Wordsowers Christian Writers Group

 Savannah and I have found a treasure house, well actually, a Goodwill Warehouse where all the goodies are in bins. You need to dig to find something. Find things I did.

Baskets, stuffed animals, a shelf—exactly what I wanted for outside—and books.

“Grandma, you really want that book about James Michener?” she asked. She wrinkled her nose at the torn book jacket.

“Wait till you see inside,” I said. “It’s the story of how James A. Michener wrote Centennial.” That didn’t mean anything to Savannah, but I remember the book and the NBC 25 hour mini-series well.

Born in 1907, Michener grew up during the depression. About 1937 he started thinking about a western saga; it was 1972 before he put his thoughts on paper. He hired John Kings to help with the western history and Tessa Dalton for photography. For a full year, the trio with Michener’s wife traveled gathering data.

Kings wrote In Search of the Centennial, my suburb find, in response to requests from Michener readers for an insight into the man. My interest isn’t in Michener the man, but Michener the author. The years he spent writing one book, the many people he met along the way, and the laborious editing. The labor he poured into everything he wrote, the precise preparation, and the sixty books he read before he put pen to paper about the west.

Prayer: Father, may we dedicate ourselves to whatever our task might be, whether we write a history book like Michener, our true life experiences, or a novel. May we be committed to make every word be pleasing unto you. Amen