My Favorite Question of the Day

This won't be a long post, Readers. I just finished a delightful visit with the third and fourth graders of Sylvan Park Elementary (Nashville), thanks to librarian Joyce Claassen. I have just a few minutes before I need to be at Opryland Hotel for an interview at the National Radio Broadcasters convention. It's been a busy, busy year so far, and I'm excited for three days of adventure this weekend (to find out what, you'll have to keep reading).So what does a school visit look like?1. Walk in with two boxes of books (boxes I hope will be empty when I leave), sign in, and make my way to the library or classroom.2. Watch a hundred or so well-behaved, healthy, intelligent, ten- or eleven-year-old literary critics file into the room and sit down, criss-cross applesauce, on the carpet.3. I tell them that my main job is as a singer-songwriter, but that I like telling stories with books, too.4. I tell them what it's like to be a writer, and show them some of my drawings--including that of the toothy cow. (I expect to be blacklisted soon for showing such an awful beast to these poor, unsuspecting children.)5. I tell them about the need for conflict in a story. I tell them about the need for revision in any work of art.6. I read a chapter from On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness.7. I take questions. This is my favorite part. I was once asked if there would be an explosion at the end of book five. (The answer: nope.) I'm often asked if there will ever be a drawing of Gnag the Nameless. (Maybe. I shudder to think of it.) Today a little boy asked a three-part question (his parents must let him watch C-SPAN), the third part of which was, "If they make a movie of your books, can I be in the commercial?" (Answer: yes. But don't hold your breath.)Here are a few pictures from my visits this week in Waddy, Kentucky, and here in Nashville.So what's the adventure this weekend?In the Peterson house we make a big deal out of turning ten. That means you get to choose an adventure, and if there's any way to pull it off, we will. Asher, who turned ten in December, is a Lego fanatic. His dream is to visit Legoland in San Diego, California. It just so happens that we have good friends who live there, and I've saved up enough frequent flyer miles to get us out west. So for exactly one day this week, I'll be strolling  Lego-tastic landscapes with my favorite ten-year-old on the planet.Thanks for reading the Wingfeather Saga, folks. Book three is coming.

