How is your heart doing? The English translation to the Persian greeting, “Hello, how are you?” is “How is your heart doing at this very moment? At this very breath?” Head of Islamic Studies Omad Safi suggests that is what we mean when we say “How are you?” We mean to ask, “How is your […]
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CS Lewis and Karl Rahner Most likely they never met. But the atheist turned Anglican Christian CS Lewis and the Roman Catholic Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner perceived their God in radically similar ways. Both men served as apologists for their faith causing more than a little consternation in the minds of more rule bound colleagues.
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The Cover: Does It Matter? The short answer is yes, book covers hugely influence our decision to buy or pass. In fact, a whopping eighty percent of readers and bloggers say their decision to buy a book is determined by the cover. For best selling authors like Lee Child, Dean Koontz, Harlen Coben, David Baldacci,
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Work related myths like working through lunch and the weekend: Was there a time when you fell for them? Way too busy to take a break? Annoyed with those who did? Considered yourself a master multitasker? Times when you prided yourself on skipping or eating lunch at your desk? Or decided not to take vacation
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More lessons from Shadow implies there have been previous ones, right? That’s because this guy has taught me innumerable lessons. The most recent? He provided a map for the plot of the novel I am currently writing. Perhaps you think I exaggerate? At least overstate? I’ll start with some of his earliest lessons. Then maybe
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Is Malthus Revisited Spiritual or Something Else? A number of reviewers have referred to my latest novel, Malthus Revisited, as ‘spiritual.’ Until a recent review, I did not stop to ponder why. A recent reviewer wrote that he was ‘disappointed’ that I ‘resorted to the supernatural’ in writing what he thought was an intriguing plot
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Only 3 essential qualities for writers? Just 3? Actually no, there are probably about 100 but this morning, there are just 3 essential qualities for writers that pop into my head this morning: The ability to hold two paradoxical thoughts about just how well we write. Ceding control of the story to the characters. Extreme
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A quick search on the internet reveals something staggering. If not calamitous. At least for those in search of wisdom and truth. Those responsible for the university curricula have capitulated to a minority- it always is a minority- who claim that the dead white guy be absented from their studies. I write ‘calamitous’ because a
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Despite the fact that it sometimes feels as if everyone has written, or plans to write, a book, I have just one writer friend. She also writes fiction. Had my friend Rachel not put Rebecca and me together, I doubt we’d ever have met. Even in our small valley each of us tends to stick
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The seduction of noise. Do an online search and you can see a 21st century way of conceptualizing our addiction to distraction: noise pollution. Researchers have studied the effects of noise pollution and discovered its surprisingly broad impact upon adults and children. But the subject of this piece is even more insidious. Truthfully, is there any
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