I'm just checking in. :) I can't believe it's already been well over a week since my last entry here! Time is flying. So much is happening with the youth groups I'm involved with. I am helping to direct a retreat this weekend for several north Texas Methodist youth groups. It's really being run by our teenagers on the Conference Youth Council, but the directors have to fill in all of the gaps. This is my first time directing such a large scale event, and I'm letting it stress me out some days more than others, but the other directors are good, and at least one of them is experienced in this area, and the youth are fantastic, so it's going to go well! :)

I'm still revisiting The Great Debate, exploring the possibilities. If anything comes of it, I've learned not to make announcements until all of the ducks are in a row. For now, I'm just enjoying getting the book back on my computer and reformatting it, polishing up the text. What a powerful book! It brings up a lot of things that are still issues for me today, working in the Church. Some of these issues are even more prevalent today, with conservative efforts ever growing to try and keep gay people from gaining equality in the Church or the State. I'm finding that, even though this book was originally published eight years ago, it is very relevant for 2011. Beater Rabbit, the psychotic "ingénue" of sorts from my latest short story, would have been quite at home in this book, perhaps nestled between "Christian's Dilemma" and "Reverend Philips is Going to Hell." Whatever comes of my revisiting this book, I hope, at the very least, to bring some attention back to it after all these years. The message of The Great Debate is one that I want heard by people who are hurting and oppressed, outcast from the Church and other parts of society because of who they are, because of how God made them. I will let you know as things develop.

Back to Beater Rabbit, once I've gotten through my revisitation of The Great Debate, I'm going to start working on putting together a new book of short stories, and I'm fairly certain our furry little fiend will find himself at home there, too. I want to collect a number of my previously published stories, as well as add some new ones for this volume.

And while I'm working on getting The Great Debate back in the public eye, I urge you to check out the lyrics to Lady Gaga's new song "Born This Way." It's a good song, and the lyrics are powerful. I got the song on iTunes the day it was released, and I've been enjoying it ever since. Peace!

Well, I have been keeping busy. There's a project going on at the church I work for that's been taking up a lot of time, but it's well worth the sacrifice. I've also been helping a friend of mine with some graphic design work for his Tae Kwon-Do school. In addition, I've been working on Clark Ink stuff, setting up things for this year's business. I'm revisiting all of my literary properties, seeing what the next step is for each one. I wrote a forward for a hypothetical re-release of The Great Debate that is in no way scheduled or even officially planned. I've also digitized the book, mostly for the purpose of releasing the stories in single versions through my Web site. In the process, however, a number of possibilities have opened up, so I'm seeing where they take me. I did some work today with graphic art. I worked on the cover art for "Night Light II," which I'm doing myself. I also went to Kinko's and re-reduced some original art from past projects to re-digitize for future use. When I'm not doing anything at all, I've been scanning all of my family's old photographs and trying to get them organized chronologically. So, yeah. I've been very busy.

I have some new, very late, episodes of White Rock Youth to edit and post. They keep getting delayed because of the project I mentioned at the beginning of this blog taking longer and longer. It all has to do with the youth group and the future of the group. Don't worry though, it's all on the way. We have some really silly videos I can't wait to put up. Also, "Night Light II" is still on the way, as are a number of other things that I can't mention just yet.

I was briefly on Twitter. I made two posts on January 22, when I opened the account. I then realized I had no real time or interest for getting into Twitter, when all I would use it for I already do on FaceBook and with more freedom. So, today I took down the Twitter link. I think, since I never bothered to send out an announcement about my being on Twitter, I had one follower the first day, who dropped me, probably because I never updated the account. If you want to follow me, or communicate with me, go to my FaceBook account! :) I am always happy to hear from my readers.

I'll have more to share with you soon! Peace!