Day Seven of Seven
August 27, 2006
Guest Blogger: Charles Gibson

My first attempt at fiction was a story I wrote in third grade called "When Craig and I Were Trapped Inside a Mayonaise Jar." It was a thriller with a narrow escape. In the story, Craig and I both worked at a "mayonaise factory" and were somehow sucked into a giant jar of mayonaise. We barely managed to unscrew the lid from the inside before the jar left the factory. Whew!

I have loved to write ever since. I also love to travel and have ambitions to be a travel writer. The kind that travels to different countries and writes about the experiences I've had and the people I've met. Trish and I have already ended up in some interesting travel situations. Three years ago, we went on a trip to sites in Greece and Turkey from the missionary journeys of the apostle Paul. Trish was two months pregnant with our son, at the time, which is a story in and of itself. The trip was during the time of the build-up to the 2003 Iraq War and we were in Turkey when the war started. We spent the first full day of the war on the Greek island of Patmos, where the book of Revelation was written, hearing of "wars and rumors of wars."

Since I decided to more seriously pursue writing in the last seven years, I have concentrated on non-fiction. In addition to the two stories I wrote for the God Allows U-Turns Series, I have written for a Twin Cities paper called the Minnesota Christian Chronicle, including an article about a U-Turns book-signing from this March and the Minnesota connection of Allison and Bethany House Publishers.

It was at that book signing that Allison asked me when I was going to write my first novel. Just the week before, I had been thinking about turning some of my interest for medieval history into a novel. Out of that conversation, I submitted first a query letter, then was asked to submit a full proposal to a major Christian publisher, where it was well-received. That was in the spring.

Just a couple days ago, I received a reply that they want the to see the full-manuscript of the novel, which of course is not finished yet. It's exciting and overwhelming at the same time. I need to become more disciplined with my schedule to make it work. The novel is about a knight in 13th century France fighting a different type of Crusade. Instead of fighting with the Church in the Holy Land, he finds himself fighting against the Church on his own land.

I wanted to thank Allison again for letting me share what God has put on my heart this week. I hope the Lord has used my blogging to speak to someone and encourage them.

Blessings,

Charles (Chad but not Chuck)