Jeff Krogstad's Blog: Jeff Krogstad, author, page 4

On the verge of Christmas

 Christmas is almost here. December has been mild this year. The horses aren't consuming much hay. A dusting of snow comes and goes on the ground here at the farm. We thought about spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day up at the shack, about an hour north of Bemidji. I don't know if anyone has ever spent Christmas in that remote place. The forecast is looking like rain, though, so I don't think we'll go. 

Instead we will have a couple quiet days at home. We have one more big Christmas gathering this Saturday. Then the plan is to relax. 

One goal for those days is to get a temporary studio set up to start narrating audio books. I've had a few requests for Death on Disappointment Mountain in audio form, and I'd like to get started on that process. My early Christmas gift from Lisa was a technology package to make that process possible. Excited to get that set up and learn to use it well. 

Writing these days is a business of pushing little things forward. I've got two manuscripts complete and in the editing stages. Wait for the Lightning is a non-fiction book on Genesis 1-12. Goal is to publish that this late winter / spring. Altered Vows is a novel I've been working on since the mid-1990's. That's being read and edited, and then I'll have significant revisions to do. I had hoped to have it published this winter, but we will see how extensive the revisions are. 

Two sequels are in the stage of working on a first draft. I'm about 25K words into a sequel to Altered Vows already. And I've mostly finished an outline for a sequel to Disappointment Mountain. I'm excited about both those projects. Also I've got several concept pieces I'm outlining that will take shape during 2024. 

There's plenty of work to do; I just need to set aside time to do it. 

I find myself in kind of a strange place. I'm writing in three distinct genres. The non-fiction biblical books are totally different from the fiction books. And Disappointment Mountain is  literary fiction while Altered Vows is a medieval Christian fantasy. So very likely each of those genres will appeal to a completely different audience. That's okay, it just makes it challenging to focus in one direction. 

More important, I've been circling back to the whole reason why I'm writing lately. As a bedtime story, I finished reading Tolkien's "Leaf by Niggle" to Lisa a couple nights ago. That fun little story is such a good reminder that using our God-given gifts in a way that serves him is an important kind of stewardship. In his small way, Niggle contributed to God's new creation by using his art. In some small way, I hope to do the same thing in my writing. Or as I say it in my Amazon author bio, I want to connect people to the story of God's love for this world. 

It's that story that drives us at Christmas. We put out lights and buy gifts and prepare food because in Jesus, God shows his love for us. He makes it possible for us to love one another and to love him in return. May you know his love in a full and fresh way this Christmas!

Happy Saturday!

 Welcome to a delightful December. Minnesota is enjoying a mild fall up to this point. We haven't had any really cold weather yet, and little snow to speak of. The horses have still been picking at grass out in the pasture, and this morning for the first time I'll put out a round bale for them. 

They'll be camping out tonight (sleeping in the pasture instead of the barn) as Lisa and I will be up north for a quick overnight. We're going to visit the shack, which is what we call the old hunting cabin my dad and his buddies built back in the 50's. It's about an hour north of Bemidji, way back in the bog country. It's great territory for bears and wolves and a handful of moose and deer. The boggy trails will be frozen, so hopefully we can walk a few miles and see some grouse. Sleeping in the shack shouldn't be too chilly. There's a small woodstove, and the temperatures are supposed to stay in the 20's overnight. We'll see!

We are resisting the push toward Christmas carols and decorations just yet. We both have a sense that those things are better enjoyed mid-December and onward. And with the lack of snow, that feels right on the outside as well. 

As far as writing, I've been editing a manuscript on Genesis 1-12 that I wrote about a decade ago. When it's finished, it will be a biblical interpretation of what Genesis says about the foundations for so many things. It's a more personal reading, not quite like my book on Exodus. But a similar way of reading the Bible, letting this word speak into our lives. 

And there are still a couple novels on the burner. I've been having fun thinking about sequels to Death on Disappointment Mountain. Lots of exciting potential there. Altered Vows is with an editor right now, and hopefully I'll be able to get that one in print and available late this winter. And we are working toward audio versions of both those novels. 

So life is full and good. Hope yours is as well!

Looking back, looking ahead

 Joan was a brilliant, articulate, assertive woman. I got to know her when I was fresh out of college, and she was dying. One day I sat with her in her living room. She was attached to a tangle of IV tubes. She joked that she rattled when she walked from all the pills she had to take. As we sat together, I shared with her a few tidbits I'd been writing. It seemed a good way to pass the time, and something she might enjoy. I wasn't presumptuous enough to think my writing was really good. I guess like the little drummer boy, I didn't have much else to offer. 

Joan read my poems and paragraphs carefully. We talked about a few details, and she asked incisive questions about some of the imagery in a couple of the poems. When she finished reading, she looked hard into my soul and said, "Don't you let this rest. You keep on writing. You have a gift, and you need to let it grow. You keep on with this."

I think so often of Joan and how she spoke into my life. I've struggled all my life to figure out how to put her words into practice. I've written columns for ministry journals. I kept a blog for many years. Early on I developed collections of poetry written on the backs of envelopes and fragments of paper shopping bags. Finally God backed me into a corner and I had to finish a book about the Exodus. (From Slavery To Freedom, and you can find it here.) 

Lately I've returned with a new urgency to Joan's words. I've always had a sense that she was speaking a word from God into my life. The last few years I've focused on collecting my writings into books, and that has led to creating new books as well. Once I entered my 50s I started feeling the urgency to actually get things published. 

Last week I started thinking about 2024 and what I want to accomplish in the coming year. Seems like life never unfolds according to my agendas, but you have to have a plan or you don't get anywhere. So I outlined several titles I'd like to complete and get into print in 2024. I'm sure it won't go exactly like that, but it's a direction to move at any rate. 

And I think Joan would be pleased.