A Postpartum Funk

Dear Listener,I'm writing from the Warren, my little house on a Tennessee hill. My dog is barking outside at what I'm pretty sure must be a skunk. I suspect this because Moondog has reeked of skunk for a few weeks now, and today it smelled like he got a fresh spray of it. We don't pet him much these days. My children and wife are fast asleep, and I'm experiencing a sort of postpartum depression.The creative process is in some ways like a birthing. Jamie is quick to remind me that writing a song feels nothing like labor. But still, there's a period of expectation, which includes fear and worry and excitement and hope, followed by a healthy dose of struggle. In the end there's something new in the world, and by God's grace he has allowed you to take part in it. If you're lucky that new thing is beautiful. And when the drama is over you're left feeling...something. Something like emptiness. You might feel useless, or restless, or listless, or sad--even as you're deeply grateful for the gift you've been given. It doesn't last long, and it isn't overpowering, but it's there.The album we just finished recording (though it hasn't been mixed or mastered yet) took a little less than a month, and the writing of the songs started 18 months ago. I went into it with a blank slate: no theme, no album title, no concept. Just thirteen new songs, the Captains Courageous, and the hope that somehow we'd emerge with something that might move people. I wrote the song titles on a marker board in the studio, then I checked off each song as we finished the main tracks, wondering what this album would have to say to you, the Listener. I wondered what it would have to say to me. I'm still not totally sure.I know what the songs are about. Or at least what I meant for them to be about. Several are about this place around me: the Warren, with its trees and trails, the change of light on the hill, the family that gives our little spot in the world life and story, and the God who blesses and keeps us and the land too. The songs are also about hope. And in order for them to be about hope, they have to be about what hope kills: despair. Fear. Loneliness.  Hope is the light at the end of the tunnel, and some of these songs were written in the tunnel. I hope they bear some of that light to you.So here I sit at the end of a good day's work, thinking about the hours we spent harnessing these ideas, words, and melodies to binary code so the Listener could hear a song on his or her way to work and feel something in a numbing world. We have done our work, and now it's time for the mystery of music and story to do its work. We have done what we could, and the songs must do what we cannot.As I write this I'm wonder-struck by this world Christ made. How thankful I am that he would give us music, that he would give us time itself so the notes have somewhere to go, that the Word would give us words that carry pictures and ideas and glories from one mind into the secret garden of another, even that he would allow us technology that enables these little kinetic works of art to flit around the world like birds and to make nests in even a single heart.I dreamed of doing this when I was a kid. I tiptoed down my street in the wee hours of morning, down to the dock by the city park, hoping no one would see the guitar in my hand. I dangled my legs over the still water and looked down at the stars and sang every song I knew, wishing I had just one of my own. I had not language (or faith) for it at the time, but looking back I believe I came to the lake because I was called there. Something woke me in the night, and I came. I didn't know it was the Lord. I thought the voice was music itself. I came and said, "You called?" But music said, "No. Go back to bed." Years later, when I still thought music was calling, I came to it only to find restlessness, dissatisfaction, even destruction. I said again, "You called?" And music said, "No. Go back to bed. And next time, when you wake, say 'Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening.' "I'm no Samuel, of course, but you get the point. God was calling me (as he's calling you) to something unimaginable. It was not to fame or fortune. It was not to music. It was to himself. And so, at the end of an album I am reminded of all the time I spent twenty years ago with my neighbor's Harmony guitar, learning songs by Tesla, and Extreme, and Skynyrd, never once believing that I'd one day find great pleasure singing songs about, of all people, Jesus. If you had told me then that I'd one day get a chance to make several albums of my own songs (or write books) I would have laughed even as I ached for it to be true. I would have been even more skeptical if you had told me that my real joy wouldn't be found in the music itself, or in the creation of it, but in the communion it creates between you and me--and the sweeter communion between me and the Father.Thanks for supporting me and mine all these years. I love telling these stories. I love writing the songs. Though I'm hardly adequate or wise or deserving of attention, I hope these will find you and water your garden. I hope they become to you more than I can make them.I guess that's it. I have a full heart and needed a place to spill over.Tomorrow morning I plan to head to the coffee shop and answer some snail mail letters from kids who read the Wingfeather Saga, then I'll get busy on book three. I'm sure that later this year when I finish it I'll write another gushy-mushy post about another postpartum funk. I can hardly wait.Sincerely,AP

The NORTH! OR BE EATEN Blog Tour

I've come across several encouraging reviews from the Christian Science Fiction/Fantasy bloggers and thought I'd post a few links here. This first is a quick interview with Chawna Schroeder.Rebecca LuElla Miller, an insightful reader and writer who in her review of On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness helped me grapple with the idea of Theme in my writing, has some interesting things to say about Tink's avoidance of responsibility.Phyllis Wheeler also gave it a thumbs-up and summarized the thoughts of a few other bloggers.And Robert Treskillard shares thoughts about the book, the characters, and the influences (some of which hadn't occurred to me).There are more, but that'll do for now. Thanks to all the bloggers who are putting so much time and thought into this. In the words of Grimple Wainthwat, "You're too kind. And I'm too whiskery."

