Just realized I had not posted anything in almost a month. One reason is probably the same as everybody elses - way too busy. One reason I've been busy is I've been writing - and getting paid a little for it! But more importantly it forces me to write on deadlines. I'm writing for a small regional ag paper called Ozarks Farm and Neighbor. So far two articles - one on some sheep farmers in Ozark and one on a dairy farmer in Mt. Vernon - for anyone reading this outside southwest Missouri, both those towns are near Springfield.
What I have found so far is that I really enjoy this. I like to talk to people and ask them questions. I may have missed my calling. I like the interview process.
What is hard is going back home and taking all my hastily scribbled notes and my recording (I still use a decade-or-more old Olympus PearlCorder) and trying to make sense of all of it.
What I also find hard is editing. On my sheep story I was told to write 700 words. My first draft - before I had even listened to my tape - was about 2,000 words. I edited. Listened to the tape. Edited some more and ended up with about 1,000 words. I told the editor I just couldn't cut anymore. She was fine with that and promptly took out the extra 300 words. The story reads fine but of course as a writer I like ALL my words - not just some of them.
On my second story I was only slightly better. Started with 1,400 words and got down to 700 for a 600 word assignment. I haven't seen how she will cut it down - the pub date is mid-June. (Maybe she gave me a 600 word limit knowing I'd never make it but might get close.)
I have permission to post them in other places but right now our farm website is not up and running. Need some time and design help to make that a reality.
One side-benefit of this little writing deal - my wife and I get to work together. The publication needs pictures and I am lousy with a digital camera - something about moving the camera before the shutter closes or something. All my pictures are blurry. My wife has a steady hand and can take pretty decent pictures. I've just given her a few pointers on things like head-room, framing, backgrounds etc. a but she's doing pretty good.
I/we spend way too much time on each assignment. On a per hour basis for the first story I/we made about $2-3/ hours after expenses for gas, batteries, blank CDs etc. On the second one we should do slightly better but not too much.
But that's OK. I take a 1/2 day off my day-job, we spend some time together driving to locations, she enjoys talking to people too, and then we spend some time editing the photos.
Ozarks Farm and Neighbor's web-site is a little behind - the April 30 edition is still up. Once the May 21st is up, I'll update this link to it so you can read the articles.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Friday, May 4, 2007
Facing the Giants
Far too many people have already weighed in on this little movie that could. I’d like to simply say a couple of things about it now that I’ve watched it with my family.
For the first hour or so my wife and I kept looking at each other as if to say, “aren’t we glad this was a borrowed copy and we didn’t buy or rent this?”
But for me (and I’m not sure of the turning point for my wife) a change happened at the scene where the struggling coach encourages, motivates (pick your favorite word here) one of his players as he tries to carry another player on his back the length of the football field.
Somehow that scene seemed real to me. It had emotion. It wasn’t flat or pat.
After that I was in.
Is this a great movie? No. But is it worthwhile? Yes.
Christians may find the theology a little too contrived. Without giving too much away, everything works out in the end. A sort of Romans 8:28 theology. And I have to admit for some people things do sometimes work out that way.
A couple of weeks ago a family at our church lost a mother and wife to cancer. I’ll spare you the details but I’d venture to say that even though their faith is strong (still), they could tell you from first-hand experience, that things (on the surface) don’t always turn out good or happy or wonderful. A man lost his wife, three boys lost their mother. Hard stuff.
I don’t want to get my theology from country music but I like the words in the Martina McBride song “Anyway.” They go something like this: “God is great, but sometimes life ain’t good. When I pray, sometimes things don’t work out like they should, but I do it anyway.”
That line gets me every time.
Perhaps it is my own shortcomings that keep me from living the life as portrayed and experienced in Facing the Giants. But for reasons unknown to me (and many others), our lives here on earth are messy and to paraphrase the book title of a couple of decades ago, “Bad stuff happens to good people.” I think how we deal with that bad stuff is what separates us from everybody else.
For the first hour or so my wife and I kept looking at each other as if to say, “aren’t we glad this was a borrowed copy and we didn’t buy or rent this?”
But for me (and I’m not sure of the turning point for my wife) a change happened at the scene where the struggling coach encourages, motivates (pick your favorite word here) one of his players as he tries to carry another player on his back the length of the football field.
Somehow that scene seemed real to me. It had emotion. It wasn’t flat or pat.
After that I was in.
Is this a great movie? No. But is it worthwhile? Yes.
Christians may find the theology a little too contrived. Without giving too much away, everything works out in the end. A sort of Romans 8:28 theology. And I have to admit for some people things do sometimes work out that way.
A couple of weeks ago a family at our church lost a mother and wife to cancer. I’ll spare you the details but I’d venture to say that even though their faith is strong (still), they could tell you from first-hand experience, that things (on the surface) don’t always turn out good or happy or wonderful. A man lost his wife, three boys lost their mother. Hard stuff.
I don’t want to get my theology from country music but I like the words in the Martina McBride song “Anyway.” They go something like this: “God is great, but sometimes life ain’t good. When I pray, sometimes things don’t work out like they should, but I do it anyway.”
That line gets me every time.
Perhaps it is my own shortcomings that keep me from living the life as portrayed and experienced in Facing the Giants. But for reasons unknown to me (and many others), our lives here on earth are messy and to paraphrase the book title of a couple of decades ago, “Bad stuff happens to good people.” I think how we deal with that bad stuff is what separates us from everybody else.
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