:49:00.000-08:00