Category: Writing

Boy in Leaves

Writing

Jump Starting the Writing Habit Again

It’s about time to jump start my writing again. For the past several days I’ve been using the prompts from The Daily Post to help reestablish a daily habit of blogging, and it feels good to be writing regularly once more.   Today fall begins, and the days of autumn are begging to be written about. Soon there will be leaves to jump in and pumpkins to carve. And to my mind, we are entering one of the greatest stretches of feast days in the church year: St. Vincent de...

Sunset

Spirituality / Writing

Stylish Prayer

Some people are naturally stylish. Their clothes, their hair–their entire manner–exude style, a magical word that blends elegance, originality, and visual appeal. While I am most certainly not stylish, I appreciate my stylish family and friends. Whenever I try to be stylish, either in my appearance or in my writing, I come off artificial, stilted, and phony. The same thing happens when I try to be stylish in prayer. Oh, I don’t intentionally try to be stylish, but that’s what it is when I’m not myself in prayer, when...

sunset

Spirituality / Writing

Why Silence?

Silence is God’s invitation to communion. We enter into silence to be transformed, to be raised up, to be loved. In silence, God whispers to the heart and the heart whispers back. Why a whisper? Why silence? If the great God of the universe were to speak in full voice we would be overpowered. But God meets us gently, softly. In silence we discover that God does not yell, but speaks instead with tenderness and care. Silence with God is an island of peace, a refuge from the...

Redwood Forest

Spirituality / Writing

Hiking Through Life

I have been trying to hike through life lately, instead of walking. And this despite the fact that I much prefer a walk to a hike. A hike is a task-oriented foray into the world that says “I am in control; I make my own destiny.” It requires preparation and foresight–a rigid jaw and a firm step. A walk on the other hand, is all leisure. Walking says, “Holy Spirit, come and take my hand and lead me where Thou will.” One never knows where a walk will...

Vice President Biden

Spirituality / Writing

Does Ridicule Have a Place in Catholic Discourse?

Last week I commented on the blog of a popular Catholic apologist when he seemed to ridicule Vice President Biden.  Though it appears I misunderstood his blog post, the comment began a brief discussion about the place of ridicule in public discourse.  I wrote, “I’d like Biden out of office, too, but not by ridiculing him out.  Let’s raise our level of discourse and not lose our souls to gain the whole world.” Here is what he had to say in response: …I guess I have to disagree...

Fiction / Writing

Black – A Short Story

Black by Nick Senger Johnny wore black to school every day. Black pants, black t-shirt, long black trenchcoat. “You’re a nice boy, Johnny,” his teacher would say. “Why do you always wear black?” “It suits me, Mrs. Parker,” Johnny always replied. “I’m nobody.” “No one’s nobody, dear,” she said. “God has plans for everyone.” “Not me.” As Johnny went through junior high Mrs. Parker would see him on the playground or in the detention room, always wearing the black pants, the black t-shirt and the long black trenchcoat....

Map of Wyndham Eld

Fiction / Writing

The Seeing Stone: Chapter 1, Part 1

[Note: This is the beginning of a novel I abandoned many years ago.  I worked on it, off and on, for over fifteen years and it never got any better.  I have notebooks full of backstory, history and characterizations, along with maps, sketches and unfinished scenes.  Why dredge it up now?  Well, I guess I felt sorry for it, sitting there alone for so many years.  A story is meant to be heard, even a bad story.  This one is full of clichés, melodrama, and too much exposition,...

Young Cicero

Books and Reading / Writing

ROMAN Reading Will Improve Your Reading Habits in Under an Hour

My new eBook ROMAN Reading: 5 Practical Skills for Transforming Your Life Through Reading is available for free today! Download ROMAN Reading (1.86 mb) and in less than an hour you’ll have learned reading skills that last a lifetime. I’ve been teaching these skills for over sixteen years, and I can teach you. For free. Why? Because I have a mission, and I want you to share it with me. The mission? Changing lives one page at a time. I want to make the world a more literate...

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Humor / Writing

Fiction So Bad It’s Good

I just came across the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, and if you want a good laugh you should really check it out. The goal of the contest: write a single sentence of awful prose. Here’s last year’s winner, by Jim Guigli of Carmichael, CA: Detective Bart Lasiter was in his office studying the light from his one small window falling on his super burrito when the door swung open to reveal a woman whose body said you’ve had your last burrito for a while, whose face said angels did...