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The Conundrum of a 21st-Century Author

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

Tuesday Teaser: Dealing with Setbacks

Dennis L. Peterson

Feb 18, 2020
1 min

Tuesday Teaser: Dealing with Setbacks

Be sure to check out Part 1 of the featured article about this book on Southern Writers magazine’s Suite T blog this Friday at https://southernwritersmagazine.blogspot.com! #writing #teachers #reading #lessonsofhistory #teaching #writers #Militaryhistory #History #education #books #publishing #heritage #perseverance

The Tasks We Dread

Dennis L. Peterson

Dec 13, 2019
2 min

The Tasks We Dread

To paraphrase a familiar adage, “A writer’s gotta do what a writer’s gotta do.” So I’m doing it. Because it has to be done sometime. No matter how much I hate doing it, and no matter how long I procrastinate, it still must be done. And there’s no time like the present, so. . . . Indexing is a task that I never enjoyed. I was introduced to the torture, er task, when I was an author of history curricula for a major textbook publisher. I knew immediately that it did not fit into

Our Persistent Peach Puzzle

Dennis L. Peterson

Jul 12, 2019
4 min

Our Persistent Peach Puzzle

When my wife and I moved to our current residence, one of the first things that went on our “we-want-to-do-this-to-the-property-some-day” list was to plant peach trees. After all, we do live in the state that produces the most fresh peaches in the nation (Georgia’s fake news nickname notwithstanding). Shortly thereafter, we marked that item off the list, having planted two four-foot peach trees in the back yard. Knowing that the trees would not bear fruit for a couple of year

Reflections on a Winslow Homer Painting

Dennis L. Peterson

May 17, 2019
2 min

Reflections on a Winslow Homer Painting

But that painting, “Snap the Whip,” was more than a sanity-maintainer for me. It reminded me of three special people: my grandfather, my father, and teacher-author Jesse Stuart. Finally, the painting reminds me of Jesse Stuart, who began teaching in a one-room schoolhouse in which he struggled to teach his students not only the daily lessons of the curriculum but also, and more importantly, the life lesson that learning is critical to success in any and all life endeavors. On

6. Researching the Markets

Dennis L. Peterson

Apr 23, 2019
3 min

6. Researching the Markets

(Sixth in a series) In the preceding five installments of this series, I’ve been answering the question of how one goes about getting a book published. So far, we’ve covered getting the idea, doing the research, outlining the manuscript, writing the first draft, and editing and revising that draft. Today, we deal with researching the possible markets for the book. Even before I have completed my research and writing of my draft manuscript, I have been thinking about which pub

The Pleasures and Perils of a New Book Contract

Dennis L. Peterson

Feb 20, 2019
2 min

The Pleasures and Perils of a New Book Contract

Signing a contract with a publisher for a new book fills an author with both exhilaration and apprehension. That’s precisely my mixed emotions as I write these words. I’m also excited because this book will be graced by the inclusion of several illustrations by a dear friend and former colleague from my days working for a major Christian textbook publisher. Preston Gravely and I worked together for eleven years, and he did a lot of art work for the American history textbooks

Find Your Niche and Just Do It!

Dennis L. Peterson

Feb 15, 2019
2 min

Find Your Niche and Just Do It!

Ironically, I’m a doubter, especially about myself and my own abilities, so I have to constantly remind myself of the attitude expressed in Guest’s poem. I was reminded of that principle this morning during my devotional reading, which included selections from the famed Charles Spurgeon. “There are many Christian people,” he wrote, “who get a good idea into their heads, but they never carry it out, because they ask some friend what he thinks of it. . . . Who ever did think mu

Merry Christmas, 2018!

Dennis L. Peterson

Dec 25, 2018
2 min

Merry Christmas, 2018!

The message of today’s blog post is simple and straightforward. It is no more and no less than the title indicates: Merry Christmas wishes to all of my readers. We live in a world that seems to be falling apart at the seams. World leaders say “Peace” but seem determined to undermine their words by their actions. Politicians call for unity while seeming to do everything they can to provoke disunity. People say they want community but then pursue self. My wish for all who read

Reflections and a Look Ahead

Dennis L. Peterson

Dec 21, 2018
2 min

Reflections and a Look Ahead

As 2018 winds down to a close and the new year fast approaches, I’ve been doing some reflecting. Some of the reflections have been backward, analyzing the things that I’ve accomplished versus the goal that I set for myself early in 2018. Other reflections are aimed at the goals I’m setting for myself for 2019. In addition, whenever one has several on-going projects simultaneously, some of them will be completed while others are not. And I acknowledge that not all of my origin

An Article Finally Sees Daylight!

Dennis L. Peterson

Dec 2, 2018
1 min

An Article Finally Sees Daylight!

