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Showing posts with label Jerry Jenkins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jerry Jenkins. Show all posts

Friday, February 13, 2015

The Matheny Manifesto book review by Joe Buonassissi

The Matheny Manifesto: A Young Manager's Old-School Views on Success in Sports and Life 


ISBN: 978-0553446692
US prices - Canada, $2 higher
e-book - $10.99
p-book - $24
audible - $17.99

Buy the book on US Amazon
Buy the book on CA Amazon

From the Publisher:
 “Nothing worth doing right is easy.”
–Mike Matheny

   Mike Matheny was just forty-one, without professional managerial experience and looking for a next step after a successful career as a Major League catcher, when he succeeded the legendary Tony La Russa as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2012. While Matheny has enjoyed immediate success, leading the Cards to the postseason three times in his first three years, people have noticed something else about his life, something not measured in day-to-day results. Instead, it’s based on a frankly worded letter he wrote to the parents of a Little League team he coached, a cry for change that became an Internet sensation and eventually a “manifesto.”

   The tough-love philosophy Matheny expressed in the letter contained his throwback beliefs that authority should be respected, discipline and hard work rewarded, spiritual faith cultivated, family made a priority, and humility considered a virtue. In The Matheny Manifesto, he builds on his original letter by first diagnosing the problem at the heart of youth sports−hint: it starts with parents and coaches−and then by offering a hopeful path forward. Along the way, he uses stories from his small-town childhood as well as his career as a player, coach, and manager to explore eight keys to success: leadership, confidence, teamwork, faith, class, character, toughness, and humility.

   From “The Coach Is Always Right, Even When He’s Wrong” to “Let Your Catcher Call the Game,” Matheny’s old-school advice might not always be popular or politically correct, but it works. His entertaining and deeply inspirational book will not only resonate with parents, coaches, and athletes, it will also be a powerful reminder, from one of the most successful new managers in the game, of what sports can teach us all about winning on the field and in life.

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Joe's Review:
Jerry Jenkins has done it again! What a helpful, well-written page turner. Not only does this book provide excellent advice for coaching (whether sports, business, or family), but it's encouraging to learn there are people of principle like Mike Matheny still on the planet. Our world is starving for true leaders. In politics, religion, sports, business, and just about every other human endeavor, true leadership is a rare thing. How refreshing to see that Mike Matheny gets it—he doesn't use his people to build his work; he uses his work to build his people.

As an incurable baseball fan, I found Matheny's insight into his baseball life fascinating. His comments about players and coaches, whose names were familiar to me, made me feel like I knew them as people, not just as statistical avatars.

Every "coach," (and we all coach at some level), regardless of his arena, should read this book to get his true north bearings before assuming responsibility for others. Mike Matheny is the real deal. His leadership style has been forged by the wisdom of the Scriptures and honed by living it out in shoe leather—he walks the talk. Mike, may your tribe increase!


Joe Buonassissi

Saturday, November 9, 2013

"I, Saul"





A MURDERER who would change the WORLD


From multi-million copy best-selling novelist Jerry Jenkins comes a compelling international thriller that conveys you from present-day Texas to a dank Roman dungeon in A.D. 67, then down the dusty roads of ancient Israel, Asia, and back to Rome.

A young seminary professor, Augustine Knox, is drawn into a deadly race to save priceless parchments from antiquities thieves and discovers a two-thousand-year old connection with another who faced death for the sake of the truth. I, Saul consists of two riveting adventures in one, transporting you between the stories of Augustine Knox and Saul of Tarsus.

Filled with political intrigue, romance, and rich historical detail, I, Saul is a thrilling tale of loyal friendships tested by life-or-death quests, set two millennia apart, told by a master storyteller.



Jerry Jenkins is a member of the John 3:16 Marketing Network, and some of our members asked him questions about his new novel and how he has balanced fame and writing with his faith and family. His answers are compelling and convicting. Enjoy these spiritual insights, and make sure you check out his new release, I, Saul on Amazon.


Author Laura Davis:  What research was involved in writing I, Saul?

Jerry Jenkins: I have learned to write about only places I have been to, so I avoid sending my characters the wrong way down one-way streets and committing other gaffes that make readers question the efficacy of the rest of the fictional construct. I want them to wholly buy into my make believe-world.

Author Laura Davis:  Where did you go for it?

Jerry Jenkins: If the place is mentioned in the novel, I’ve been there, including Paul’s dungeon. Admittedly, that location is traditional and no one can prove it’s the very spot, but I had to duck to stand up in it, and there is a hole in the ceiling, and the walls are as I described them, no windows, below ground, etc.

Author Laura Davis:  What sources did you use?

Jerry Jenkins: I did bolster my personal notes with info from internet sources so I knew exact statistics, etc., but that was more for my own satisfaction than for inclusion. I am a stickler for using research as seasoning, not as a main course. Just as diners don’t want a spoonful of salt but rather a dash on their breast of chicken, readers want a story with enough detail to ring with authenticity, not to read like a textbook.

Author Lisa Lickel:  What was your motivation for writing this story?

