It’s a lot. I know. This is an attempt to keep up with everything I’m reading, writing, and working on, do a bit of reflection, and think about what’s coming up in the near future. We’ll see if it works.

Writing
I’m still taking a lot of notes for two nonfiction books that tie in really well with my other work. I haven’t had any great writing sessions this week because I’ve been sick with a terrible cold, but taking notes makes me feel like I’m still a writer even when I’m not writing.

I haven’t done much on the novel I’m writing but I hope to jump back in soon.

Reading
One of my favorite reads from the past few weeks is Pilgrim Bell by Kaveh Akbar. It’s coming out on August 2nd, and it’s fantastic. I recorded an podcast episode with Kaveh and Ashley Jones and I can’t wait to share it with my listeners. Kaveh and Ashley are MAGICAL together. Truly.

I also finished reading An I-Novel by by Minae Mizumura which I loved. And I finished Going on Faith: Writers on a Spiritual Quest which was edited by William Zissner.

I started reading Sinead O’Connor’s new memoir Rememberings which is wonderful so far. I’m looking forward to recording an Art and Faith Unplugged episode about this book and Sinead O’Connor’s music in the next few weeks. It’s going to be a good one.

I also read a book for entrepreneurs that was pretty good. I’m not going to share that title yet. We’ll see. Maybe later.

Art and Faith
I posted Why Art Can Help Us Heal from Our Pandemic Loneliness. I first wrote it a few months ago. I still believe it because art still heals.

I also watched ALL of the Netflix show Workin’ Moms. I have thoughts. So many thoughts. Have you watched Workin’ Moms? If so, please tell me why you love it.

One piece of art that made me consider how I belong to myself, others, the world, and God this week is the song “Run” by Snow Patrol. I heard this song for the first time in forever on a local radio station a few days ago in my car and it made me think about a particular season in my life. I love the way music can help us inhabit the past, present, and future all at the same time. I love it so much that I wrote a chapter about this in my book The Great Belonging.

Anyway, this song is so good. I love the lyrics, the music, all of it. I found an article about the making of “Run,” and it made me love the song even more. Here’s an excerpt:

I’m lucky that people didn’t have camera phones in those days, because I was a liability. Screaming, swearing, smashing up instruments – I was completely off the rails. One night after a 72-hour bender I fell down a flight of concrete stairs in a club in Glasgow. [Drummer] Jonny Quinn found me and thought I was dead. He said I was laid out like one of those police chalk lines that they have for dead bodies. I woke up in hospital, couldn’t see out of one eye and I had lots of teeth missing.

I went home to recover, and my parents were ashamed of me, coming home in such a state, but after that songs started pouring out. I wrote Run when I got back to Glasgow. It’s a song about protecting my family and I guess I was looking into the future, thinking about the family I would have and a saner, more stable life. My housemates were having a full-on party upstairs and I was writing down below. I was halfway through writing the song when the electricity went off because we hadn’t paid the meter. This inspired the “Light up, light up…” hook line, the first time I’d written a big chorus.

Of all the songs I’ve written, Run is the one I’m most proud of, because of how and where it was written and what people have told me it means to them. And it brought about some of what I was writing about – a new life and a financial stability.

—”Snow Patrol on how they made Run,” The Guardian, November 26, 2019

Writing Life Spiritual Direction
I had a wonderful IG Live Writing Life Checkup conversation with Alea Peister. You can watch it on my Instagram account here, if you like.

I also had a great spiritual direction session with a client who shared some really beautiful things about his writing life and the ways God has been present in his relationships. It’s such a gift to hold space for others in this way.

I’m accepting new spiritual direction clients again, so let me know if you’d like to set up an introductory call to see if we’re a good fit. You can see my current offerings here.

AND. I finished the Guide for Planning an Individual Spiritual and Creative Retreat and posted it online. I’ve received great feedback from several clients who have already used this resource. I’d love for you to check it out to see if it will be helpful for you or others you know.

Newsletters and Updates
I wrote my most recent email newsletter while I was sick. I almost skipped sending one but I’m trying to be consistent with my newsletter because people like consistency. I wrote about an amazing poem essay (essay poem?) by Anne Carson and some other things. You can read the newsletter here.

I sent another post to my newsletter subscribers on Wednesday night after I published the Guide for Planning an Individual Spiritual and Creative Retreat because I like for my newsletter subscribers to learn about new things first. If you want to subscribe and be the first to learn about new things, you can do so here.

Next Week
In the coming days I hope to:

Return to weekday morning prayer at a local Episcopal church.
Re-establish a regular writing rhythm since I’m feeling much better now.
Post all of the IG Live Writing Life Checkup summaries online.
Write, write, write.
Prepare a meal or two. Maybe a nice soup even though it’s summer.
Clean a few hundred emails out of my inbox.

We’ll see how all of that goes.

I hope you had a nice week and have a great weekend. Don’t forget to rest.

Charlotte Donlon is a writer, a spiritual director for writers, and the founder and host of the Our Faith in Writing podcast and website. Charlotte’s writing and work are rooted in noticing how art helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. Her first book is The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. You can subscribe to her newsletter and connect with her onTwitter and Instagram.