My wife and I saw Andrew Peterson in concert at Springdale Community Church tonight here in Louisville, KY. It was an awesome, small show in a pretty nice facility. We got to hear some good stories about several songs that (to me at least) really made them come alive. Naturally, Andrew gave a quick plug for his books toward the end of the concert, and I enthusiastically expressed my appreciation before the crowd.

We had a great time, and I got to pick Andrew's brain about writing after the concert. His advice? For him, he used three things to make it to the end of On the Edge:

• Discipline
• Audacity
• Friendly competition

After the first book published, it starts to look more like a job. In the meantime... anyone up for some friendly writing competition?

» Read the full post at my personal blog.

I had a funny (to me anyways) thought the other day... Due to the similarity in sound of the words jewel and tool, the first Fangs to govern Skree could have been confused. Perhaps they thought that they were supposed to be on the lookout for the lost tools of Anniera. This would explain why they're so picky about who gets to use what tool when, especially in Glipwood where tools must be checked out through those awesomely ridiculous forms.

I'm sure the Fangs figured out eventually that the tools weren't near as special as the Jewels. However, I am curious to discover just how many tools are mentioned in the book and whether any are used with special significance in the fight against and flight from the Fangs of Dang.

I've created a list page in the Wiki that you can help me fill up with all the supposed "Tools of Anniera" you can find in the books. Just follow the format I've started to include book names and pages for the appearance of the tools and any special significance they have.

For Christmas in 2007, my wife and I were given a gift card to Amazon.com by my parents. We didn't use it for a little while, but finally in February 2008 we purchased On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness and Tim Keller's Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. We eagerly tore into On the Edge and had a great time reading it aloud to one another.

Now recently on a trip from Louisville to my grandparents' house in Abingdon, VA (where we surprised my mom to celebrated her 50th birthday!) we decided to pick the book up again. We're definitely looking forward to the read through, not just because it's a fun read, but also because we've decided to use this trip through the story to start filling in the Wingfeather Wiki!