One Quote + One Note + One Question January 13, 2024
One Quote
All of life is the writing life because everything matters.
- Charlotte Donlon
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One Note
In August of 2020, I had to create a narrative about the writing life that could be true all of the time, even during a pandemic, when my bipolar mania returned for a few weeks after 10+ years with no significant issues with mental illness, when I was grieving the death of my father and the loss of typical grief rituals due to my mental illness and a pandemic.
The story that made sense and felt true all the time is this: All of life is the writing life.
After living with that narrative for two years, here’s what I posted on Instagram on August 14, 2022:
Don’t let me or anyone else make this more complicated than it is. No other person, course, program, or method is a necessary component of your creative process or your writing life.
I can’t make you write. I can’t make you notice God. But I can enhance your chances for both. I can help you have the writing life you want, the life you’re already moving toward, a bit quicker.
But I’m far from necessary.
All of life is the writing life. Creativity isn’t dependent on secret formulas or special equations or personality types.
It’s impossible for someone else to know more about your creative process than you. You don’t need their secret formulas or special knowledge to write or make your art.
Don’t give someone else power over your creativity or your creative goals.
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I had good reasons for posting those words along with the quote “All of life is the writing life.” I could write a dozen different captions today to go along with that quote.
I had good reasons for posting another version of those words above and on Instagram today.
And here’s what’s been going through my mind for the past few days:
Because all of life is the writing life, it’s okay that my next book on Spiritual Direction for Writers® is still not ready for my editor’s first round of edits. It’s getting there. I’m filling the holes and doing the other work and living I’m called to do right now. And the other work and living I’m called to do right now is continuing to form who I am and who I’ll be each time I sit down with my manuscript to fill another hole.
Because all of life is the writing life, interruptions to my writing schedule and writing plans are not events worthy of anger, frustration, or anxiety. Yes. I need to write every day and fill those damn holes. And most days it works out. But sometimes there are real crises that require my attention and time and energy.
Because all of life is the writing life, I’m a student of what it means to be present in any given moment without worrying about how I should be writing instead of doing what I’m doing instead of writing. (I believe there will always be room to become more present to this moment. And this one. And this one.)
So, while I was driving an hour and a half on Thursday afternoon to pick up my daughter after she was in a horrible wreck on I-65 South on her way back to Birmingham after a day trip to Nashville, I did what I do and stayed present to present. I was present to the moment and to her on the phone while she waited for the State Trooper to arrive, while she waited for my dear friend who lives closer to the scene of the accident to arrive, while she waited for me to arrive. My daughter was okay, thanks to her calm mind, quick thinking, Subaru awesomeness, and airbag techonology. Her car is totaled. She could’ve died, but she didn’t.
So I let my attention to the present moment during that hour and a half drive be a prayer of thanksgiving for her life, for the opportunity to be present to her. I prayed while I talked to her. I prayed with each passing second, minute, and mile marker. I prayed while I listened to her and tried to determine from her words and voice and inflection how she was holding up emotionally and physically. I prayed while I told myself she was okay, I was okay. It was all going to be okay. Thank God.
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One Question
What does this present moment have for you right now?
Charlotte Donlon’s writing and work are always rooted in helping her readers, audience, and clients notice how art and other good things help them belong to themselves, others, the divine, and the world. Charlotte is the founder of Thoughtful Books Etc.™, One O’Clock Central, Spiritual Direction for Writers® , Spiritual Direction for Belonging™, and Parenting with Art™. Her first book was The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. Her next book on Spiritual Direction for Writers will be published by Eerdmans in 2024 or 2025. Charlotte’s essays have appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing and studied creative nonfiction with Paula Huston and Lauren F. Winner. She holds a certificate in spiritual direction from Selah Center for Spiritual Formation. To receive Charlotte’s latest updates, news, announcements, and all kinds of good things, subscribe to Thoughtful Readers Etc. + Five Good Things.