First Lines

The first line is incredibly important to a short story. My first fiction teacher at Southern Illinois University taught this idea. I realized I agreed with her. The first line can draw the reader in or it can leave them disenchanted with the story from the start. I can spend an hour or more running first lines through my head for a new story I want to create. After the first line everything else seems easier.
So, here's the idea. I started talking about fiction. Now, I'm going to talk about faith. The host of the television show "Inside the Actor's Studio" always asks his famous guests a few unique questions at the end of each show. One of the questions is: If there's a heaven and there's a God what would you like to hear God say to you upon first arriving?
I always have loved the idea of this question. I love it because I do believe in God and heaven. I love it because it's interesting. I love it because of the answers people think up. Well, I seriously doubt I'll ever be on "Inside the Actor's Studio" since I'm not an actor. I took one acting class in college, but after that my career was over. Although, I'll never be on the show I do have an answer to the question. I've thought about it many times recently.
My answer? "Welcome home, son."
I would take great pleasure in hearing your answer!

Summer Reading

Barnes and Noble booksellers always put out a Summer Reading table every year around this time. Every summer I realize I've read a few of them while quite a few others I have not read. This is good, though. I personally believe one should read what they want to read when they want to read it. A summer reading table is a fantastic idea! If I were to make it my goal to eventually read every title on the table, though, it seems as if I'd be paying too much attention to what other people think I should read in comparison to choosing, and thinking, for myself. Pick and choose. Read what you want! Then pick and choose some more. Having said this, here is fifty book I've greatly enjoyed over the last five years or so. I don't expect you to read them all (or any for that matter since it's totally your decision). I thought maybe one or two of the titles might catch your interest and then you'll pick up the book for yourself and find that you greatly enjoyed it. If I can help you find what is in my mind a great book then this blog has served its purpose.
The list is as follows:

1. Everything I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten (Robert Fulghum)

2. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Ken Kesey)

3. The Chronicles of Narnia (C. S. Lewis) (Read all seven if you read even one. They're worth the time!)

4. Lake Wobegon Summer 1956 (Garrison Keillor)

5. The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway)

6. Something Wicked this Way Comes (Ray Bradbury)

7. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Roald Dahl)

8. James and the Giant Peach (Roald Dahl)

9. The Martian Chronicles (Ray Bradbury)

10. Big Fish (Daniel Wallace)

11. High Fidelity (Nick Hornby)

12. Ray in Reverse (Daniel Wallace)

13. The Giver (Lois Lowry)

14. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (Sherman Alexie)

15. A Long Way Down (Nick Hornby)

16. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Jonathan Safran Foer)

17. Teacher Man (Frank McCourt)

18. Our Town (Thornton Wilder)

19. Bagombo Snuff Box (Kurt Vonnegut)

20. Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes)

21. Dandelion Wine (Ray Bradbury)

22. Farewell Summer (Ray Bradbury)

23. Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck)

24. Beowulf

25. Travels with Charley- In Search of America (John Steinbeck)

26. Biloxi Blues (Neil Simon)

27. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain)

28. The Great Divorce (C. S. Lewis)

29. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)

30. About a Boy (Nick Hornby)

31. Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician (Daniel Wallace)

32. The Lathe of Heaven (Ursula K. LeGuin)

33. I am Legend (Richard Matheson)

34. Y The Last Man (Brian K. Vaughan) (This comic has ten trade paperbacks. If you read the first you'll probably want to read the other nine!)

35. Great Dream of Heaven (Sam Shepard)

36. Now and Forever (Ray Bradbury)

37. The Clown in the Belfry (Frederick Buechner)

38. Leaves of Grass (Walt Whitman)

39. The Outsiders (S. E. Hinton)

40. Blue Like Jazz (Donald Miller)

41. A Good Man is Hard to Find (Flannery O'Connor)

42. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Philip K. Dick)

43. Survivor (Chuck Palahniuk)

44. The Road (Cormac McCarthy)

45. The Wrecking Yard (Pinckney Benedict)

46. The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath)

47. Nine Horses (Billy Collins)

48. Through Painted Deserts (Donald Miller)

49. tuesdays with morrie (Mitch Albom)

50. Fables for Our Time (James Thurber)

If you decide to read one of these you haven't read, and happen to enjoy it, it would mean a great deal to me to hear about your enjoyment of the book.

When I was a little boy I told my mother I'd never learn how to read. Learning to read was a struggle. I wanted her to stop trying to teach me. Giving up seemed easier. If I gave up I could then spend that time playing more Nintendo. I already knew how to play Nintendo. Why complicate things with all this reading business? Well, Mom didn't give up on me. She taught me how to read. Years later she reminded me how I'd said I would never learn. It seemed a foolish thing to say upon reflection years later. It seemed like the absolute truth at the time.
Why do we give up on ourselves so easy? Why do we lose faith so fast? These are good questions! We ought to contemplate them.
When I was a little older, and had learned how to read quite well, I thought riding a bike must be the most difficult thing to do in the world. I knew I'd never get it right without falling after a few fleeting seconds of pedaling. With my dad's help and perserverance in not giving up on me I learned how to ride a bike. The first time I rode without falling was a moment of triumph I haven't forgotten since.
At the age of seventeen a large part of me wanted to be happy because a large part of me was not. I thought misery would be the road I'd travel for the rest of my life. This time it wasn't Mom or Dad that could help me out. This time my self doubt was something they couldn't fix. This time I needed God and I knew it. True happiness arrived at the doorstep of my heart on a night in May of 2002 when I accepted Christ in a church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I've known happiness ever since!
I guess what I'm trying to say here is that so many times in life we doubt that we will be able to learn this or do that or be this or accomplish that. We have a choice. We can give up hope. Or we can persevere. My mother taught me how to read. My father taught me how to ride a bike. God saved my life and gave me happiness while also teaching me how to share it with others.
So, now I'm twenty-five with a new area of doubt in my life. A part of me doubts that I will ever get to fall in love and take a wife. Well, to this doubt I remind myself that I love to read books, I learned how to ride a bike quite well, and I'm a very happy person!
I will persevere. I won't give up hope. I'll keep having faith! And, by the way, with God nothing is impossible!