Dean Nelson
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Blog

There Is Something Else To Marvel At In The New Marvel Universe Movie. How About the Director?

By deannelson on September 7, 2021
Blog, Uncategorized

Me? A Guru?

By deannelson on May 6, 2021
Blog, Uncategorized

The Gift Within This Quarantine

By deannelson on July 27, 2020
Blog

Being Interviewed About Interviewing, By Podcast Interviewers

By deannelson on December 11, 2019
Uncategorized

The Authenticity of Rachel Held Evans

By deannelson on May 6, 2019
Uncategorized

La Playa Books? Gotta Love the Neighborhood Book Store!

By deannelson on May 1, 2019
Uncategorized

When Rob Bell Interviews You, It’s an Adventure

By deannelson on March 19, 2019
Uncategorized

Let’s Talk About “Talk To Me”

By deannelson on March 6, 2019
Blog, Uncategorized

Remembering Eugene Peterson, Who Gave Me My Most Public Smackdown

By deannelson on October 23, 2018
Blog

What I’m Talking About When I’m Talking About Talking

By deannelson on September 15, 2017
Blog

Mother Teresa, The Newest Saint

By deannelson on November 23, 2016
Blog

Remembering Paul Miller: Sometimes All It Takes Is a Comment

By deannelson on October 24, 2016
Blog

Why Nikki Giovanni Still Matters

By deannelson on August 9, 2016
Blog

I Don’t Understand Creole, But I Understood This

By deannelson on July 26, 2016
Books

God Hides in Plain Sight: How to See the Sacred in a Chaotic World

By deannelson on June 20, 2016
Interviews

Dean Nelson interviews Carlos Ruiz Zafon

By deannelson on June 20, 2016
Blog, Interviews, Writer's Symposium

Eugene Peterson, Bono and Me

By deannelson on June 17, 2016
Blog

My Greatest Public Smackdown Leads Me One Step Closer to Bono

By deannelson on April 26, 2016
Blog

The Storms We Can’t Predict

By deannelson on March 25, 2016
Interviews

Dean Interviews David Kinnaman

By deannelson on January 19, 2016
Interviews

Dean Nelson interviews Carlos Ruiz Zafon

By deannelson on December 23, 2015
Blog

The New King of Iceland

By deannelson on December 17, 2015
Blog

You Thought You Knew Something About Iceland? Bet You Didn’t Know This

By deannelson on December 8, 2015
Blog

Where Do You Go To Heal a Broken Heart?

By deannelson on December 8, 2015
Blog

When All That You Have Is Exactly What Someone Needs

By deannelson on December 8, 2015
Blog

Plotting Revenge Feels So Good, Until It Doesn’t

By deannelson on December 8, 2015
Blog

Travel Advisory: Don’t Jump to Conclusions

By deannelson on July 8, 2015
Blog

The One Question We Should All Ask of Each Other and Ourselves

By deannelson on June 8, 2015
Blog

What Are Friends For? Sometimes It’s Easier Than You Think

By deannelson on May 8, 2015
Talks

Talking About Writing in La Jolla, Chicago, and on the USS Midway

By deannelson on December 11, 2014
Blog

Reaching For The Sky

By deannelson on December 11, 2014
Blog

Another Reason Why I’m Not a Ninja Warrior

By deannelson on November 22, 2014
Talks

Travel Writing Seminar in Iceland

By deannelson on September 29, 2014
Blog

Was I Prepared to Hike the Grand Canyon? Uhh, Sort Of

By deannelson on September 27, 2014
Blog

Don’t You Love it When You’re Right? Except When You’re Wrong

By deannelson on August 5, 2014
Blog

Driving in Ireland: Where Do You Think You’re Going?

By deannelson on July 9, 2014
Blog

Sometimes My Headaches Bring Out the Best in My Friends

By deannelson on June 11, 2014
Blog

So, Dad, Do You Remember World War II? Did It Remember You?

By deannelson on December 5, 2013
Blog

Billy Collins, Brian Doyle Murray and I Did Play Golf Together. They Played Well. I Played…Well…

By deannelson on November 12, 2013
Blog

Hey Cellphone User! Oh, Never Mind

By deannelson on October 17, 2013
Blog

“When You Focus on the Things That Can Make You Crash, You’ll Crash”

By deannelson on August 16, 2013
Blog

“When You Focus on the Things That Can Make You Crash, You’ll Crash”

By deannelson on August 16, 2013
Blog

Evicting Rats, Digging Up Memories

By deannelson on July 19, 2013
Blog

A Tale of Two Golf Courses, But It’s Not Really About Golf

By deannelson on June 6, 2013
Blog

The Crumbs From Their Table

By deannelson on May 23, 2013
Blog

Driving, Daughter and Dublin, Part III: The Diary

By deannelson on January 31, 2013
Blog

Driving, Daughter and Dublin, Part II: “Where Do You Think You’re Going?”

