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I'm getting the Shepherds' Story CD ready for sale. I had hoped it would be available today, but I've been delayed a day or two. Check back at the end of the week.

Update (9-26): I have more blurbs than I can use. Thank you so much everyone. I'm disabling the blurb email address below because it is getting spammed, big time.

There is no feeling quite like the feeling of finishing a major writing project. I finished "The Shepherd's Story" today. I can't tell you how relieved I am. This thing has taken up most of my writing energy for several months now. I do not write fast. I do not crank out words. I am a plodding, careful, slow, methodical writer. The Shepherds' Story is about 13,000 words. Or if this helps you - 28 pages, single-spaced, size 10 font.

For me, that is a LOT of words.

This year's story intersects with last year's story. Last year the story began in Nazareth and ended up at the manger. This year the story begins with the shepherds going out on the night shift, but it ends up at the same place - the manger.

Chapters 6 and 7 take place in the same time and place as chapters 7 and 8 of last year's story. But this time, you get the scenes from a different viewpoint. Last year Mary and Jesus were central at the manger, with the shepherds, Joseph, and others off to the side. This year we find out what they were talking about over there in the corner. Turns out something important was happening.

Things that were hinted at last year are fleshed out. And things that were detailed last year are only mentioned briefly. And this year you find out how Mordecai lost his voice.

But the important thing is I'm done. Finished. Over. Recorded it today. It's being mixed and that's all there is besides sending the files to iTunes for downloaders and getting covers printed. The CD will be available the first of November.

Blurbs Needed:

Some days ago I asked for blurbs about last year's Christmas story, which comes out in print this year. I don't want famous people blurbs. I want YOUR blurbs. Yeah you, the regular guy. The back cover will say, "What people you've never heard of are saying about "A Christmas Story You've Never Heard."

All the blurbs sent to me so far are, well, nice. Very flattering and I thank you for them. But I'd like a couple of edgy ones, you know? Maybe a funny one. Maybe one that pokes fun of me a little bit. You know what I'm saying? If you want to write a blurb about last year's Christmas Story, send it to blurb@reallivepreacher.com. If I use yours, I'll include your blog below your blurb along with your name or blog handle. You stand a VERY good chance of getting your blurb on the cover if it is funny or strange or just quirky in some way.

THE CATCH - I need these by Monday. Yes, this Monday. September 21st.

The finished cover with the actual title.
I couldn't think of anything clever that wasn't
cheesy, so I just went with plain and simple.

rlp

The Christmas Stories:
Where am I with the Christmas stories? On schedule so far. Last year's audio book is with the woman who is preparing it for print. It should be ready by early November and will be for sale at that time along with the audio book version from last year.

This year's story - the shepherds - is as yet untitled. I sat down the other day and tried to think of a title, and all I could come up with was pure crap. "A Shepherd's Tale," and "The Shepherd's Gift" and stuff like that. So no title yet.

I've written 7 of the 8 chapters and know exactly what will be in chapter 8. BUT, chapter 7 has a serious flaw. I can't tell you what it is, but it's not right. Something big is missing. I'm about to leave town for a few days and I plan to have 7 redone and 8 written by the time I return.

I've recorded a demo of the audio, and Ben King is using that to work on the music. We'll go into the studio around the middle of the month and record the thing.

How about the cover? Well, I still have to get permission to use the art, but they gave me permission last year, so I'm not worried about it. However, this year I'm doing almost everything myself. I developed some Photoshop skills in my years as a web designer, so at this point I'm planning on doing the cover myself. It's a work in progress. This is what I have so far:

I'm still working with it, so we'll see what happens.

The Last Essay on Evil
I'll finish up my third and final essay on evil by Wednesday. However, The Christian Century is considering picking them up. If so, the third essay will come out on their site. I don't know if they will take it. I think probably not. It's not the sort of thing I normally do for them. AND, it's not as though I presented a lot of documentation for my conclusions or anything. We'll see how that goes.

One More Thing - I'm Going Away:
Jeanene and I have a chance to go to Colorado and spend about 6 days there. Part of the time will be spent with her parents. We haven't been to Colorado with them in a few years, and we want to spend some time with them. My mom is coming to watch the kids, so it's just the four of us.

My treo works as a modem, so I might post a quick "hello" or something from the mountains. But mainly I'll be working to finish the Shepherd story. And find a decent title for it.

That's what's up with me. I hope things are well for you.

rlp

"A Christmas Story You've Never Heard" -  Coming November 2006

Okay, most of you know that I wrote a dramatized version of the Christmas story back in December of 2003 and put it online. In 2005 I recorded it as an audio book with the help of my musical genius friend, Ben "One Take" King. This fall that story will be released in print as the first ever Con Safo book.