An Album in the Mountains and a Monster in the Hollows

I'm writing this from a hotel in Seattle. About nine days ago I flew here with my musical compadrés the Captains Courageous (along with Gabe Scott and engineer Todd Robbins), to record The Last Frontier, my newest album.Our days started at about 10AM and ended at about 1:30AM for eight days straight, and we somehow managed to record fourteen songs. If you're not familiar with the recording process, you may not realize that fourteen songs in eight days is what we like to call break-neck speed. And it's a ton of work--less so for me than for Ben and Andy, the producers, whose brains had to be engaged at the soundboard throughout the process. If you want to see a few Very Serious Videos of us making the album, head over to the Rabbit Room.I decided to post tonight because I just found out that there's a Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy blog tour happening right now, and the book they're talking about is North! Or Be Eaten. I'm so thankful that almost six months after it was released they're still spreading the word. This week I'll try to include links to the various reviews in case you want to check them out.I'm not totally clear on how it all works, but I think it's like this: Waterbrook, my publisher, gives review copies of the book to a bunch of bloggers who love to read. In return the bloggers write reviews. They may be a little biased because they got the book for free, but they're mostly folks who are unfamiliar with me and are judging the book on its own merits. The only problem I've seen is that many times they're not reading On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness first, which is making the book harder to get into. Why you'd review a second book in a series without reading the first is a mystery to me (especially when in your review you complain about not understanding what's happening), but in the end I'm just grateful that they've read the book and are willing to tell others about it.The second reason I'm writing (sorry this is so long!) is to inform you of my intentions.And here they are.I intend to wrap up this album in two weeks. Sometime in mid-February, I hope. Then I intend to take a deep breath, dive into Aerwiar, and not come up for air until I've written The Monster in the Hollows (which is still a working title). Not only am I excited to tell you about what happens to the Igibys, I'm excited to find out for myself. I know in a general sense where the story is going, but each book has been full of surprises.Thank you for reading, and giving me a chance to tell stories with music and words. I truly love this work.

Download the ON THE EDGE Audiobook for Only $4

Happy New Year, dear readers.I'm overdue on a more involved post, not to mention that I haven't uploaded the several excellent drawings you've mailed and emailed. In just under two weeks I'm flying to Washington State to record a new album and I still have a few songs left to write. This, as you might imagine, is occupying most of my brain.I'm always excited to enter the studio because it's a creative process that involves community. There's just no way to record an album on your own. Well, I guess it's possible, but it would be really difficult. And lonely. But watching an album come together alongside dear friends is a unique experience that I treasure. It'll take about two weeks, then we'll come home and spend another few weeks in Nashville recording the finishing touches.Which brings me to the other reason I'm excited to enter the studio: the sooner the album is in the can, the sooner I can duck away to the local coffee shop, settle in with a warm mug, open the computer, and type the words, "Chapter One". That, dear readers, will be a good day. I can hardly wait to tell you about what happens to Janner, and Leeli--and, of course, poor Tink. I can hardly wait to find out myself.In the meantime I wanted to let you know, in case you didn't, that the entire eight-hour audiobook of On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness is available on iTunes for the ridiculously low price of $3.95. Most audiobooks are in the $14-$20 range, so this is a most excellent deal. Click here if you have iTunes. The narrator, a British gentleman named Peter Sandon, read it like a pro (though he pronounced a few of the names differently than I'd have liked).My second son was only eight when this book was published, so it helped him a lot to have the audiobook to listen to while he followed along in the real book. In fact, this is a great way for a family to enjoy any story. My wife recently checked out from the library four copies of Little House on the Prairie, along with the audiobook, and we listened to the whole thing during our Thanksgiving travel. So there's my pitch for audiobooks.As always, thanks for reading, and for spreading the word about the Wingfeather Saga. I love to write these stories.AP

Authentic Toothy Cow Teeth for Christmas? Indeed.

Dearest Readers,My brother has done the impossible. "What?" you ask. "Did he publish his first book?" The answer is yes. It's called The Fiddler's Gun and is available exclusively in the Rabbit Room. It's not a children's book, but is rather for young adults and up, being about an orphan girl who is swept into the Revolutionary War and eventually finds herself on a pirate ship. Here's a review, and here's the cover:

FiddlersGunCover

But that's not the impossible thing my brother has done. Difficult, yes. Impressive, yes. But not impossible. "What, then, are you talking about?" you ask.He discovered, in the hills of Tennessee, the skeleton of a toothy cow. He hasn't divulged the details of his discovery to me, but he has agreed to allow the Rabbit Room to include one of these terrible yellowish teeth with each purchase of the bundle of the two Wingfeather books. So if you have anyone in your life who is yet unaware of the horror of the toothy cow, or of the grand adventure of the Wingfeather Saga, head over to the Rabbit Room and purchase a bundle.That's two presents in one: one for your friend, and one for me. Not to mention the gradual removal of those nighmarish fangs from my life.In other news, I've been sent some delightful new drawings by young readers, which I hope to post in the "Art by YOU" section soon.Hope your December is a good one.AP

The stories are true.