In "Quietness" the Sufi mystic poet Rumi speaks of taking an axe to one's prison wall and walking out "like someone suddenly born into color" (trans. by Coleman Barks). It's left me thinking of how many prisons humans build - both literal and metaphorical - and how often they do not serve the purposes of... Continue Reading →
On Mental Illness, Silence, and Suddenly Color
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTE2llSOjtI There are many reasons we have difficulty talking about mental illness. Those silences have shaped my new novel, Suddenly Color: A Sacred Grounds Novel Book 2.
Vomit Drafts: On the Value of Low-Quality Work
Do you resist doing things badly? I do. I strongly dislike the idea of producing low-quality work. (Can you tell I’m a recovering perfectionist?) I take all sorts of steps to avoid creating anything I might consider even remotely inaccurate, unaesthetic, tedious, or of an otherwise unhelpful quality. This approach, of course, can introduce its... Continue Reading →
A Novel for Lent
"We tend to associate this time of year with devotionals or books for study," I wrote recently in Christian Theological Seminary's CTS Connections newsletter. It was a piece reflecting on my recent novel, Kat's Dreams. I continued: "In the case of Kat’s Dreams, though, I chose to set this story during Lent – and I envision... Continue Reading →
Befriending the Unknown (Kat’s Dreams)
What if we saw the unknowns of life not as things to worry about but as spaces full of promise?
The Miracle of Dust (Kat’s Dreams)
Sometimes it's from the dust and ashes that God brings blessing and even new life.