Things notoriously often move slowly in the publishing world. Quite some time ago, I queried an editor with an article idea I had. I was given the go-ahead to do the article. I worked for several weeks researching and writing the article and then additional weeks making trips to the subject sites to obtain usable photos to accompany the article. I submitted the completed manuscript and waited. So, fellow struggling writers, don’t lose hope! Persevere! Keep waiting. Your work,

The Test of Commitment

Dennis L. Peterson

Oct 23, 2018
2 min

The Test of Commitment

It never fails. Soon after one makes a commitment to do something, that commitment will be tested. How long one is able to remain committed to the desired task depends on the power of the commitment. One of my commitments has been to walk every day. My typical course begins hard, with a tough walk up a steep hill from my driveway to the top of my subdivision. The course becomes easy at that point, leveling off to a straight, flat stretch that allows me to catch my breath and

Dealing with Rejection

Dennis L. Peterson

Jul 2, 2018
3 min

Dealing with Rejection

“It isn’t defeat, but rather your mental attitude toward it, that whips you.” This goes back to what an earlier post said about the attitude of the writer. It’s all a matter of perspective. Instead of looking at a rejection slip as failure or defeat, view it as simply the revelation of one publication that didn’t want what you wrote right now. You’ve eliminated one potential market, which means you are that much closer to finding the right market and the right readers for you

How to Be a Highly Persistent Writer

Dennis L. Peterson

Mar 23, 2018
1 min

How to Be a Highly Persistent Writer

Jordan Rosenfeld, author of numerous books, including A Writer’s Guide to Persistence, offers the following good advice for writers who want to last over the long haul. (I’ve summarized her advice in my own words.) Don’t worry about success; just write. The success will take care of itself. After submitting something, don’t just sit around waiting. Get busy writing on the next project. Take chances. Who knows? Something you submit at great risk might be accepted and bring gre

Traded for a Horse

Dennis L. Peterson

Jul 11, 2017
5 min

Traded for a Horse

George didn’t have much at all going for him. He was born a slave to a slave mother in Missouri. The two of them were kidnapped when he was only a young, sickly child. During their flight, the kidnappers separated him from his mother, and he never saw her again. Then they traded him to his rescuers for a broken-down old race horse. Not a good start on life. Education But thanks to his Christian owners, to whom his rescuers returned him, he received a Christian upbringing, and

What’s Our Excuse? (Part 5)

Dennis L. Peterson

Sep 2, 2016
3 min

What’s Our Excuse? (Part 5)

By now, you know the point that I’ve been driving at in the previous four posts. Others overcame great obstacles and wrote in spite of them. Why don’t we? Why do we offer excuses ad infinitum rather than just doing what we’ve been called to do–write? Today we look at one more example, this time an American from the twentieth century and one of my favorite authors: Jesse Stuart. Whereas many of his classmates did not finish high school or finished but went no farther with thei

What’s Our Excuse? (Part 4)

Dennis L. Peterson

Aug 30, 2016
2 min

What’s Our Excuse? (Part 4)

The Bible tells us that the apostle Paul was arrested, tried, and punished multiple times for the sake of the gospel. He was whipped five times, enduring thirty-nine lashes each time. But that was not the end of his tortures. He was beaten with rods three times, stoned by an angry mob and left for dead, and shipwrecked three times. In his travels, he faced the perils presented by robbers, barbarians, and wild animals. He was also imprisoned for years by the Romans, suffering

What’s Our Excuse (Part III)

Dennis L. Peterson

Aug 26, 2016
2 min

What’s Our Excuse (Part III)

At first, back in seventeenth-century England, Bunyan was just a tinker, an itinerant small businessman who sold and repaired metal utensils. He joined a nonconformist religious group in the town of Bedford, met Christ, and sensed the call to preach the gospel. He had no formal religious education and no license to preach, which the law required, but he didn’t let that stop him. He preached anyway. And he was arrested and imprisoned for it. For twelve years, Bunyan languished

What’s Our Excuse? (Part 2)

Dennis L. Peterson

Aug 23, 2016
2 min

What’s Our Excuse? (Part 2)

Continuing our survey of some famous writers who refused to use their circumstances as an excuse not to write, today we consider another Russian. (We considered Alexander Solzhenitsyn last time.) Today, Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Dostoyevsky hated the military school and his engineering studies. His foray into literary pursuits began with his translation of a novel by Balzac and some other materials, none of which proved successful. His own first novel was titled Poor Folk, and it w

He Wrote in Spite of Problems–What’s Our Excuse?

Dennis L. Peterson

Aug 19, 2016
2 min

He Wrote in Spite of Problems–What’s Our Excuse?

How often we writers find every possible excuse not to do what we want other people to think we do–write. We are too tired, too busy, too sick, too constrained by our environment, or too limited in getting ideas. We are like the recalcitrant student whose imagination runs wild thinking up excuses for not doing his homework. History has produced some exemplars who overcame every imaginable excuse for not writing. They wrote in spite of problems and constraints. In fact, some o

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