Creekbank Blog

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 …

“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 …

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 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 …

A Proverb for April 27: Proverbs 27:2 “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth;” I’m not an artist; I’m a PawPaw Sketcher.  I draw for my grandchildren.  It’s what my dad and grandpa did and so I’m just carrying it on. This sketch shows the story of the famous big-mouth frog.  Here it is in a nutshell:   The …

Saturday’s Blog Scroll down to read:   1. Rainy Day in La.     2.  Sowing It’s a rainy day in Louisiana. But that’s not a bad thing. All of the local gardens and fields need rain. It’s been dry in Dry Creek (the world’s most overworked pun for my ears) We’ve been under a burn ban. Everything that comes our way is …

April 22, 2010 Scroll down to read: 1. My Uncle Bill 2.Training Vines 3. Making New Friends My Uncle Bill. I’ve always been proud of my uncle,  Bill Iles.  He is one of my heroes and has always been a wonderful encourager in my life and especially my writing career.  (He gave me my first journal in 1973.  I’m now …

  April 21, 2010 Pearline Reed’s wise words to her daughter Elizabeth in A Spent Bullet:  “Here’s the thing about forgiveness.  It’s a gift you give yourself.  When you forgive someone who’s wronged you, you’re giving a double  gift.  One to them, but the best gift is to yourself. It’s not about whether they deserve it or not.  Gifts often …

  Proverbs 20:12 “Ears that hear and eyes that see—the Lord has made them both.” Having gratitude is such an important thing. Gratitude is simply being thankful for all of the blessings of our lives, and that gratitude is directed at their source: God. God made a miraculous thing when he created the human body. The more I know about …

Proverbs 16:25    “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” This is a sobering but timely proverb.  It’s a reminder that we can justify anything we do but that doesn’t make it right. And that doesn’t keep us from paying a harsh price later. We should judge what is right …