Why traveling internationally helps me as a writer.   View/hear a YouTube of the Lake Kivu singing fishermen.   I’m very thankful to have the privilege of traveling out of the United States.  I’ve come to realize there are various benefits as a writer in my travels. I want to make it clear: I travel for the purpose of sharing …

Last night I mailed off my current manuscript of A Spent Bullet. I want to thank “my editor cousins”  Joy Reeves Pitre, Julie Holland Johnson, and Coleen Roberts Ritter.  Thanks Ladies! Today I shift into total African mode.  I’ll be sharing openly as we plan, pray, and get ready to go on Thursday to Congo/Rwanda. “Mountains cannot go to other …

I recently posted a blog about telephone “party lines.”  These multiple lines, where several homes heard every ring, were the source of great stories (as well as great tension among neighbors.) Read and enjoy! Party Line comments The Dry Creek party line had 16 phones on it.  You could listen to every call that every party line member received.  Each …

“A Father’s Love” It’s graduation day at East Beauregard High. My beautiful niece Kendal Campbell graduates tonight.   One of our reader’s favorite stories is “A Father’s Love” from Wind in the Pines (2004).  It details a memorable graduation in 2004.  It’s my most popular type of short story:  it’s out-loud laughing funny but ends with a hot-tears happy-lump-in- your-throat …

For nearly four years I’ve visited Clay and Robin Iles in Ft. Worth, TX.  Clay, our oldest son,  is a student at Southwestern Baptist Theoglogical Seminary and Robin is the wonderful mother of two of our grandsons, Noah and Jude.  (Little brother Luke will join the clan in late June.) During our visits, I’ ve observed a woman I’ll call …

“It don’t get no better than this.” It’s not good grammar, but it’s a good statement. It’s right at dark.  Just a little after 8 PM.  I’m sitting on an upturned five gallon bucket, iPhone in hand, listening for a whip poor will. He starts his non-stop song and I creep up on him and record his repeated call for …

Today I have the singular privilege of leading the opening prayer at our Louisiana House of Representatives.  I appreciate this invitation by my lifelong friend and fellow teacher,  Rep. Dorothy Sue Hill. I’ll be praying at 2:00 PM.  I’m asking each of you to join me in this prayer for wisdom and direction for our state leaders.  Our home state …

I spoke last Saturday to a wonderful group of writers at the Dallas-Ft. Worth Ready Writers Group.  My assigned topic was “platform.”   This is the term writers use for getting the word out about their writing and books. My major platform is speaking.  I speak 2-3 time weekly to groups of every size and background.  The following are thoughts I …

The joys of an early morning. Fingernail slice of a waning moon. Lightning bug sends out his light. The birds begin their symphony. Bluebirds fuss over their gourd nest and its four eggs. A Cardinal singing his classic. “Whoop. Whoop. Whoop. Boys, get up. The Mockingbird sings its playlist of songs downloaded from iTunes. (non-copyrighted) I hear his “cover” of …

Scroll down on this entry to help proofread a handout as well as fill in the blanks. “Change is the end result of all true learning.”  -Leo Buscaglia “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.  Anyone who keeps learning stays young.  The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”    -Henry Ford Some thoughts …

A Proverbs for May 6: Proverbs 6:32 “A man who commits adultery with a woman lacks wisdom, whoever does it destroys his own life.” The first chapters of Proverbs are full of wisdom and warnings about the price a man or woman will pay for straying outside the bounds of martial faithfulness. Sadly, I’ve often seen Proverbs 6:32 play out …

A touching story from the Congo. To read a strong testimony from the pastors we’ll be with in Congo, click here You can also read the article, copied from imb.org below. It tells of the struggles in Eastern Congo around the city of Goma.  This is where a team of us will be traveling later in the month.  All of …

Making New Friends This Saturday I’ll be in Dallas visiting with the Dallas/Ft.Worth Ready Writers Group. It’ll be an opportunity to make new friends and learn with other writers. To read about my visit and learn more about their group, visit   http://dfwreadywriters.blogspot.com One of the best parts of my speaking/writing ministry is the opportunity to make new friends.  I’m so …

Below is Chapter 2 from The Wayfaring Stranger.  It introduces heroine Eliza Clark and shares about her love affair with whip poor wills. The oldtimers of Louisiana’s No Man’s Land had many superstitions and sayings about birds:  whippoorwills, owls, cardinals, wood ducks, and crows.   If you know of any, let me know. Here is the saying that is covered in …