Book Scout Pursues Life

Ok, so, um, I'm a boomer. Yeah, I said it. What I'm interested in may not be what you're interested in, but at least you've been warned. I've lived a lot in those booming years. And I'm now willing to talk about it.

Beginning next Monday, I'll be posting on a more regular basis. Mondays are for books--and since I'm random that can cover a lot of book ground--authors, books I'm reading, books I'm wanting to read, past books, giving away books...BOOKS. After all, I'm a BOOK SCOUT. After thousands of published book reviews in magazines, columns, and reviewing books for agents and editors, I do have some insight there, but mainly I just love books. You might even get a glimpse of my stacks.

A small portion of my "keepers" shelves

Then, I have to have a day (Wednesdays) dedicated to my slices of life and whatever spiritual insights I'm gaining now. That can be quite wild. Sometimes I'm not even sure how I survived to this point.

Finally, I'll reserve a day (Saturdays) for nostalgia and all those past experiences and memories. My memories won't necessarily be your memories, but maybe by sharing some of my memories, some of your memories will jostle loose. (And loose memories can be dangerous, so watch out.) 

Looking forward to sharing with you and if you have any favorite topics that I can address, always let me know. The one thing I hope is to have a conversation with you. I could use some friends. 

When I Was Just a Kid...Jim Watkins

When I Was Just a Kid....

Jim Watkins

This guy grew up to be a rather dangerous man. You can see it in the squint of his little eyeballs, can't you? Even as a youngster he was out getting the bad guys, like his hero, The Lone Ranger.

Today's Kid is Jim Watkins who writes "heavy topics with a light touch." (He's funny but he carries a big stick.) And he's logical. What he says just makes good horse sense.

He's married to an equally creative and wise person, Lois, and they have two grown-up kids who married and each gave them an adorable grandkid. Check out Lois' link, as well, because she writes food for your soul. On a personal note, Jim helped me with my first web site and has been an encourager to me in writing, which he does for many, many people through his teaching and ministries.

Here's Jim:

Childhood Ambition: My two childhood heroes were The Lone Ranger (that's me on "Silver") and magician Mark Wilson on "Magic Land of Allakazam." Since there weren't alot of job openings for "daring and resourceful masked men," I planned on becoming a magician. (I actually performed at birthday parties, church carry-ins and Boy Scout Banquets as a teenager.)

Fondest Memory (then): The Christmas I got my "Sneaky Pete" magic set and my American Flyer electric train.

Proudest Moment (now or then):

Then-In high school, winning a national award for the school paper I edited.

Now-Winning a Campus Life "Book of the Year" award for The Why Files.

In-between, the birth of my two children (now adults with their own children.)

Biggest Challenge as a child or teen: Trying to win my parents' approval, but that's something to discuss with a court-appointed psychiatrist rather than blog readers.

My First Job: While I made money picking strawberries, mowing lawns, and performing magic, my first full-time job during summer breaks from college was putting raisins in Raisin Bran at Kellogg's of Battle Creek.

Childhood indulgence: Chocolate chip cookies, German chocolate cake

Favorite thing to do as a child: Performing magic, creating a large layout for my electric trains.

Favorite Childhood Movie:"The Lone Ranger" (1949) although I'm too young to have seen the original release.

Favorite Childhood Book: Any books on magic

Childhood hero:(See above)

Anything else you'd like readers to know about you as a child: Most of those records are sealed by the courts.

Crystal Ed.'s note: Told you he was dangerous. By the way--he's really just kidding--as you might know, because he's a funny, funny guy!]

Jim: I remember, in second grade, re-writing the story of Pinnochio since I thought the suspension of disbelief was stretched too far with the "live" puppet becoming a live boy. So, I had Pinnochio die a prolonged, painful death of death elm disease. (Maybe a court-appointed psychiatrist is not a bad idea!)

Jim says: "I also loved writing [as a child]--which is now what I'm doing rather than magic and"leading the fight for law and order in the early west."

[Crystal Ed.'s note: Jim is doing all three childhood things--writing, being magical, and leading the fight for law and order, if you ask me.]

Crystal Editor :I don't have enough room in my little blog to tell you all the things he does, has done, will do. His official bio says it best:

Jim says: "I read somewhere that people with several part-time jobs are happier than people with one full-time job, so I'm an:

• author of twelve books and over two thousand articles

• acquistions editor for Wesleyan Publishing House

• conference speaker throughout North America and overseas

• editorial advisor for ACW Press

• online professor at Taylor University Fort Wayne

• threat to society• child of God.

The items above are what I do, but not who I am. Whether I succeed or fail in those jobs, I know that my identity is secure in being an unconditionally loved child of God."

CE: Check out all of his writing from blog to articles to books at :

"Jim Watkins: Heavy topics with a light touch"

Books to read by Jim:

1. Communicate toChange Lives

(from Wesleyan Publishing House)

2. Characters: Comedies and Dramas

3. Should a Christian Wear Purple Sweat Socks?

4. The Why Files: Are There Really Ghosts?

5. The Why Files: Is There Really Life After Death?

6. The Why Files: When Can I Start Dating?

7. Writers On Writing:

Top Christian Authors Share Their Secrets for Getting Published

CE: That should keep you busy for a few days!