By deannelson on January 10, 2013
Blog

Driving, Daughter and Dublin, Part I: My Lucky Day?

By deannelson on December 17, 2012
Blog

Volvo in Vegas, Part III: The Trump Card

By deannelson on August 25, 2012
Blog

Volvo in Vegas, Part II: In Search of a Sign

By deannelson on August 17, 2012
Blog

Volvo in Vegas, Part I: The Desert Speaks

By deannelson on August 10, 2012
Blog

Hanging Out With Ray Bradbury

By deannelson on June 6, 2012
Interviews

Dean Interviews John Ortberg

By deannelson on February 17, 2012
Blog

Dave Eggers, Chris Hedges, Rachel Held Evans All On Our Stage

By deannelson on February 16, 2012
Blog

My New Best Friend in Mexico

By deannelson on January 3, 2012
Blog

Discovering John Polkinghorne

By deannelson on October 6, 2011
Books

Quantum Leap: How John Polkinghorne Found God in Science and Religion

By deannelson on September 1, 2011
Blog

Decisions, Decisions

By deannelson on June 27, 2011
Blog

Along Comes Mary

By deannelson on May 31, 2011
Interviews

While Most People Talk About Rob Bell, I Actually Talked To Him

By deannelson on May 27, 2011
Blog

The Kids Are All Right

By deannelson on January 6, 2011
Blog

Waiting for Guggenheim

By deannelson on October 15, 2010
Blog

So This is What a Birthday Party for Intellectuals Looks Like

By deannelson on July 16, 2010
Blog

My One Shot at Being a Commencement Speaker

By deannelson on June 7, 2010
Blog

You Gotta Love It When A Reviewer Likens Your Book to a Coen Brothers Movie

By deannelson on May 10, 2010
Interviews

Recent Interview with Kathleen Norris

By deannelson on April 27, 2010
WORKSHOPS

A Reading and Discussion at A Literary Tea…

By deannelson on April 27, 2010
Blog

Competing With the Pope, While a Priest Says I’ve Written a Masterpiece

By deannelson on April 21, 2010
Blog

What the Modern Prophets (and a Student) Taught Me

By deannelson on April 7, 2010
Blog

Is Confession Strange?

By deannelson on March 5, 2010
Interviews

New Interview…

By deannelson on March 5, 2010
Blog

Garrison Keillor: Alive and Well and Full of Hope

By deannelson on March 5, 2010
Blog

Inside the Cathedrals in Cambridge, It’s Bach and Handel; Outside it’s Indians and Robots

By deannelson on December 11, 2009
Blog

Risen Magazine Features God Hides in Plain Sight

By deannelson on December 4, 2009
Blog

A Different Way to Think About Christmas Gifts, and Another View of God Hides in Plain Sight

By deannelson on December 4, 2009
Blog

To Writers, Random Events Aren’t So Random

By deannelson on December 3, 2009
Blog

Do You Want to Die Today?

By deannelson on December 3, 2009
PUBLISHED STORIES

Seeing the Sacraments in Shawshank Redemption, Away We Go, and USA Today

By deannelson on October 26, 2009
Blog

“One of the Best Pieces of Wisdom You Will Ever Hear”

By deannelson on October 7, 2009
Blog

Why the Minnesota Twins Make the Spin of the Ball, and the World, Make Sense

By deannelson on October 7, 2009
Blog

What a Beliefnet Blogger Says About My New Book (Hint: He Liked It!)

By deannelson on October 2, 2009
Blog

Now Appearing in Donald Miller’s Burnside Writer’s Collective; Announcing the Start of My Million Inches Tour

By deannelson on October 1, 2009
Blog

Connecting 9/11, Serving Others, and Experiencing God on the Mark Larson Show

By deannelson on September 15, 2009
Blog

Boy Scouts, Mosquitoes and Sacraments on Clear Channel Radio

By deannelson on September 11, 2009
Blog

New Beliefnet Essay on Science and Faith

By deannelson on September 9, 2009
Blog

Interview with San Diego 6

By deannelson on August 31, 2009
Blog

How a Journalist Sees God

By deannelson on August 24, 2009
Blog

Okay, So The Police Just Left The House

By deannelson on August 14, 2009
Blog

Book Release Next Month — Here’s an Excerpt

By deannelson on August 6, 2009
Blog

Why is the Kettle Boiling?