Being a Con Safo book, the last thing we want is anyone famous quoted on the cover. So there will be no spiffy quotes from impressive and famous people. The back cover will say, "What people you've never heard of are saying about A Christmas Story You've Never Heard."

I think it's kind of catchy.

Would you like to write a blurb for this book? The requirements are that you not be famous and that you have either read or listened to the story. (Currently available at Itunes) Just write a short endorsement and email it to blurb@ConSafo.com.

If your blurb is used, I'll include your name (if you want me to) and the address of your blog.

Con Safo - Stickin it to the man!!

rlp

Also coming in November of 2006, the audio book that is the second installment in the Christmas series - The as yet untitled story of the shepherds.

First a Christmas story update. I'm in the middle of chapter five of the as yet unnamed Shepherd Story. Eight chapters will have to be finished by the end of August. I will go into the studio the first week of September and hopefully have the second audio book in the Christmas series ready by November 1. At the same time, I'm giving the manuscript of last year's audio book, "A Christmas Story You've Never Heard," to a woman who will take it through the entire process of getting it edited, checked, arranged, and printed. It will be published by a publishing company I'm forming as of now - Con Safo. That should be ready the first of November as well.

I THINK I've found an investor to fund the printing of 2000 copies of last year's Christmas story. The price gets real low at 2000 copies. If you can't print at least that many, you run into the classic self-publication problem. The book ends up being too expensive. Mine will sell for ten bucks.

So this Christmas I'll have last year's audio book, this year's audio book, and last year's audio book in print form. Coming Christmas of 2007 - my favorite story in the series - "Three and a Half Wise Men."

It's a lot of work, but I'm on schedule...for now.

Why Con Safo? Well, there aren't any traditional publishers who will give me credit for bringing any readers to the table. Traditional publication isn't setup to handle new authors who nonetheless have a fair number of readers. So if I let someone else publish this, they will get the publication rights, almost all of the money, and I will have to put up with their incredibly long and drawn-out editing/publishing process. Why? Why should I do that? If I do it myself I have complete control, can do the entire process in a couple of months, and I make as much or even a little more money even if I sell less copies.

So for now, it's Con Safo publishing for me. If someday a publisher wants these stories, we'll talk then.

And now for something completely different, AV Monday:

We so classy in Texas

rlp

Here is my deadline for The Shepherd Story, or whatever I will end up calling it. It has to be DONE by September the 1st. Eight chapters - 1200 or so words per chapter. Done. Then in the studio in September so that I can have the CD ready by November the 1st.

I know a lot of people who write fast. I used to read about people doing the nano noonoo whatever novel writing thing and writing thousands of words every day. What? Who are these people? Not me. For me to finish 1000 words in one day is a very rare thing. Almost never. So this deadline is pushing me a bit. I cleverly arranged to have Tom preach for me for two Sundays so that I could take a couple of intensive writing retreats. I'm on one of those retreats right now. I've been working on the Shepherd story since Thursday morning.

There is this moment for me - in writing fiction - when the story rises up and takes over. I don't know how to get to that moment, and sometimes I feel like I'm just messing around waiting for it to happen. But when it happens, I become like someone watching a movie. I watch and write everything down. Only you can stop this movie, back it up, change things, make suggestions. You're the director of the movie.

That happened for me yesterday, so at this point I feel certain The Shepherd Story will be fine. I'm through with chapter three. We've met the shepherds, found out a little about them, and now they are in a meadow on the top of a hill, waiting for the big event. One of the shepherds, Hananiah, tried to sneak a wineskin with him on his first night as a shepherd. I had to invent a strong, authoritative man rather like a football coach to catch him and take it away. I named him Amos because I just read the book of Amos recently. Anyway, Amos took the wineskin away, uncorked it, and drank some right in front of Hananiah before sending him off.

I laughed so hard to myself in my little writing room.

Speaking of my little writing room, some very dear friends are out of town and letting me write in this little cottage that is behind their house. I'm rather in love with it now.

    
Click for larger images

If you want to see a short video of the place, check it out at YouTube. It's more beautiful than the pictures can possibly convey. I'll be here again next week. I hope to get through chapter four then.

I've never uploaded a video to YouTube before. The audio lags behind
a bit. Notice that I wave to my reflection, but it is a moment or two
before the audio catches up. Oh well, it's free bandwidth. I can't complain.

rlp

Sadly, I got all mixed up about what week it is and it turns out I DO have to preach this weekend. It's the last Sunday of the month and the first Sunday of August when Tom agreed to preach. Nice. I arranged a whole writing retreat thing and put it in the wrong week. You know me and calendars. Looks like I have a sermon to get done PRONTO.

