Tim Bishop's Blog, page 5

Touring to Titletown USA

Part III of a five-part series on the Bishops’ bicycle tour on the shores of Lake Michigan

After three days of burning up the miles in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Debbie and I arrived in Wisconsin. Immediately, the fast traffic subsided. It had been nearly two weeks since we left Sawyer, Michigan, on our bicycle trek around the lake, so we had acclimated to Michigan traffic. At a pit stop just north of the border, afuel truck with a sharp green-and-yellow paint jobfeaturing the word “Titletow...

Upper Peninsula by Bicycle

Part II of a five-part series on the Bishops’ bicycle tour on the shores of Lake Michigan

After eight straight days of riding, Mackinaw City became the site for our first rest day. It was Sunday, and we enjoyed connecting at a local Bible church. Old hymns with rich words summoned our spiritual roots. The setting—its music, its words, and its spirit—whisked us refreshingly back in time. Separating from our routine revitalized us. Recalling the past makes it easier to see and embrace where you...

Escaping the Heat

Part I of a five-part series on the Bishops’ bicycle tour on the shores of Lake Michigan

There’s no better time than summer to tour by bicycle. However, when July rolls around in Middle Tennessee, the heat and humidity can be brutal. So, Debbie and I decided to venture north to explore Lake Michigan and its surroundings. We bought Adventure Cycling Association’s North Lakes map set, threw our gear in the car, and headedtoward the Arctic Circle.

Touring the Eastern Shore of Lake Michigan

We la...

Grow Your Twitter Following for Free

In my prior post, A Newbie’s Take on Twitter, I explained five benefits of Twitter from my perspective as an author. Now, I’d like to share what I’ve learned about beginning to build a Twitter following.

In the past month and a half, my Twitter following has grown from virtually nothing to well over 2,000 followers. If you’re not familiar with Twitter that may sound like a lot of followers, but it isn’t. Every Twitter follower—and each of his or her followers—ideally are people who need to h...

A Newbie’s Take on Twitter

As an author seeking traditional publication, I often see and hear this question: “How big is your following?” I used to think: I have many friends and colleagues who respect me, but I’m not a household name. I’ll never have a large following. It hadn’t dawned on me that the “how big question” was a call to action. I’ve spent the last several weeks discovering why all the buzz about Twitter. Now, I get it. In a month, I’ve developed a following far greater than I would have imagined. And it c...

What is a Writers Conference?

When I recently heard the term “Christian writers conference,” I thought, What is that? I’m from New England, so the term was foreign to me. While it is apparent who attends a Christian writers conference, I didn’t know what was involved or the benefits—until last weekend.

While pitching a recent project to agents and publishers, one agent described the project as “on the bubble.” That’s a phrase coined by NCAA Basketball Tournament aficionados. It means the project has a chance to be accepte...

Relocation Adventure: Moving Forward

Part IV of IV

Click here for Part I of IV.
Click here for Part II of IV.
Click here for Part III of IV.

With a new job, a new home, and an imminent sale, it was time to pack the truck and be on our way. Weeks earlier, we’d asked the local U-Haul operator to reserve a truck for us, but we didn’t expect we’d get one of the new ones sitting on her lot. She insisted she would save one for us and that we needn’t even put down a deposit for it—in fact, she wasn’t equipped to accept one.

I was anxio...

Relocation Adventure: Finding a Home

Part III of IV

Click here for Part I of IV.
Click here for Part II of IV.

Roughly a week before the scheduled closing of our condo in Massachusetts, we traveled to Nashville to look for housing. Debbie had impressed her Skype interviewers enough that they wanted to talk with her in person. That interview would occur during our home-hunting trip.

We met a broker upon arriving late on a Friday afternoon and obtained listings of some houses for sale and for rent. It was a daunting task to find q...

Relocation Adventure: Choosing a Destination

Click here for Part I of IV.

As it turns out, the offer on our home came from the type of buyer Debbie could really relate to—and for whom she had been praying. This would-be buyer fit her ideal perfectly: a young, female professional in education. She was even headed for the same town Debbie had taught in for eighteen years. Our condo seemed destined for just the right person, but our heaven-sent buyer’s offer had some potential snags. Don’t they all? However, there wasn’t a chance in heaven...

Relocation Adventure: Preparing

Part I of IV

Although adventure in life takes many forms, Debbie and I had an adventure this past summer like none other: a relocation adventure. We moved from Marlborough, Massachusetts, to Thompson’s Station, Tennessee. We’re acclimating to a new culture, a warmer climate, and a different pace of life.

The ease with which we moved, from listing our home for sale in Massachusetts in May to securing a rental property and a job for Debbie in Tennessee in July, seemed a bit supernatural to us....