Blog

Jul 21, 2020
1 min

Announcing New Book Contract!

I just signed a contract with TouchPoint Press for publication of my book Evangelism and Expulsion: Missionary Work Among the Cherokees Until Removal! Not sure what the release date will be, but the process toward that goal has begun! This is my third book with TouchPoint. My first work they published was Combat! Spiritual Lessons from Military History, released earlier this year. The second, Christ in Camp and Combat: Religious Work in the Confederate Armies, is due to begin

Dennis L. Peterson

Jul 17, 2020
3 min

Dream!

One memory I have of Nannie Summers, my maternal grandmother, was her attitude toward dreams. I recall her saying that one should never tell anyone what he or she had dreamed lest it come true. As a child, I thought that odd because I often had good dreams that I wished would come true! I haven’t dreamed about muddy water lately (that I recall), but I have had several dreams about several family members (many of whom passed into eternity years ago), friends, and even some for

Dennis L. Peterson

Jun 26, 2020
3 min

The Worst Writing Advice

In last week’s post, we considered some of the most helpful advice about writing. But, as I mentioned in that post, everyone is a critic, ready and more than willing to offer advice. Some of it is helpful, but much of it is anything but that. And much of that counsel is offered by people who are not writers, and some of it comes from those who are still working at the craft but have not yet been published. So how do they know what works? They only know what hasn’t worked for

Dennis L. Peterson

Jun 19, 2020
2 min

Advice that Helped My Writing

Someone once asked what pieces of advice have helped me most with my writing. After contemplating the question for a while, I think I’d have to give the following answer. “Make Every Word Count.” Use a thesaurus to help with this task. It will show you that even broad synonyms have various shades of meaning. Choose the exact word. 2. “When In Doubt, Cut It Out.” But be forewarned: writing tight is hard work. The shorter the text must be, the harder it is to write. But your wr

Dennis L. Peterson

May 29, 2020
3 min

A Surprising and Helpful “Find”

As the first stage of the Corona virus reopenings began in my state, libraries were not included among the businesses released from captivity, so I naturally gravitated to a similar place that was: a used bookstore. I perused the shelves in search of nothing in particular, just relishing the opportunity to be among books again and ever vigilant for that unexpected “find” among the thousands of volumes offered for my consideration. I seldom find such books by consciously look

Dennis L. Peterson

May 12, 2020
2 min

Remembering William Zinsser

Zinsser was born October 7, 1922. Following service in the Army in North Africa and Italy during World War II, he returned to the United States and fulfilled a life-long dream by being hired as a writer for the New York Herald Tribune as a theater reviewer. When that stopped being fun for him, he quit and became a freelance writer. He also taught writing courses at Yale and later became executive editor of the Book-of-the-Month Club. In addition to numerous articles and revie

Dennis L. Peterson

Apr 24, 2020
3 min

Organized Chaos

“A cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind.” That statement often runs through my mind when I look at my desk or wherever I happen to be working (i.e., writing) at the time. And I write all over the place. The location depends on a variety of factors. My back has taught me that too long a period sitting at one location can wreak havoc on one’s back. Sometimes, it depends on my current task and how much room I need to do it. Lately, my possible work locations have been

Dennis L. Peterson

Apr 17, 2020
1 min

Blisters over Blather

The Korean War has often been called America’s “forgotten war.” People remember World War II and Vietnam, but sandwiched between those conflicts was Korea, and people tend to overlook it. Foremost among those lessons is the importance of leading by personal example. Ridgway knew the importance of getting out among his soldiers, of seeing things from their perspective, of coming to a firsthand understanding of the problems they faced. He made a point of rubbing shoulders with

Lessons from Sun Tzu, Jomini, and Clausewitz

Dennis L. Peterson

Apr 14, 2020
1 min

Lessons from Sun Tzu, Jomini, and Clausewitz

Throughout much of America’s military history, its strategies of warfare have been based to varying degrees on the teachings of three great military men: Sun Tzu, a Chinese philosopher and military strategist who wrote The Art of War around 500 B.C.; Antoine-Henri Jomini, a French general who published Treatise on Grand Military Operations in 1838; and Carl von Clausewitz, a Prussian general whose work On War, published posthumously in 1832, emphasized the moral (psychologica

Tuesday Teaser: Knowledgeable Volunteers

Dennis L. Peterson

Apr 3, 2020
2 min

The Open Window

Someone (I conducted a brief online search to discover who, but I found no definitive answer) once said, “When God closes a door, He opens a window.” The current (and ongoing for only God knows how much longer) public health crisis has closed not just one but many doors for a lot of people, and I haven’t been immune to that plight. For just a few examples, I speak monthly in the chapel program of a local private Christian school. Now all schools are closed, quite conceivably

Dennis L. Peterson

Mar 27, 2020
3 min

Context Is the Key

Some (dare I say most?) history textbooks present “the big picture,” painting a broad impression of what took place in a particular era’s, region’s, or country’s history. Others look at a much smaller picture, focusing on what happened in a specific year, month, or day, or in a specific city or other small (relatively speaking) location. Another way of putting it is that some historians look at historical events through the lens of a telescope, whereas others look through the

Tuesday Teaser: Faithfulness in the Least

Dennis L. Peterson

Mar 20, 2020
2 min

Change and Continuity Revisited

Today, I take a brief glance backward to August 28, 2015, when I posted this article, my first effort at blogging. Much has changed since that time. I’m older. My fingers are bent a little more from arthritis. I have more grandchildren. But many things also remain the same. I’m still living my dream of writing. I continue to learn from history. And I hope I’ve grown a little better as a person and as a writer. Sometimes it’s good to look back and evaluate where one is in rela

Dennis L. Peterson

Mar 13, 2020
2 min

Static: Incorrect Punctuation

In the previous post about static, we discussed the importance of logical organization to producing clear, static-free writing. Today we delve into a subject that might revive for you long-forgotten nightmares from the by-gone days of junior high English class: the perils of punctuation. As frightening as it might be, we must each grapple with it and win if we truly want our writing to be static free. Perhaps you’ve read this example of poor comma usage. A little boy who, att

Dennis L. Peterson

Mar 6, 2020
3 min

The Conundrum of a 21st-Century Author

Although that scenario is certainly still possible, it is becoming harder and more rare. This new reality came to my attention the other day when I ran across a report by Dr. Christine Larson of the University of Colorado-Boulder. Larson summarized the findings of a 72-question survey of 5,067 members of several different author organizations, most notably the Authors Guild. She presented numerous statistics showing “a shrinking number of [book] retailers and major publishers

Announcing New Book Contract!

Dream!

The Worst Writing Advice

Advice that Helped My Writing

A Surprising and Helpful “Find”

Remembering William Zinsser

Tuesday Teaser: Victory Is Certain!

Organized Chaos

Tuesday Teaser: Supply and Logistics

Blisters over Blather

Lessons from Sun Tzu, Jomini, and Clausewitz

Tuesday Teaser: Knowledgeable Volunteers

The Open Window

Context Is the Key

Tuesday Teaser: Faithfulness in the Least

Change and Continuity Revisited

Write2Ignite Interview Article

Static: Incorrect Punctuation

Tuesday Teaser: The Way to Leadership

The Conundrum of a 21st-Century Author