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Fr. Joseph Huneycutt and I finished the final (probably semi-final) draft of our book project. It is at our "test readers" now. We'll do a final/final edit based on their proofreading and suggestions, then it goes to the publisher.
I was originally just going to illustrate Fr. Joseph's text. We spent a weekend together several months ago discussing the project and pretty much checking each other out (we had never met in person). We both decided the other was "the real deal". As we talked, the vision for the book took some dark turns. The more we talked, the darker the theme of the material became. We've both lived long enough and done enough sinning and pastoral care to know being a Christian is damn hard and it isn't nearly as pretty as our Sunday faces show. We wanted to address the valley of the shadow of death and not put a smiley face on it (though there is some humor in the book).
We wanted it to be from an "Orthodox perspective" but something that any Christian could pick up and not feel like they were being slapped around with Orthodox apologetics. He ran it by John Maddex and told him up front, this isn't Conciliar Press's brand of stuff. John said, "Bring it." (We haven't submitted the manuscript, so there is no contract, just an approved proposal.)
By the end of the weekend, we both were confident we and the other could check our egos at the keyboard, so we decided to jointly author also. We've written, edited, suggested, added to and subtracted from each others' work. I have to say, (and those of you who know me know I don't say this about clergy often or lightly), "Behold a priest in whom there is no guile." It has been effortless to work with Fr. Joseph...
I was originally just going to illustrate Fr. Joseph's text. We spent a weekend together several months ago discussing the project and pretty much checking each other out (we had never met in person). We both decided the other was "the real deal". As we talked, the vision for the book took some dark turns. The more we talked, the darker the theme of the material became. We've both lived long enough and done enough sinning and pastoral care to know being a Christian is damn hard and it isn't nearly as pretty as our Sunday faces show. We wanted to address the valley of the shadow of death and not put a smiley face on it (though there is some humor in the book).
We wanted it to be from an "Orthodox perspective" but something that any Christian could pick up and not feel like they were being slapped around with Orthodox apologetics. He ran it by John Maddex and told him up front, this isn't Conciliar Press's brand of stuff. John said, "Bring it." (We haven't submitted the manuscript, so there is no contract, just an approved proposal.)
By the end of the weekend, we both were confident we and the other could check our egos at the keyboard, so we decided to jointly author also. We've written, edited, suggested, added to and subtracted from each others' work. I have to say, (and those of you who know me know I don't say this about clergy often or lightly), "Behold a priest in whom there is no guile." It has been effortless to work with Fr. Joseph...
Complete post here.
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