What kinds of books have you written?

So many different kinds that some people wonder what kind of writer I really am!

A good many of my books have been written for younger readers – either children or teenagers. Others have been written for adults, but generally with clear, simple, basic wording. About half of my more than sixty published books have been written in the Indonesian language. For thirty years I worked at a publishing house in Indonesia. More of my books are still in print in Indonesian than in English. Some of my books have been historical or history-based. Some have been biographies or collections of biographical materials. Some have been works of fiction (both novels and dramas), but still based on historical fact.

Several of my books have been about The Holy Bible, or based on parts of the Bible, or suggesting ways to read and better understand the Bible. Besides all of that prose, I have also written poetry of various kinds. A few of my poems have been published in magazines; I’m still hoping for more of them to get into print, both in periodicals and in book form. Sometimes I’ve even written music, or words to go with someone else’s music. One of my hymns has been in print for a long time. I’ve also written the librettos for three children’s musicals, two of which have been published.

What ties together all these different types of writing? For a long time I really didn’t know. Then I discovered the term POPULARIZER.

A popularizer is someone who can read and study books and other materials that are hard to find, or hard to understand, or both – the kind of reading and studying most people will never take the time and effort to do. Then the popularizer takes ideas from that difficult reading and puts those ideas into easier reading; in other words, into books that ordinary people – even younger people – will want to read. This description fits most of what I’ve written. I don’t write scholarly books, but I can read them. Then I can use the fruits of scholarship to write other books that more folks are likely to read.

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