If you read these blogposts regularly, you’ll note there were no posts in September. It wasn’t that I had nothing to offer or that I reprioritized or procrastinated or was distracted—well, I suppose that last possibility is closest to the truth.

During September, these blogposts were simply forgotten, pushed out of mind by two deaths and the aftermath of loss. During September I delivered two eulogies in two weekends.

On September 16^th I delivered a eulogy on behalf of my dear friend J as we celebrated the life of his wife A, who was lost suddenly in an auto accident on the evening of August 24^th. I spoke of A’s creativity, love of summer, and her faith in her Maker. My wife did not attend the service with me so she could be with her parents. Her father, in the midst of a long-term illness, had taken a turn just days before. 

At the end of A’s service, I walked out into the beautiful late-summer afternoon and got in my car to follow the hearse to the gravesite. I picked up my phone from the console and saw a text from my wife. Her father had passed thirty minutes prior.

On September 24^th, I delivered a eulogy for LB, my father-in-law. I spoke of his love of Charles Dickens, his interest in WW2, and read a quote from C.S. Lewis as we reflected on his faith in Christ and the life he is now experiencing.

If you read these blogposts regularly, you’ll note there were no posts in September. I wanted to offer a reason for my absence, and in the process place here a brief remembrance of these two lives circumstantially linked in the end.

And may the sweetness of the Master our God be upon us 

and the work of our hands firmly found for us, 

and the work of our hands firmly found!

– Ps. 90.17 (Robert Alter, trans.)

We are all fallen—broken—not yet realizing our created potential. This fallenness, from which God is seeking to redeem us, is evident in every area of our lives. We don’t need to look far to see this brutal reality in ourselves, those around us, and the culture in which we swim.

As creatives, we’re constantly striving for an imagined aesthetic, a space and a quality of production that we imagine to be ideal—our best work. We seek to fail at a higher level with each outing. As a believing creative, I perceive this effort to be the search for a divine creative space—one only The Maker knows—but for which He formed humankind.

While I am painfully aware of my fallenness, I sense my fallenness most profoundly in my creative work. My ability to produce beauty and truth always falls short of what I know should be possible. I am aware there is a ceiling I cannot rise above, beyond which is a creative space we will see and experience only in the life to come. I believe we will continue our creative work in eternity, and the satisfaction we’ll experience cannot now be conceived. Our creative capability, our design in the imago Dei, and our worship will meld as one.

For now, let our work point to His. May our effort be a candle beneath His sun, a hewn leaf upon His tree, a well-wrought sentence in the epic The Maker continues to write.

The famed prophet and shipbuilder lays in his tent on his deathbed. Family gathers, as family will. Each takes a turn at his side—a few minutes a day. Each brings their memories, scars, and burdens. A wife, three sons and their three wives—each knows the past. Each offers a telling of life inside the clan of Noah.

I’m planning to share this news via social media in the coming weeks, but being a faithful blog reader, you get the inside scoop!

In January I finished a manuscript called Waterborne, a retelling of life inside the clan of Noah (Genesis 6-9). I sent the manuscript to my agent, Joelle Delbourgo, who presented it to Bold Vision Books (BVB), the publisher who produced The Confessions of Adam. BVB said they were very happy with the writing, but wanted some significant changes to the manuscript—specifically in how the story was told. 

In late February, I presented a memo to BVB via Joelle outlining how I thought I could make the changes they were requesting. BVB took many weeks with this memo, discussing Waterborne in their weekly publication committee. Just before Easter, they came back to us stating their desire to move forward with Waterborne and their intent to purchase the manuscript, assuming the rewrites I’d outlined in the memo.

On May 18^th I signed a contract with Bold Vision Books for Waterborne. I am currently rewriting the manuscript under contract. This means BVB has committed to publishing the novel and I’ve committed to delivering a rewritten manuscript to them no later than March 2023.

But there’s a bit more—these next details are just for you. I’ll not be sharing these on social media as we’ll have to see how the story ends.

On May 20^th, Joelle announced the book deal on Publisher’s Marketplace—an online bulletin board for the publishing industry. The same day another publisher came forward stating their interest in the audio rights to Waterborne. On May 21^st yet another publisher, based in London, came forward stating their interest in the rights to publish Waterborne in the UK.

We will see what happens with these other publishers and their interests—Joelle will help there—but BVB will be publishing my second novel.

So—mark your calendars for an anticipated late 2023 release of (working title) Waterborne: Chronicle of the Clan of Noah.