Teena Stewart

Busy? Yeah, Me, Too






Crystal, out wrestling alligators









I am an introvert. In fact on the scale of introversion to extroversion, I am negative 5 to the introversion side. (Well, almost. I scored no extroversion points at all.) Lately I've been interacting a lot with people, whom I love, and I do LOVE to be with them, but then I have to recharge. Today I'm exhausted. Forgive me if I'm mumbling.
On top of that, I seem to be in the public eyeball in the last few days, which makes me nervous.I feel totally unworthy and like a nutcase whenever this happens and get gibberishly insecure with thoughts like, "People will really hate me now," to what I think others' are saying behind my back, "What makes her so special? I know her, and she's a drip!" But I'm finally getting enough years on me that my tune is finally changing to,"I've lived long enough to say what I want and suffer the consequences." I shudder to think of how I will be if I reach the age of my grandmother (92.)
But I still tend to want to withdraw after being highlighted somewhere. However, the people who took time to put me there are really great people, and I would be remiss if I did not point some of these things out.
Writer Teena Stewart has more energy than the sun, I think. She runs a ministry for pastors called Ministry in Motion, as well as has written 1000s of articles, and now is publishing a book on small groups (more on that as the book is closer to publication.) I have co-written parenting articles with her and she has been in my critique/SALT support group for years(in fact, she started it!) She is artistic (paints fabulous furniture pieces, as well as commissioned paintings) and she now is working on fiction. She likes writing suspenseful and macabe-type stories--and some of them are a little chilling! She's finished a few manuscripts and I think you will soon be able to buy her published fiction. Oh, yeah. She's a web master. She knows html and all that stuff.
She started a blog for suspense writers and is featuring a piece I wrote ( will appear over several days) about getting ready for fiction contests. With the American Christian Fiction Writers Genesis contest coming up, some of you may be interested in that. I don't have all the answers and I can't predict how a judge will react to your manuscript. I can tell you how I've judged manuscripts and a little of the criteria judges have to use. Of course, some of what I say, another judge may dispute, but hey, reading is subjective. Just ask an author who just got a scathing review! One of the main questions I hear writers asking is "To prologue or not to prologue. That is the question." If you need a prologue, write a prologue. But really need it if you do. My take on that. (How many prologues have you skimmed in your reading?)



Teena, wife to a pastor, busy mentor, prolific article writer, author, traveler,artist, speaker,webmaster,mom to 3, soon-to-be mom-to-the-bride and tough-love-critique-friend.









Next, I have to tell you--this blog was featured in a magazine called Savvy and the article will be up on the web site for the month of April, while the print magazine can be picked up in the Muncie area during that time. If you have come here because of that article, thanks for checking this place out! Go back into the archives for nostalgia. And do check out the links on the right.
This blog is mostly for nostalgia and things I am interested in telling you (or really, telling myself.) I do have a whole 'nuther persona who has professionally "fixed" fiction, done hundreds of published book reviews, and written client viabilities for agencies. I have some favorite authors/agents/editors who write about writing, and some you can check out at the right. But I do want to highlight author Tricia Goyer's new blog on writing called, My Writing Mentor. She called in some top guns to post for today and if you are a writer, you will want to check this out. One of her featured mentors, James Scott Bell ,has written one of the books I recommend all the time on writing, Write Great Fiction: Plot and Structure.
Be sure to come back here all month to check out the childhoods (with photos!) of various people I've interviewed. I was a little amazed that so many couldn't track down photos of themselves as a child. (They're not THAT old. Cameras go way back.) If you have left your parents' home, do be sure to ask for a few childhood photos. It's good to reflect on how you have grown and have a record of that.
Ok, back to hanging out in my cave. (Don't throw a can at me, Diann! I'm not really a bat.)

Menu Items for April

April brings showers and here at the Chat 'n' Chew, we're set for folks coming in to join us for homecooked goodness (and to get in out of the rain.)

This month I will be hosting special guests to the diner to give you a little glimpse into their past lives. I called in my markers and got photos from those pasts. Then, I asked them highly personal questions. Nibby questions, like who their childhood hero was and what indulgence did they remember adoring indulging in. (One liked throwing cans at bats...watch out for THAT one...)

To give you a little taste of who will be revealing all, take a look at next week's victims(-er-guests):

Monday, April 2: Mary Connealy

Mary is an author, mother of four girls and married to a farmer--all of whom she sort of used in writing her first published novel, Petticoat Ranch. She may well be one of the funniest people I know with a different sort of childhood, like having parents who pieced houses together to accomodate their large family (literally-speaking!) And she's just a good sport for putting up with me.

Wednesday, April 4: Jim Watkins
Jim is a dangerous man. And it's no wonder because he grew up that way--emulating his childhood hero. Check out Wednesday's featured guest, who grew up to write heavy topics with a light touch. He's a mentor in writing for me (and lots of others--he runs the Sandy Cove Writers Conference) and a fellow Hoosier.

Friday, April 6: Marti Suddarth

Marti is your everyday heroine in red hair. She can write a tune, play, or sermon for kids and still manage to teach in school all day, keep her family in the pampering style they have grown accustomed to, and keep Splash the Wonder Dog of beagle persuasion from raiding the neighborhood. She is one Hoosier who is more Hoosier than I am. Marti's been in my SALT critique/support group (Struggling Artists of Literary Talent) for years--and the first of my SALT Sisters to be featured.

I am hoping we'll have fun digging into the past, though not all childhood memories are good. But these things are the stuff which helped to form some pretty great people in my life. I am getting dirt, I mean, info, in daily from the likes of DiAnn Mills, Diann Hunt, Colleen Coble, Denise Hunter, Tricia Goyer, Sabrina Fox, Deb Raney, Judy Gann...and well, I could probably do this for a long time(and hope I do because I've enjoyed this.) If you find that these prompts trigger your own memories, and I haven't yet emailed you (you're probably on my list...) then please, send me your email address and I'll have you spilling the beans in no time. It'll be fun. (We'll have cornbread with it...)

And be sure to leave a comment if you have a memory from your own childhood to share with us as each person is featured.

I can't wait to get started!

And to tease you a little--Can you figure out who this cutie is(already writing?)