Morning Pages..

Money. I'll have a little bit of it now. This is good. I was worried for a while that I would. Our budget indicated that I needed a part time job in order to make things work out. John hired me as Worship Arts Director for Mosaic. yues, I'm intimidated by it. It's people like Kirk and nathan that keep me from going over the edge.I think I'ld lose it... this was an area closed off but the people of Town Center which used to be called Tara Hill needed to be above suspicion from the police so they unenclosed it...was that while it was called Tara Hill, here. I'll give you the tour, I used to live here. Really. the girls wanted to go out with me. Come here and take your medicine you useless pup. I finished The Shining by Stephen King. It's been ten years or more since I read that novel. I forgot how much more to it there was than the movie. 10 pages a day. Could I do it? Should I even try. What if I just tried for a few pages a day. I'd accomplish something that at least something to edit. Maybe if I wasn't so hung up on structure it could work. Is that what I'm meant for though is that what I really want. A career as a writer. Is this stuff with Mosaic just a side think whilie I take the necessar steps and time to get established [as a writer].

New Job and Next Writing Course

Well, I ordered the next course. I'm starting the Journeyman Level with The Christian Writer's Guild, excuse me The Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writer's Guild. I'm kind of excited. Both for that and for the new job. My pastor hired me on as Worship Arts Director of Mosaic Fellowship.


It will cut into time for writing but will also help me afford to. Well, maybe....I'm also directing a show for CYT next semester so the next Writing for the Soul Conference is definitely out.

The New Executive Artistic Director for CYT...

Is not going to be me. I got the call just after 9:30 PM last night. They’re going with Laura Little. Needless to say, I’m a bit disappointed in the decision. I’m even a bit depressed about it. I’m not quite ready for the “Oh, God has something better for yous” quite yet. I’m not yet convinced of that in my heart. I’m more in the mood to hear, “Laura turned down the job.” Not that I have anything against Laura. She’s much more attuned to what has been happening with the program while I’ve been away and I’m sure she’s very qualified for the job. I’m sure a lot of prayer went into this process and I have to believe, if only in my rational mind, that God is behind this decision and is still sovereign. I’m not happy about it though and I wonder at that wasted month of application and interviews. What was that about? I now realize that I wanted this more than I’ve wanted anything in a while.

I guess I also feel hurt and rejected. Jerry White had some nice things to say about me and that is encouraging, but I struggle with the feeling that I came up short, that I’m not good enough. I know that’s not true either though.

I’m sure I’ll snap out of this in a day or so. The good news, I can start to stop planning my schedule around the potentiality of working full time for CYT and get on with other things that need my more focused attention. Maybe even writing.

I Find Out Tomorrow...

I just got my first issue of my re-subsription to WD. I'm so excited. I look forward to turning each page while sitting at McDonald's sipping coffee despite my mild allergic reaction to caffeine. Ahh, paradise. I get so inspired and just all, "I want to do it and I want to do it now!"

There is a frustration though. As I mentioned in my previous post, I am once again torn between the potential of being the Artistic Director for CYT Spokane (what I perceive to be a very important position) and being a full time writer.

The decision will slip further away from my hands tomorrow night when the CYT Spokane Board makes its decision about who will be the next Executive Artist Director

I was excited last night as I helped out at their $65 a head fundraiser dinner. I was emceeing for the improv kids. They were wonderful and in top form. This reflected well on me as I led them and it also gave me a chance to schmooze a little more with a few of the board members.

One of the parents pulled me aside and pointed out what an asset I am to CYT whether or not I get the job. I was blessed.

The Shining

I've been listening to Stephen King's The Shining in audio book form, read by Campbell Scott. I just thing King is amazing the way he takes his time to set up and tell his story. It is obvious that he is so into what he is doing. He enjoys writing.

The Next Step

Well, I finished my correspondence course with The Christian Writer's Guild. I want to take the next course of The Journeyman level. Time is the key thing though. I need to get a full time job and I'm being considered for a position as the Executive Artistic Director of CYT Spokane. I'm excited about it. I've it through two interviews and I have a third round tonight. I am still pursuing my passion through the arts. I'm teaching a sketch comedy writing class and if I am hired as the director I will have a quarterly publication to write and edit...The CYT Times. Unfortunately, I fear that it will interfere with other writing of dramas and other fiction. I trust that this is God's leading and his opening of a door. I will walk through it as far as he will allow.

