Introducing Marcus Goodyear

Howdy, from the Texas hill country and my blog, HillCountryWriter. That's where God sent my family two years ago. And let me tell you, we love it.

My wife and I are the volunteer drama ministers for our church. That means she acts and I write. Though more and more she and the music minister are suckering me into the acting part, too.

I love to write. I can't stop really. Poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and drama. Poetry and fiction are my great loves. I'm in the process of posting an entire novel on my blog, but don't tell my agent. I also post lots of poetry about Jesus and love and barbies and anglo-saxon monsters.

I'm an avid reader (currently reading Susanna Clarke's The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Martin Espada's The Republic of Poetry). I also read to my kids obsessively. We're currently keeping the Christmas Peef vigil, and I never get tired of Peef. And my wife and I read aloud to each other. We've read a slew of books from Narnia and The Lord of the Rings to the Bible. (We're in Romans).

Professionally, I'm a research and content editor for the H. E. Butt Foundation. That means I lead workshops at our retreat center Laity Lodge from time to time and get to work with some of the best writers in the country. (For example, Eugene Peterson wrote the majority of the message while in residence there. I've actually met him!) I also get to edit work by many of these writers for TheHighCalling.org and Christianity Today's FaithInTheWorkplace.com.

I joined Writer . . . Interrupted for business and personal reasons.

In business language, Gina seems to have a good instinct for marketing and mobilizing writers. She started this blog in 2006 and already has over 200 links!

In personal language, she knows how to build community. She knows how to share community. And she knows how to encourage people in the community to support each other.

Why wouldn't I want to be a part of that?