Jerry Jenkins: On the broadest scale the theme is basic: if the chiefest of sinners, a murderer of Christians, can be redeemed, no one is beyond God’s love and forgiveness.

Author Emma Right:  One question but a bit of preface: 

I have always wanted to write biblically/historically-based fantasy fiction but wondered how fictionalized I can make things—after all, I will be  dealing with real Bible characters and don't want to end up with a story like Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, or like the Red Tent, which I feel is even worse than the DV Code in terms of misleading people. So when you wrote I Saul, how much license did you give yourself to strike this balance between what is true and what can be fictionalized?

Jerry Jenkins: I am neither theologian nor scholar, but I am unbending on the authority of Scripture. I will not invent any scenario that would not align with the biblical record. I have no problem fleshing out something suggested by the biblical text. Paul himself writes that he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, studied under Gamaliel, and was a tentmaker. 

Thus to me it is fair game to fictionalize his early years as growing up in a Jewish home, his father being a tentmaker, his being a bright student of Scripture, the family investigating rabbinical schools and settling on Gamaliel’s, etc. The astute reader understands that these details are not in Scripture and, I believe, gives me the latitude to speculate and say, in essence, “Bear with me, this is what that could have looked like, based on what we do know.”

Author Alice Wisler:  A lot of authors get a little "filled with themselves" when they have successes. Having had so much attention through the Left Behind series, I'd like to ask how much your writing success has changed or affected your faith,  from when your first successful novel came out and then later, after some years went by.  What have you learned about human nature, yourself, the Christian author, and fame?

Jerry Jenkins: That’s a fair question but probably better answered by people who know me better than I know myself. My family, for instance. My real friends. Naturally, I’d like to think I’m the same person. I will say that I’m glad success came to me in my late forties and early fifties rather than in my younger years, because I’d like to think I was more mature when it came. My late father once said that a sudden influx of material wealth would not change a person but would reveal that person for who he really was. In other words, a generous person would be more generous. A selfish person would be more selfish, etc.

I have to say that when the first three Left Behind titles totaled a million unit sales and the publisher sent me those covers mounted in a nice frame, I privately felt pretty good about myself. Soon thereafter the fourth title became number one on Amazon before it was released and I found myself strangely not so proud but humbled. It was as if I were being chastised. I realized that it was folly to take any human credit for something that was clearly a God thing, and when the series began to sell in the tens of millions, I felt a burden of accountability and responsibility.

The highest compliment I was paid during the height of the phenomenon was during an introduction to speak at a writers conference I had spoken at many times over the years. The host said, “This week I have heard many of you say, ‘I knew Jerry when…’ I’d just like to say that if you knew him then, you know him now.” I still well up just thinking of that. Naturally, anyone appreciates being known and complimented, but I want always to be fully aware of who I am and who I’m not.

Author Lorilyn Roberts:  Recently you tweeted, “Writing tip:  The author, like the hero, must grow from page 1 to 400. If it doesn’t happen to the writer, it won’t happen to the reader.”  

How has writing  the Left Behind Series and I, Saul impacted you spiritually? 

Jerry Jenkins: In much the same way readers have been impacted. Writing fiction based on prophecy made me more aware of and urgent about the imminent return of Christ, and also of the infinite mercy of God. So we are to watch and wait—and it could be today. But to God a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day, so If, in His economy of time, He waits just one more day, that could be a thousand of our years.

Author Lorilyn Roberts:What do you long to hear Jesus say after devoting your professional career to writing Christian books?

Jerry Jenkins: The writing has simply been a matter of obedience. What I’d really like to hear is that I was a good husband and father.


Author of more than 180 books with sales of more than 70 million copies, including the best-selling Left Behind series, Jerry B. Jenkins is former vice president for publishing and currently chairman of the board of trustees for the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago.



I Saul, Available at Amazon and your local bookstores.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

More Great Writing Tips from Jerry Jenkins


 
 
 

Don’t ever apologize for…


…wanting to be published. You’d be amazed at how often I hear from would-be writers who say they just want to write for the sake of writing. “I don’t care if it gets published.” Then why not just talk?

Get your work out there. Sure, a certain amount of ego is at play. Who doesn’t want to be known, to be successful, to see her name in print? You simply need to remember that publishing has to be a byproduct of your writing, not the end goal.

If you set out to glamorize yourself, write a bestseller, score, whatever you call it, you might enjoy a short-lived celebrity, but you won’t have a career. As Dean Koontz has taught, the purpose of writing is communication, and if what we write is not read, that purpose is not fulfilled.

The most attractive quality in a person is humility. Sometimes money and fame will come whether or not you expect or seek them. But if you become enamored with the trappings of success, they become your passion. You need to return to your first love.

Why are you a writer?

Are you an inspirational writer?

The answers to those questions should have nothing to do with yourself. If God and others are not the reasons you write, you might as well write solely for the general market.

That doesn’t mean everything you write has to be a sermon or packed with scripture, but your unique worldview should come through. 

As working writers, we should be always sending out proposals – or coming up with new proposals to pitch. Never write to Dear Sir or To Whom It May Concern. Find and write directly to the appropriate person by name. Then, here are my top tips for query letters and proposals.

