It’s been a fact since January, but I only recently found out about the death of mystery novelist Robert B. Parker. Parker was a huge influence on my back in the late 1980s when I was in college and trying my hand at mystery novels; his Spenser series was hot at the time and I prided myself on loving his novels before the TV series debuted.

Parker was a prototypical hardboilded detective fiction writer, projecting the standard tough-guy image. Actors who have played his series characters… Robert Urich and, later, Joe Montagna, on Spenser; and more recently, Tom Selleck as Jesse Stone… are all folks who bear a passing resemblance to Parker himself, as his fictional characters tended to.

Though in his seventies and certainly the beneficiary of a long career, I will nevertheless miss Parker; he’d just started a “Young Spenser” series for young adults, focusing on Spenser’s teen years, that he’d barely scratched the surface on. And despite some trendiness, his novels still made the New York Times best-sellers list on a regular basis.

Yet Parker would have liked how he passed; sitting in front of his work station, working on a manuscript. While his family and fans will miss him, I can’t imagine him wanting a more apropos exit than what life handed him at the end. While a coronary event isn’t the most pleasant way to pass on, at least he didn’t have to suffer anything long and drawn out and painful like mesothelioma cancer. And he was able to stay productive right up until the end.

When all you have to work on is an old laptop, one would think novel-writing becomes a lot more unpleasant. However, I’ve actually made some progress since making the switch. And there are a couple reasons for this.

First, I hooked up my wireless PC mouse to the laptop and suddenly it’s a lot easier to navigate. (I hate this laptop’s touch-pad because it’s awkward and inaccurate.) That’s helped a lot, especially with copy-and-paste operations when I blog.

But more to the point for novel-writing is the convenient fact that the laptop is too old and slow to do some of the things I like to use my desktop PC for, such as gaming, downloading/viewing favorite shows, and so forth. Without such distractions, hopping on the laptop is resulting – so far – in more focused writing time than my more-capable desktop PC did.

That’s worth a handful of loose diamonds to someone like me who, when stuck on where to take the narrative next, finds a bit of procrastination awfully tempting… but a whole lot less productive.

Ever wonder how prenatal vitamins actually affect the unborn? While I’m not one to entertain many conspiracies in life, it’s good to have a curious mind that asks such weird questions when it comes to being a writer.

Something as simple as a question like that could easily lead to a great premise for a mystery or suspense novel. Man, why do I give away so many gems on my blog for free? Other people writer faster than I do; maybe I need to start keeping my yap shut!

As a writer, it’s always important to pick up knowledge where you can find it.

I once had a roommate who had the worst case of dry skin ever (or so it seemed) and he was constantly in search of a better eczema treatment. At the time, it grossed me out; but now, I have enough knowledge that if I want to give a character a unique quirk, I know enough about this condition to write about it.

Strange how many things that you don’t consider important at the time come around to being useful later on. Especially true for writers.

Being a writer gives one a unique perspective on topics as mundane as quick trim celluslim reviews to as exotic as the effects of poisons on the human body. With suspense/mystery writers, all of it usually adds up to figuring out how to effectively kill someone in a way that will mislead the reader to the wrong suspects, right up until the moment the real killer is revealed and suddenly it all makes sense.

The difference, really, is that you get fewer strange, suspicious looks when asking about diet plans than when one asks about poisons. Which, I guess, makes sense.

When I’m not surfing to places like http://www.bestonlinedegrees.org to help my wife consider the best place to get her next degree … that’s right, she just finished her bachelors! Go, Andie! Anyway…

I’ve discovered just how important good research is to everything from sermons to novel-writing. One needs to deeply understand all that is possibly relevant, whether crafting a compelling storyline in a novel or an enlightening teaching as part of a sermon. Either way, good research skills are essential.

I’m going to have a tight writing schedule for the next few weeks; I have one more sermon and one more commentary ahead of me, back to back. However, after that, I have no idea when I’ll be teaching again.

So, I should finally find some serious novel-writing time right about then. That’s news so good even colonix can’t improve it. After all, there are only so many hours in the day and eventually you run out of waking hours.

With no sermon on the near horizon and no commentary for a couple weeks, it looks like I’ll have some novel-writing time to enjoy in the short term. I’m eager to get back to Zach, Donna and company.

Writing sermons and commentaries may not seem that creative, but believe me, it takes a lot of creativity, prayer, energy and time to do them well. And it energizes me for novel-writing, unlike journalism or writing first communion invitations.

There are far more creativity-draining ways to be spending one’s time.

OK, I’ve finally hit on it.

Even though it’s explained, I think there’s a lot I can do with the parable of the weeds, because it will allow me to talk about the problem of evil in the world. And that’s a whole lot more interesting than if I, as a non-expert, got up there and started blathering on about, oh, fitness equipment or something.

The problem of evil affects us all. That’s the ticket. Sermon locked in and ready to roll.

It’s been taught and over-taught, but right now I’m leaning toward teaching the parable of the sower. However, since Mark is careful to explain most of Yeshua’s parables, there’s not a lot of mystery to it. Still, it beats a sermon on how to solicit a home insurance quote.

Be that as it may, I do hope I get a chance to identify a more appealing parable before I have to start writing; I like to shed light on the parables that are not as universally understood, rather than the ones that are.

Sometimes it’s easier to find cheap auto insurance than it is to stumble across a good idea. I’ve been working on an emergency backup sermon and found out today I’ll probably need it this weekend.

Generally, not a problem. I’ve been doing a lot with the parables of Yeshua lately so all I need to do is select another. And can I think of a good one to do next? Not all night, so far!

Well, that’s not exactly true. I have been considering the parable of the rich man and Lazerus; but there’s not a lot mysterious about that one. And then there’s the parable of the prodigal son, but that’s been done to death.

Still thinking and praying….

OK, I know Minnesota is famous for its snow, but this is almost silly.

A person might need low cost health insurance to recover from stats like this: although forecast by today to receive only 2-4 inches, we already have 6-8 inches of the white stuff. That’s supposed to grow to 12-18 inches by the end of Friday when things die down; but I’m betting it could top 20 inches, maybe even 24, by the time the actuals come in.

Still, with all this snow, there’s a lot of free time available to me now I wouldn’t otherwise have; I’m going to make sure I get some writing done with at least part of it.