Stay in the Loop

1. Need Some Artful Nourishment?
The beloved Spiritual Direction for Writers® Daily Nourishment is officially accessible online here.

2. February 10: Online Seminar with author Sarah Sanderson and her book The Place We Make.
Free and paid registration options. All who register receive access to the recordings. (Related IG Reel)

3. February 12: Thoughtful Readers Gathering with Maggie Smith(!) and her new children’s book, My Thoughts Have Wings.
Free and paid registration options. All who register receive access to the recording. (Related IG Reel)

4. The SDW Membership and Co-Writing will come to a close effective 12/1/2024.

I love the membership and co-writing, but discontinuing these offerings will give me more time for writing and other things I need and want to do. I will be training others in the SDW methods and frameworks later this year and hope others will provide similar services under their own branding and offerings. I will write and teach and continue a few SDW events and one-on-one spiritual direction. The SDW Membership will be amazing during 2024. Let’s blow it out and enjoy this good thing while it lasts. NEW: SDW Sunday Conversations for SDW Members

5. If you’re interested in becoming a Spiritual Direction for Writers® Certified Guide, please email me at charlotte@charlottedonlon.com to set up an introductory call.

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Five Good Things No. 67

One Thing Our Dreams Help Us Remember
We are still every age we’ve ever been.

One Fantastic Book You Should Buy from Me If You Don’t Have It Yet
Here’s one of my favorite prayers from this book:
“God of every beautiful thing, Make us people of wonder. Show us how to hold on to nuance and vision when our souls become addicted to pain, to the unlovely. It is far easier to see the gloom and decay; so often it sings a louder song. Attune our hearts to the good still stirring in our midst, not that we would give ourselves to toxic positivity or neglect the pain of the world, but that we would be people capable of existing in the tension. Grant us habits of sacred pause. Let us marvel not just at the grand or majestic, but beauty’s name etched into every ordinary moment. Let the mundane swell with a mystery that makes us breathe deeper still. And by this, may we be sustained and kept from despair. Amen.” - Cole Arthur Riley

One Great Poem for February by Margaret Atwood
Can you read it aloud without laughing? AND that last line is such a lovely plea.

One Fantastic Interview with Toni Morrison
Nobel prize-winning author Toni Morrison talks to Emma Brockes about being a single mother, the death of her son and why love doesn't last

One Work of Art by Wakeah Jhane
Grandmother’s Prayers
2021

“Long before she ever knew she would become a mother and a grandmother - she prayed hard for the future generations to come. She planted a seed in each of us. Praying that we would never suffer the harsh realities that this world carries, as she did. Praying for our strength and resiliency to overcome it all if we did. Praying for the wombs and the babies. Her prayers are the very roots of us. It flows through the blood in our bodies so gently and intently like water. Creating new and better paths. She prays that her prayers radiate and reach as far as those who come in contact with her relations. Our matriarchs are celebrated every day by us simply being and carrying on their legacies.” - Wakeah Jhane

Thanks for Reading!
Keep putting yourself in the way of thoughtful books, offerings, and other good things.

In the coming days, I hope you notice some of the ways you belong to yourself, others, God, and the world.

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Stay in the Loop

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 is The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. Her next book on Spiritual Direction for Writers will be published by Eerdmans in 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 a certificate in spiritual direction. To receive Charlotte’s latest updates, news, announcements, and all kinds of good things, subscribe to here.