1. Avoid mannerisms and multiple fonts in your emails to editors. This is akin to the old snail mail taboo of using colored paper as stationery. Editors seem to universally see this as a sign of an amateur.

2. Do not use bold or LARGER-THAN-NORMAL type anywhere in an email, proposal, query, or manuscript.

3. Your title must be positive. Not "Don't Let Depression Defeat You," but rather: "Winning Over Depression."

4. A manuscript, even transmitted electronically, must should be double-spaced (not single- or triple-spaced, or spaced at the 1.5 setting). Fix the default Word setting that calls for extra space between paragraphs. Indent paragraphs and remember, unlike how we learned to type business letters, only one space between sentences.

5. If the publisher asks for hard copy (rare these days), your manuscript should never be bound, stapled, clipped, or in a notebook. Editors want the pages in a stack, loose, with each page numbered and carrying the author's name.

6. The word "by" rarely appears on the cover of a book unless it is self-published, and even then it is the sign of an amateur.

7. The misspelling of the word "acknowledgments" (as "acknowledgements", a British variation) or "foreword" (as "forward") is another clue that you're an amateur. "Foreword" means "before the text"; it consists of "fore" and "word", and has nothing to do with direction.

8. Your manuscript should not have justified right margins. Use ragged right margins, the kind that makes your manuscript appear to have been typed rather than computer generated. Justified margins cause inconsistent spacing between words, which make for difficult reading for overworked editors and will also require tedious reformatting.

9. A common cliché in inspirational books is to include prayers in prefatory material. Even paraphrasing those to say, "My prayer is that God would…" is better than, "Lord, I pray…", but avoid either in the dedication or acknowledgments ("Lord, thank you for my wonderful editor…" Blech!).

10. You've heard the slogan "Just do it." Now learn to "Just say it." Imagine telling your story to a friend over coffee or writing a letter. Good writing is not about loads of adjectives and adverbs. It consists of powerful nouns and verbs. So many beginners fall into an overwrought style editors call "writtenese." Your relatives may love your flowery language, and perhaps your unpublished creative writing teacher does too, but read what sells. Usually you'll find it simple and straightforward. 
 
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Author of more than 180 books with sales of more than 70 million copies, including the best-selling Left Behind series, Jerry B. Jenkins is former vice president for publishing and currently chairman of the board of trustees for the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago.
 
Jerry's writing has appeared in Time, Reader's Digest, Parade, Guideposts, and dozens of Christian periodicals. Twenty of his books have reached The New York Times best-seller list (seven debuting number one). The Breakthrough, the final book in Jerry's Precinct 11 trilogy, released from Tyndale House Publishers in September 2012.
 
Jerry owns Jenkins Entertainment, a filmmaking company in Chicago, and the Christian Writers Guild, which aims to train tomorrow's professional Christian writers. Each student is personally mentored by a seasoned professional.
 
In January 2013, Jerry launched Christian Writers Guild Publishing (CWGP). Students take a six-month mentored course to guide them in writing their manuscripts, then CWGP publishes their books.
 

 

 

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Jerry B. Jenkins Announces Innovative Publishing Firm

 

 

Contact: Karen Granger


561-445-2596 EST

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 29, 2013

 

 

Jerry B. Jenkins Announces Innovative Publishing Firm

 

Colorado Springs, CO—When Jerry B. Jenkins wrote his first book, the publisher accepted it, even though Jenkins wasn’t well known. Now 180 books later, the bestselling author has seen radical changes in traditional publishing.

 

“In my day, publishers took chances on beginners,” he says. “Nowadays, many reject good writers without platforms.”

 

Writer of the mega-bestselling “Left Behind” series (Tyndale) and owner of the Christian Writers Guild, Jenkins is on record against self-publishing; however, he’s recently had a change of heart.

 

To help aspiring writers achieve their publishing dreams, Jenkins is launching Christian Writers Guild Publishing (CWGP) [www.christianwritersguild.com].  He says it will be different from other custom publishing houses in that it features Published, a six-month course mentored by an experienced author. When students with works-in-progress complete the course, CWGP will publish their books—providing a copy editor, proofreader, cover and type designer, eBook formatter, printer, and a free package of promotion, marketing, and social media materials, everything the writer needs for a successful book launch.

 


 

“This is different from self-publishing,” Jenkins says. “It’s mentored, coached, and educated publishing. We come alongside through this course and surround them with seasoned industry professionals.”

 

“I’ve criticized self-publishing because so many end up with schlocky covers, typos, and poor production quality. CWGP is committed to providing writers with a valuable education and a great publishing experience.”

 


 

 

For more information about CWG Publishing,  see www.christianwritersguild.com.

 

For press inquiries and interview opportunities, contact Karen Granger at Karen@karengranger.com.

 

About Christian Writers Guild

For more than 40 years, the Christian Writers Guild has helped aspiring writers develop their craft by offering writing courses, each student personally mentored by a published author.

 

About Jerry B. Jenkins

Former editor of Moody Magazine, vice president for publishing, and now chairman of the board of trustees for the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, Jerry is the 20-time New York Times bestselling author of more than 180 books, including the 63 million-selling “Left Behind” series.