I got a call out of the blue from someone who works for KTAR in Phoenix. They run a show every Sunday called, "The God Show." It's a wide open show where the host talks with various people about their ways of thinking about God. It's not limited just to Christians. People from many faiths have been on the show.

The host, Pat McMahon, got a copy of my Christmas story and wanted to talk to me about it. We taped an hour show last week. He played two chapters from the Christmas story and chatted with me quite a bit. I was flattered by his kind words.

The show will be played several times Christmas day. If you want to listen, they have a live stream.

The God Show will be heard at:
     1am Mt. Time Christmas Eve
     7-8am , 5-6pm Christmas Day and
     12midnight to 1am Christmas night.

Note: All times are in the Mountain Time Zone.

Their website is 620ktar.com There is a Listen Live! link toward the right-hand side.

rlp

Sarah Dylan Breuer is now the editor of "The Witness," a socially progressive Anglican magazine that has been around since 1917. Very cool stuff. They have published "The Shepherds," one of the chapters from my Christmas story. Head over there and take a look.

rlp

Okay, I know but some people might want to know this. The downloadable version of "A Christmas Story You've Never Heard" has been available at iTunes for some time now. The only problem is you have to download the iTunes program, which is free but is still a download, which is an extra step.

FINALLY, msn has it online. They still don't have the cover online even though they've had it for a month. But you can now download the entire CD for $8.91. No, I do not set the prices and have no idea why 91 cents. But you can download it with no special software needed.

 Go here to get it.

 rlp

There is a review of "A Christmas Story You've Never Heard" over at The Ooze, if you are interested. If you have the CD and have listened to the story, feel free to review it. The link is under the CD cover.

A number of you have already purchased and listened to "A Christmas Story You've Never Heard." I've added a place where you can read or write reviews of the audio book.

rlp

As an experiment, I decided to publish this CD myself instead of going through a publishing company or other agency. All the recording and editing work was done by Ben King of Talking Taco Music, Covita, and me. Ben's company is handling the shipping.

About The Christmas Story:
In December of 2003, I wrote a dramatized version of the Christmas story, taking the scripture details and fleshing them out in new way. This is a Christmas story you've never heard before. The story is written in the same style as my RLPDV (Real Live Preacher Dramatized Version) stories.

Click here to read the introduction

*** Click here to listen to the First Chapter ***

Real Live Preacher's Christmas Story
is now available on CD for $11.50
A Downloadable Version Will Be Available In About A Week

Note: You do not have to have a paypal account to purchase.
If you have any trouble, send email to orders@RealLivePreacher.com.

Note: Shipping & Handling will be automatically calculated at checkout.

Note: Overseas orders, those who need next day shipping, and all other special circumstances should send email to - orders@reallivepreacher.com. Tell us what you need. We will email you an invoice with the shipping included. After you receive your email invoice, click the "Buy Now" button below, enter the amount of the invoice, and pay online. Overseas buyers may chose to wait for a week or so. There will be a downloadable version at Itunes and other places for about $8.95

Click to listen to chapter one.

The studio work is done. The cover has been finalized and is at the printer. It won't be long now until the CDs come in the mail. This is the first step in realizing a dream I've had for more than a decade.

I suppose it was ten or twelve years ago when I first told Jeanene that one day I would like to write dramatic versions of the stories that make up the birth accounts of Jesus as found in Matthew and Luke. Over the next few years I prepared these stories to be delivered as storytelling sermons at Covenant Baptist Church. I did "Simeon, the Man Who Waited," "The Shepherds on the Hill," "The Story of the Manger," "The Story of Three and a Half Magi," and "Cowboy Gabriel."

In December of 2003, I completely reworked the manger story, keeping the characters but changing most of the dialog and adding some new details. I renamed it "The Christmas Story Uncut" and posted it online at Real Live Preacher, one chapter at a time. Now this story has been recorded as an audio book and has a new title, "A Christmas Story You've Never Heard."

It is unorthodox to release a book in audio form before print publication. But the blog world is opening up new possibilities and new ways of doing things. And these stories were originally meant to be "told" anyway.

I do plan to pursue print publication of this story sometime in January, hoping to have the book out by Christmas of 2006. At that time I also plan to release another of these Christmas audio books, though I haven't decided which story to do next. If all goes well, I'll do this every year until all seven are done. That's my plan, but of course no one knows what the future holds.

I've created an mp3 file of chapter one, which you can listen to or download. It's about 5 meg. in size. The CDs themselves will be ready to ship this month, but I don't have an exact date yet. I'm still counting the final cost of preparation, shipping, etc. The price will likely be either $10.95 or $11.95. The book will also be available in a downloadable format at iTunes and other places for around $8.95.

rlp