Kyle Gebhart

I’m going to keep my posts short. This is in response to one of my pet peeve: posts that are longer than one (or two max) screen lengths. Who reads posts longer than that? I guess there ARE people - and if you ARE that people, I bless you. But man, if it ain’t short and sweet I’m not gonna read it most of the time. And if I’m not gonna read it, I’m not gonna inflict it upon my readers.

My problem with blogging: inevitably what I post is a first draft.

I hate first drafts. Almost no writer can write well in a first draft. By nature, blogging is instantaneous. Most blogs are about ‘venting’ whatever thought comes to mind.

A brief story: I used to regularly write letters to friends. From my senior year of high school, through much of college, I corresponded with 4-6 of my friends through letter writing. Often, I would write 2-3 drafts of these letters. I would try to improve the clarity of my thought, my style, and communicate exactly.

This zeal for clarity of thought has caused me to rarely blog - often I don’t want to re-write or revise my blog posts.

I’ve decided today to turn the tide. 80% is better than nothing. On the plus side, any writing at all will cause clarity to grow. It will also be nice to at least attempt first drafts that are as clear a possible. I firmly believe that all writers can improve greatly with revision and attention to detail in their craft - but I can pay attention in my first drafts too - making them easier to revise and improve; and I can apply some of the tools I’ve already learned.

Look for more consistent writing here in the next weeks and months.

I don’t know what my problem is - but I just can’t seem to get a post up, lately. Hence my stats have bottomed out…sigh. Yes - I care if you read…unlike Zack

I’m too much of a poet or something - blogcasting…or whatever we are calling it…has too much spontaneity for my nature most days. I’m more of a ‘muser’ than a ‘ranter’ when it comes down to it.

In any case - I’ll give a little personal update for my adoring fan-base.

Went to a decent used book sale in Lawrence, KS last Friday. I highly recommend it as one of the better book sales in the region - not necessarily great for theological books (you really can’t beat amazon in 8 out of 10 cases) - but fun nonetheless. Click here for details…anyhow…

I picked up a bunch of literary fiction that I haven’t perused in awhile - 1984, Brave New World, a couple short novels by Flannery O’Conner and some JD Salinger - and Moby Dick (which I’ve never read, but may make my selection for vacation reading this year.)

I have real soft-spot for Salinger - if you are unfamiliar with him, he is a very acquired taste (best known for his coming of age story A Catcher in the Rye) - if nothing else, I can credit him with introducing me to Orthodox mysticism (many years ago) through his short story ‘Franny’. It centers on a young woman who becomes enthralled by a rather (in the 50’s at least) obscure Russian Orthodox book called ‘the way of the pilgrim.’

I am lamenting (winking at Molly here), however, the difficulty of finding any quality fiction that is written by Christians…and I’m not talking about Christian Fiction (Mitford stories and Peretti novels, tolerable if not memorable) - I’ve heard that John Grisham leans towards a sincere faith in Jesus - and it appears that Anne Rice has moved into the fold, but the only author I’ve encountered who has inspired me in this area is a Japanese Catholic (the irony of that, hopefully is not lost on everyone) Shusaku Endo.

I read several of his novels in college and was very encouraged that it was possible to weave themes of faith and redemption into fiction is a way that doesn’t isolate or alienate non-christian readers. I highly recommend his novel, Silence, considered by many a literary masterpiece.

Alas - any suggestions for books/authors are welcome.

And thanks for sticking with me through the wordcasting wilderness of the past month.

Why I don’t “Wordcast” More Often:

Been thinking about this the past few days, and I can come up with a few reasons.

1) Don’t have internet at home…nuff said.

2) Don’t usually go online when I’m in the prayer room. Not that there is anything implicitly wrong with writing a wordcast on a little ‘break’ - but I’m just usually ‘unwired’.

3) By far the most significant reason: I don’t think out loud. Really - I don’t formulate thoughts (for the most part) while I’m writing them - but before I write them. It usually takes me 3-4 days to formulate what I want to post on the next time.

This, unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), means less posts for you read - but my hope is that the quality if higher. I’m not prolific (ask Jared Diehl for a definition).

Side note - I’m thinking about an idea for a book:
working title = American Pharisee (or how meekness has become an un-American activity).

Writer’s Unite!

Announcing the birth of RE:Vision - a writer’s group committed to support crafting and improving our skill at communicating through all forms of written media.

It’s time to get it together and start getting serious about things like: query letters, book proposals, stanzas, line breaks…and semicolons.

My proposal: We meet Fridays at 9PM at Higher Grounds (we can find another place to meet weekly if we want).

So, first meeting - next Friday the 23rd at 9PM at Higher Grounds.

Feel free to bring copies of something you want us to read and comment on - including prose, poetry, essays - etc. We’ll have an assignment for the next week and go from there.

Feel free to bring a friend (though we’ll cut it off at about 12 people).

Please, serious writers only. We really want to take time and energy together to craft our writing, get creative and support each other related to getting published and engaging with the larger literary community around us in whatever way we are called.

Email me or post a comment if you know for sure you will be there.