Big Fish in a Moderately-sized Southern City

Daniel Wallace was in town last night for The 2010 Southern Writers Series. My wife and a good friend of mine made it out to the Richland County Public Library for a Reading-Q&A Session-Signing. Daniel read from a novel he just finished writing. It's really a wonderful thing to hear an author speak his own words. You get a better sense of the rhythm and mood when an author reads his work. After reading from his freshly-completed novel, which sounds like it will be fantastic, the floor was opened for questions. The folks who had gathered asked some good questions, and Daniel was ready with good answers.

One of the things he said that really stood out to me was having to do with being a writer. As a writer, he said, you think that it's your job, but really it's not. You write in your free time, between hours at your job and hours with your family. Essentially, and this is my paraphrase, being a writer is what you are, not what you do. On being published, he said that there is really no difference between being published and being unpublished. It only feels different to the one who hasn't been published yet.

After the Q&A session, Daniel went to the back of the room for a signing. I only had a couple things for him to sign. But it was nice to meet him. He's got a very gracious and humble attitude. I boldly asked for, and he graciously gave me, one of the pages from his reading. He inscribed it to my wife and I, and titled and dated it (I would post a picture of it, but I won't feel comfortable with that until the book is published).

Pleasure and Profit, or The Find of the Year

It has been some time since I last posted, nearly a year. For those (one, maybe two) of you who have been waiting patiently for my next post, the time is at hand. Last Friday, during my lunch hour, I was rummaging around for books in an antique store in Newberry, SC. The first shelf I came upon had numerous aged volumes. I picked up a softcover book entitled, Pleasure and Profit in Bible Study, by D.L. Moody. Not being familiar with Moody's works, I thumbed through it to get a glimpse. I love the way the tables of contents were organized in older books. Instead of being just a list of the chapter titles and what page each began on, the table of contents gave you, as well, a brief summary of what each chapter contained, thereby truly being a table of contents, rather than a forward index of chapter locations. I have several older books where this is the case, especially in theological works. You can get an idea of what I'm talking about by clicking here. The book was originally published in 1895, 115 years ago. A very short time later the version of the book I found was published in April of that year by The Bible Institute Colportage Association, Chicago. According to the back of the book, the Association "was founded for the purpose of issuing good sound Christian literature at low prices." Indeed, for a whopping 10 cents you could have this version of the book, or any book in the series, sent anywhere in the United States. Which I imagine is why the book showed up in Newberry, SC. However, the book has had 115 years to circumnavigate the globe, so who's to know?

The book wasn't priced, so I decided to put it back on the shelf. Money has been hard to come by, as of late, and my lovely wife has not so subtly suggested that I already have enough books. But one of my habits in my collecting has been to check the flyleaf of books for marks of ownership or autographs. I did this and lo! and behold, the book is clearly inscribed and dated by Moody. I had to do a double take, I couldn't quite believe it at first glance. I hastily asked the clerk how much she wanted for the book. "Engh, twenty bucks," she says. Sold! The book quickly joined my collection. I've looked around online and simply cannot find any books signed by D.L. Moody. That's not to say they aren't around. It's clear, though, that I've truly found a rare treasure, certainly The Find of the Year.

For those interested, here's a link to the history behind The Bible Institute Colportage Association.