Writing for the Soul Conference, III

Prospects

I did have some edifying appointments there. I met with an educational publishing company that specializes in church resources. She was very encouraging.

I met with a magazine publisher who tore apart my article but I learned a lot from the process and will submit the article to CBN who was sitting right next to the one who tore it apart.

The best is that I met an editor at Saturday dinner who is interested in seeing more of The Bowery Jumpers. That is exciting. I didn't think I was going to be able to pitch that idea and did.

I hope to make something happen with all that.

Take Away Value

I was encouraged. I am a writer I know that and I feel that I do have the go ahead to pursue this in the States with an view to returning to Japan in the future. I can still go on learning the language and such and I will serve at Crossroad as best I can in the meantime.

Writing for the Soul Conference, II

The Conference

The conference kicked off Thursday evening. I got my apprentice name tag and then joined a few people for drinks at a tavern who are involved in The Christian Writer's Forum. That was OK. I met Julie Marx there. She was nice. I also met another guy there named Eugene. He was kind of boring.

Overall, I really felt that I knew many of these people already. I was concerned that I would come away from the conference conflicted about my call to Japan and my call to be a writer. I was the first day or so. I remember arguing with God about it and thinking that I would just go my own way and use self-determination to succeed. God corrected that notion. He is the one who decides not me. So, I got more conflicted about it. I didn't want to be inspired to write because that would all be a long way off after I got to know the language better in Japan.

God wasn't finished speaking with me. I did get excited about the classes. I was being challenged to be a better writer--in English. And Saturday night it hit me as one of the Keynote speakers was up there. Liz talked about how when she became a Christian she felt that she was supposed to be a missionary but then she found out that wasn't her calling. She wasn't allowed to go to Indonesia. She became a writer instead and twenty years later her books were being translated into the native languages of Indonesia and she was called upon to go there and see it happen. I cried when she said this.

Also, I had the opportunity to talk with Jack Lewis over Skype about the matter and he concurred with an earlier POV that it takes time to answer a call to ministry. It isn't overnight. Even the disciples took three years of intense training before they went out on their own. Paul took fourteen years before he was a major player in church doctrine.

The more I thought about it the more it made sense to me. This thing with Japan is going to take some time. It isn't going to be overnight. I started thinking about my wife's insecurities. They are well founded. It's not that she doesn't believe that everything isn't going to work out. There are some big things here. Now, she is the primary breadwinner. I need to step into that role in America before I can step into it in Japan. That is going to take some time. It is not as simple as just swinging over. My wife needs to feel secure and I need to provide that for her. That is a need that I need to meet.

I will meet that need as a writer. I will get my self established and start pulling down an income from it.

Writing for the Soul Conference

The Flight

That was mostly uneventful. I was delayed coming out of Kansai a few hours. Lightening had struck the airplane a before it landed and it took them a few hours to do all the necessary maintenance checks to make sure everything was working properly. I was concerned that it would mess up my connections but it didn't because I originally had a three hour layover in San Francisco.

I sat next to a fellow gaijin. We didn't talk much on the way. We both tried to get a fair amount of sleep. He was friendly though. He and his wife are doing the same thing that Brenda and I are doing. He is teaching English part time and his wife is teaching full time. They don't have kids and his Japanese is horrible.

On the jump from SFO to COS I sat by a fellow conferee, Gretchen Ricker. She is also the administrator for The Christian Writer's Forum. What a coincidence. I pegged her by the Grammar for Dummies book on her lap. I asked her why she was going to Colorado Springs and we chatted happily for the next few hours.

It was snowing when I arrived in Colorado Springs. Everything was in order though. My car was ready for me. I found my way to the Inn after a stop at a Carls Junior. It got dark and I skidded in the snow a few times.

As bed and breakfasts go this one struck me as unusual. The innkeepers don't stay on the premises and neither are the owners the innkeepers. There was an envelope taped to the door with my key in it. It was kind of impersonal. My room was nice but very cold. It was equipped with all the niceties of a hotel room though. There was a phone, Cable TV, VCR and wireless Internet. I thought that was odd for a B&B. It was convenient for me so I won't complain too loudly. This was my room.