I recently finished reading Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel Wives and Daughters. It’s a wise and winsome story, and I look forward to reviewing it on the podcast in a few weeks.
Thought-provoking themes and characters abound in the novel, but today I just want to share a small, unobtrusive insight buried in the middle of the book.
Four years ago today, we published our very first script, Rejected: The Inside Story. To this day, it’s still our best-selling play (although our skit Just Ask Pastor!, released last September, has been giving it a run for its money lately).
A few lines robbed of their contexts, from my current play-in-progress:
“At least you don’t get thrown to sharks.”
A big thank you to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, and particularly to reviewer Susan Reed! Susan is a homeschooling mom and co-op leader who used our scripts Narrow Escape and Really Remarkable Romance with her daughters and students, and she reviewed us for The Old Schoolhouse’s database of resources for homeschoolers. She writes, “My family used […]
Writer and teacher Jonathan Rogers shared a perceptive, persuasive short post on his blog at the close of 2018, encouraging his readers to approach the new year with a new mindset—one that prioritizes “process” over “results.” Though his post was chiefly aimed at writers, I think his insight applies to us all. I recommend his […]
Of all our skits and short plays, I think I’d say our Dramatic Dialogue One Man’s Treasure is my favorite, if I had to pick. I love pulling stories from the pages of Scripture and imagining them on a stage, and One Man’s Treasure does just that. Inspired by one of Christ’s shortest parables (a single verse!) in Matthew […]
Lately I’ve been rereading Hamlet and freshly remembering the play’s challenges, questions, and lessons. It’s Shakespeare’s longest drama and probably his most famous, understandably. I studied Hamlet my senior year of high school and in four different classes during my time at Hillsdale College—and the play never gets old. I guess that makes this my fifth reread, […]
“Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere.” G. K. Chesterton, The Collected Works
From Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott: “People tend to look at successful writers…and think that they sit down at their desks every morning feeling like a million dollars, feeling great about who they are and how much talent they have and what a great story they have to tell; […]
From Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith & Art, by Madeleine L’Engle: “Obedience is an unpopular word nowadays, but the artist must be obedient to the work, whether it be a symphony, a painting, or a story for a small child. I believe that each work of art, whether it is a work of great […]