Recently I went on a silent retreat, at the beginning of which I dreamt my daughter was trying to open a locked door with a cleaver. “No!” I shouted. Not only was this dangerous, it would destroy the keyhole. Then I experienced nine solid days of silence, intense meditation, and long walks in the mountains; difficult […]
The travesty of ICE’s presence in Minnesota is so huge, I’ve had trouble writing about it. I’m not alone; many writers are choosing to escort kids to school or pack boxes of food instead. Urgent needs are everywhere. Thank goodness some writers are finding their voices, though. A friend of mine keeps an “occupation journal,”
The Prayers of Small Things Read More »
The small lawn in front of my daughter’s high school is a jumble of sporadically-tended vegetable gardens, a big poorly painted rock, a stick sculpture of a turtle, and a mosaicked wall. Last week on that cluttered bit of land, while students headed to the bus stop and crossed the street to the library, ICE
Write or Be Written Read More »
Writers say it takes a village to write a book. Look at any acknowledgement or dedication page for evidence: This breed of introverted, solitude-craving, nose-in-a-novel, socially misfit authors is beholden to community—for inspiration, research help, revision suggestions, editing, publishing, marketing work, babysitting, cheerleading… Each individual’s creative act is invariably intertwined with many lives. Recognizing this keeps us
The Writer’s Village Read More »
I taught my first spiritual memoir class when I was twenty-eight, still in graduate school, and two years before my first book was released. Every one of my students was older than me. When I gave them a prompt, invariably someone ended up in tears. I was astonished; this had never happened in my MFA workshops! Nothing in my
Embracing the Writer’s Tears and Surprises Read More »
In a bizarre twist of fate, I’ll be the recipient of a chunk of change thanks to a class action suit. Anthropic is a company that, without permission, used thousands of books, including Swinging on the Garden Gate, to develop its AI product. Presumably you can now tell Anthropic’s tool to write a memoir in
The Surprisingly Sacred Invitation of AI Read More »
What would happen if you dug through your memories looking for your soul’s journey? You would find moments of joy, shot through with brilliance. You’d find unspeakable pain and grief and despair. You’d find sweet intimacies, wrenching doubt, steadiness, and regret. You’d find meaningless suffering and profound synchronicity. Most of all, you’d find mystery. Who are you, really? What’s your life’s
Holding Our Stories to the Light Read More »
About a decade ago I had a dream about my impending death. It blew me open. For weeks afterward, I was saturated by a silence so pervasive it felt like a presence. Once it dissipated, I desperately wanted it back and so plunged head-first into an ancient Christian form of silent meditation. I also began writing
It takes a village to raise a child, and, judging from acknowledgement pages and how my writing group has saved my ass innumerable times, it takes a village to write a book. In addition to the obvious participants (your writing teachers and colleagues, your beta readers, your agent or publisher or local copy store clerk), we’re
The Village in Your Book Read More »
Why is creativity so nourishing? Why on a busy trip does an hour with watercolors settle my daughter’s nervous system? Why do ten minutes of journaling launch my day well? How did a simple circle dance, repeated over a weekend, deepen trust and add bounce to the steps of retreat participants? On a walk through a rough part
At the Heart of Creativity Read More »