Step by step

Christmas season has passed, a new year has arrived, and I thought it was time to dust off the ol' blog and see if it still works.

Liken titles enjoyed a modestly successful Christmas season. Our efforts to take our Bible titles to the broader Bible-believing market began to yield some success, but it is clear that it will be a lengthy process. We are refining our approach, implementing new strategies (well, actually the strategies aren't new to us, but implementing them will be), and are optimistic that there is much good that will yet be accomplished by the Liken series.

We introduced the Sing Along DVDs in November. Our hope was to, through some miracle (something like like when the townspeople rally around Jimmy Stewart in the end of "It's A Wonderful Life," for example, would be nice), our audience would rise up and we would sell thousands of these and thereby have the funds to produce "Jonah." Well, we had many wonderful people rise up and do what they could, but we only crossed the 1,000 mark last week. It will help, but it is clear that other efforts are needed.

It reminds me a lot of the early days of Liken. We didn't have many resources, usually only enough to take the next step. So we took the next step and then something would happen or someone would come along that would enable us to take the next step. And after enough of these steps, we would look back and see the long line of steps and only then realize how far we'd come. So we are in a step-taking mode.

What is clear from this most recent Christmas season is that the audience that has been introduced to Liken has become much more vast. Our titles aired on television stations and cable systems throughout the world. We've received emails from all over this globe. Many of these people then ordered DVDs to share with their families. Our hope is that as we refine our approach, this will happen with much greater frequency. The titles will be airing again this spring.

On the writing front, spent my early morning writing time the last few weeks rewriting the screenplay I had been working on just prior to starting work on Liken several years ago. Shared the results with a highly experienced script consultant last week. She called Friday to tell me her notes were on the way, but her overall reaction over the phone was something I won't soon forget. Still basking in that one. I will be making some tweaks based on her feedback, and then we will see what do do with it next (there's that "step by step" theme again). I've learned from years of writing screenplays and being among others doing the same is that it is absurd to count on anything happening with them beyond developing your craft. But it felt like the time was right to revisit this one, and it's a story with themes that are close to my heart. So it was good to revisit it, regardless of what happens. However, if something positive happened with it, that would sure help push "Jonah" along.

I also intend to work on the stage adaptations of more Liken titles. Leaning toward "Esther" for the next one. I did "Nephi" first, and it was performed by a church group up in Edmonton in 2006. Last year, about 10 groups did our second adaptation ("The First Christmas"). I've now been able to see three groups stage these productions live, and it has been very helpful to me as part of the adaptation process. I would like to roll out several this year, if possible.