Some days are just wonderful. It’s My Best Beloved’s birthday, and it’s Bailey’s birthday (our dog, known asThe Rescuepoo), and the hot-off-the-presses copy of my new novel arrived in the mail, which just makes me giddy with grinning . . . . but. . . the most wonderful thing about today happened in a prison.
novelist, essayist, teacher
We Know Not What . . .
April 29, 2013 by 8 Comments
Sometimes people ask me why I write. This is a good question, and one I’ll probably spend my life trying to answer. I usually say it’s because when I’m writing I feel as though I’m doing what I am intended to do. I say I write because I’m saner when I do than when I don’t. That one usually gets a chortle, although people sometimes step off to a safer distance. Probably wise. Snort.
Charleston, home of the Bloomsbury Group. Part of my ideal ‘home’
Narrative Braid — The Teller And The Tale
February 25, 2013 by 4 Comments
The other day in the Sharpening the Quill Writers’ Workshop I lead every month, I talked about what’s known as the Universal Story in narrative — the common structure beneath all kinds of narrative. It has a triune form (as do most fairy tales and religious imagery, but that’s something for another day) and consists of:
1. a beginning with what is familiar/comfortable … and how the protagonist is separated from the familiar.
2. a middle period of resistance and struggle
3. and finally and ‘end’ containing a transformation and return.
“Story” is more spiral than line.
Will I Write Again?
February 14, 2013 by 2 Comments
Perhaps it was Philip Roth’s announcement that he’s throwing in the pen that got me thinking about retiring from writing, but the thought has been skittering about in the darker corners of my mind over the past few weeks. It could also be a merely my usual pre-publishing state of mind. My Best Beloved assures me it is. (Although I have no recollection whatsoever of feeling this way just before my other books were published, when I say this he just chuckles.)
The Spirituality of Imperfection
February 5, 2013 by 4 Comments
In the Japanese tradition of “Wabi-Sabi” that which is imperfect is considered deeply spiritual and beautiful.
I’m re-reading a great book right now, called THE SPIRITUALITY OF IMPERFECTION. Sounds tailor-made for me, doesn’t it? I know, I know.
This books speaks to me on several levels — as a person staying sober one day at a time, as a writer, and as someone seeking a closer relationship with the Sacred. In a nutshell, this book is about accepting the human condition, and finding meaning even within suffering. Not that suffering is required,you understand, but that suffering isn’t a sign of failure.
Return of the Light
December 21, 2012 by 4 Comments
Winter Solstice. The longest night. The darkest time.
After the sorrow of this particular month, with the senseless slaughter of innocents a week ago today, and the mass insanity of doomsday cults, perhaps we may be forgiven for not quite believing the light will ever return. The darkness seems so impenetrable, so impossible to shift. We lie beneath it, inert, struggling to breath.
But the word ‘solstice’ as defined by the dictionary is “a furthest or culminating point; a turning point”. It means that we have gone as far as we can go in a certain direction, into the dark or away from the light, and now we will return. But as in any journey, things never look the same. We are changed by our experience. As T.S. Eliot said,
Psychology Today article
October 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment
I have an article about forgiveness up on the “Psychology Today” website . . . . many thanks to my friend, wonderful writer Ethan Gilsdorf, for making this happen. You can read the piece by clicking here. thanks!
Listening for the words
May 24, 2011 by 4 Comments
St. Mary's by the Sea, Retreat House in Cape May Point. (Michael S. Wirtz/ photo)
I recently spent the weekend in silence and centering prayer at a retreat center run by the Sisters of Saint Joseph in Cape May. It’s a glorious place overlooking the dunes and sea. I was there with some other folks who, like me, are trying to stay sober one day at a time.
The Beloved Face in the Crowd
March 15, 2011 by 4 Comments
The news is tough. Civil unrest. Cruel dictators slaughtering their people. Earthquakes. Tsunamis. Nuclear disasters. It’s easy to become overwhelmed, and to want to tune out completely.
That’s what happens when we’re deluged by unfathomable numbers. When we hear entire villages have vanished in the recent tsunami in Japan, how does the mind take it in?
Who are ‘we’?
March 8, 2011 by 3 Comments
Not one of 'us'?
My new book, OUR DAILY BREAD, which will be out in September explores the idea of ‘us’ vs ‘them’. Who do we consider members of our community, of our family, of our tribe?
As many of you know, I spend a lot of time in church basement rooms with other people who want to stay clean and sober one day at a time. One of the things that never ceases to amaze me is how alike we all are, even though we may seem very different at first glance. In these rooms are people of every race, of every economic level, nationality, every occupation and age group. The guy just out of prison sits next to the cop, the hooker sits next to the nun . . . and so on. Here, we are all members of the same group — the only thing you need for admission is a desire to stop drinking or drugging.
