Where I’ve Been: When a Writer Writes

Although none of you have asked for it, I feel I owe an explanation to any readers of this blog to explain my sporadic presence here of late.

I’m “writing”.

I don’t know if you have any “writers” in your life, but perhaps you recognize some of the traits of this strange breed:

• We ponder, a lot
• We carry a notebook, a computer, scratch pads, sticky notes and highlighters in a special bag and keep these “comfort objects” within reach, even (or perhaps especially) when we’re not writing–just in case
• We forget (like a newly pregnant mother perhaps) that last time around we said, “This is the last time!”
• We’ve got our noses in a stack of reference books, which often cause us to fall into fits of despair
• We think about writing, but often find ourselves “stuck” until one day the words come, like water rushing over a dam, and then we can’t stop ourselves from obsessing about our project
• We pray, a lot, but not always in a healthy or holy fashion

You don’t have to be compensated or published to be a “writer”.

You just have to have a mind that isn’t quite right unless it’s “working on something” that has to do with words.

So while you are not seeing posts here regularly, please pray for me. Because the “something” I’m immersed in is special, but also in process.

An Act of Abandonment

O my God, I thank you and I praise
you for accomplishing your holy
and all-lovable will without any regard for mine.
With my whole heart,
in spite of my heart,
do I receive this cross I feared so much!

It is the cross of Your choice,
the cross of Your love.
I venerate it;
nor for anything in the world
would I wish that it had not come,
since You willed it.

I keep it with gratitude and with joy,
as I do everything that comes from Your hand;
and I shall strive to carry it without letting it drag,
with all the respect
and all the affection which Your works deserve.

Amen.

Saint Francis De Sales, Patron Saint of Writers

photo credit: It’s Worth the Wait! via photopin (license)