Align Your Creative Energy with Nature’s “Everything we know about creating,” writes Tina Welling, “we know intuitively from the natural world.” In Writing Wild, Welling details a three-step “Spirit Walk” process for inviting nature to enliven and inspire our creativity.
The burgeoning interest in writing and spiritual growth, spurred on by books such as Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way and Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones has helped to establish writing books as a mainstay in the book business. At the same time, spiritual and personal growth books grace bestseller lists across the nation. Perhaps not so surprisingly, there is a cross-fertilization between people who are interested in personal and spiritual growth and those who are interested in writing.In Writing Spiritual Books, Hal Zina Bennett will take the writer by the hand: first, he will help illuminate and focus on the spiritual experience; then Bennett shares tips and secrets on the craft of writing, organization, and style of spiritual books; and finally, he will address the practical aspects of finding an agent and publisher, complete with a resource section.Including both anecdotal and prescriptive material gleaned from the Hal Zina Bennett's work on over 200 successful projects--for both publishers and individual authors - their will be writing exercises, exploratory questions, and other practical guidance, Readers will be taken through the entire process of writing books for the spiritual and personal growth markets.
"When I begin to write, I open myself and wait. And when I turn toward an inner spiritual awareness, I open myself and wait." With that insight, Pat Schneider invites readers to contemplate their lives and deepest questions through writing. In seventeen concise thematic chapters that include meditations on topics such as fear, freedom, tradition in writing and in religions, forgiveness, joy, social justice, and death, How the Light Gets In gracefully guides readers through the artistic and spiritual questions that life offers to everyone. Praised as a "fuse lighter" by author Julia Cameron and "the wisest teacher of writing I know" by the celebrated writing guru Peter Elbow, Pat Schneider has lived a life of writing and teaching, passion and compassion. With How the Light Gets In, she delves beyond the typical "how-to's" of writing to offer an extended rumination on two inner paths, and how they can run as one. Schneider's book is distinct from the many others in the popular spirituality and creative writing genre by virtue of its approach, using one's lived experience--including the experience of writing--as a springboard for expressing the often ineffable events that define everyday life. Her belief that writing about one's own life leads to greater consciousness, satisfaction, and wisdom energizes the book and carries the reader elegantly through difficult topics. As Schneider writes, "All of us live in relation to mystery, and becoming conscious of that relationship can be a beginning point for a spiritual practice--whether we experience mystery in nature, in ecstatic love, in the eyes of our children, our friends, the animals we love, or in more strange experiences of intuition, synchronicity, or prescience."
A hands-on, practical resource for people who want to explore their relationship with God through writing. Unlike other books that focus on writing itself, Sarah Stockton focuses on the discoveries made--about one's self and about God--through meditation and creative journaling. A Pen and A Path is a book for anyone who wants to explore where God has been present in the various experiences of their life, past and present. Stockton, a spiritual director and writing teacher, walks readers through thirty-five separate topics, which can be read and worked on in order or in any sequence of interest to the reader. Topics explored include religious understandings such as how God is envisioned, how religious training formed (or didn't form) the reader, and how we envision ourselves as spiritual beings. Other chapters explore life stages: childhood, teenage years, elder years, as well as marriage, parenting, and sexuality. Focusing on emotions such as grief, shame, anger, and loneliness, as well as feelings about work provide readers with the opportunity to explore nearly any aspect of their life of faith.
Writing the Sacred Journey shows readers how to write about spirituality and the interior life with heart and flair. It helps readers get motivated, generate materials, move swiftly through drafts, and gain confidence and ease in their writing. Writing the Sacred Journey helps readers to uncover and honor the sacred within their own life stories. Elizabeth Andrew, an experienced writing instructor and spiritual director, gently guides readers through the spiritual writing process from concept to finished manuscript. She identifies some of the initial hurdles writers face in describing the interior, spiritual life and offers practical tips about how to overcome them. Writing the Sacred Journey also explores themes that commonly appear in spiritual memoir, as well as the all-important issue of writing as craft. Readers will learn new and practical skills for every stage of the writing process. Sprinkled throughout the book, these thoughtful activities teach readers new writing techniques and avenues into the creative process.
“This book is a powerful tool to help you access this deeper realm of consciousness and put it to work enriching your life . . . immediately.” —August Gold, author of The Prayer Chest #1 Bestseller in New Age & Spirituality, Graphology, Parapsychology, Handwriting Analysis, Creativity, and Journaling Janet Conner is a writer, poet, and spiritual field guide, but first and always a deep spiritual soul explorer. Since she discovered how to activate a divine Voice by slipping into the theta brain wave state (border between the conscious and the subconscious) while writing, Janet has dedicated herself to exploring and sharing what it means to live at the vibrant intersection of the visible and the invisible. After hitting rock bottom while escaping domestic abuse, Janet’s inner voice told her to start writing. As she wrote, she gained clarity and strength, and felt an incredible connection to the divine. Today, research scientists are providing peeks into consciousness and how it works. Their findings give clues about what is happening in our bodies, minds, and spirits as we roll pen across paper. Writing Down Your Soul explores this research and instructs how to access the power and beauty of our deepest selves. If you want to engage in a vibrant conversation with the wisdom that dwells just below your conscious awareness, write. Write every day, at approximately the same time, with passion, honesty, and the intention of speaking with and listening to the voice within. “If you think this book is not for you because you are a writer and don’t need another writing book, think again!” —Sherry Richert Belul, author of Say it Now
A woman's coming-of-age journey through the rugged landscape of Wales to the reflective quiet of a retreat center. Along the way she questions and explores the depth of her Methodist faith as she comes to terms with her bisexual identity.
Six acclaimed authors discuss the influence of religion on their writing. Includes comment by David Bradley, Allen Ginsberg, Mary Gordon and Jaroslav Pelikan. Third in the Writer's Craft series.
Luann Budd offers to help you get started journaling, and she introduces you to the power of writing as a spiritual discipline through helpful tips and examples from her own journals.
Helen Harmelink Cepero looks at how we can use journal writing to enhance and support other disciplines such as discernment, self-understanding, attention to God, prayer and more.