By deannelson on August 3, 2009
Blog

In a Pub With C.S. Lewis

By deannelson on July 31, 2009
Blog

Murder in the Cathedral

By deannelson on July 30, 2009
Blog

Meditate On This!

By deannelson on July 27, 2009
Blog

Physics and the Body of Christ

By deannelson on July 26, 2009
Blog

It’s Time To Yell a Little

By deannelson on July 20, 2009
Blog

So, I have a new book coming out…

By deannelson on July 15, 2009
Books

The Power of Serving Others: You Can Start Where You Are

By deannelson on August 9, 2006
Books

Every Full-Moon Night & They Saw Only Feet

By deannelson on August 8, 2006
Books

100 Years of Stories (Voices and Images From Point Loma Nazarene University’s First Century)

By deannelson on August 8, 2001
Books

Come as You Are: An Invitation to Meet Jesus–Just Where You Are

By deannelson on January 26, 1999
Books

Heart and Soul: Awakening Your Passion to Serve

By deannelson on June 1, 1997
Books

New Father’s Survival Guide: Devotions for the First Year of Parenthood

By deannelson on March 8, 1994
Books

God Never Said We’d Be Leading at the Half (But He Did Promise That We’d Win the Ball Game)

By deannelson on August 8, 1980
HomeDean’s Blog
Blog

There Is Something Else To Marvel At In The New Marvel Universe Movie. How About the Director?

By deannelson on September 7, 2021

One of the pleasures of teaching at PLNU is that I get to meet great students who become famous Hollywood directors! Here’s my story about Destin Daniel Cretton, director of the new Marvel Universe movie…
Read more

Blog, Uncategorized

Me? A Guru?

By deannelson on May 6, 2021

Earlier this year the San Diego Union-Tribune had me as a guest on its podcast called Name Drop San Diego. They called me a “Journalism Guru” in the headline. The timing of the program was…
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Blog, Uncategorized

The Gift Within This Quarantine

By deannelson on July 27, 2020

In the middle of all of the disruption and pain and loss and confusion and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is at least something we can savor. I wrote about it in the San…
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Blog

Being Interviewed About Interviewing, By Podcast Interviewers

By deannelson on December 11, 2019

Two podcasts have posted recently, where the host talked with me about the art and craft of conducting great interviews. One was with a management/leadership resources company in London, England, called Mind Tools, and the…
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Uncategorized

The Authenticity of Rachel Held Evans

By deannelson on May 6, 2019

When Rachel Held Evans was barely 30 years old, she came to our Writer’s Symposium By The Sea to talk about blogging, ideas, and evolving faith. Here’s my interview with her. Maybe my favorite line…
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Uncategorized

La Playa Books? Gotta Love the Neighborhood Book Store!

By deannelson on May 1, 2019

I got to celebrate Indie Bookstore Day on April 27 with the great gang at La Playa Books in Point Loma. They featured my new book, Talk To Me: How To Ask Better Questions, Get…
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Uncategorized

When Rob Bell Interviews You, It’s an Adventure

By deannelson on March 19, 2019

This time it was Rob’s turn. I have interviewed Rob Bell twice — once for a magazine a long time ago, and again in 2011 for our Writer’s Symposium By The Sea, just as his…
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Uncategorized

Let’s Talk About “Talk To Me”

By deannelson on March 6, 2019

My new book “Talk To Me: How To Ask Better Questions, Get Better Answers, and Interview Anyone Like A Pro” just came out from HarperCollins, and it’s getting some good response! It’s both a practical…
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Blog, Uncategorized

Remembering Eugene Peterson, Who Gave Me My Most Public Smackdown

By deannelson on October 23, 2018

I talked to Eugene Peterson on the phone earlier this year, inviting him to an event I was trying to organize in San Diego. I asked him if he’d be willing to come. “No,” he…
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Blog

What I’m Talking About When I’m Talking About Talking

By deannelson on September 15, 2017

The book I thought I was writing last year was a handbook for writers. But when I submitted it to publishers, one editor responded by saying, “Why aren’t you writing a book about interviewing? You…
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Dean Nelson ©2023