I'm A Writer Of Faith Who Worries

While I Was In College Becoming A Good Catholic I Was Also Becoming A Writer - One Haunted By Catholicism.

You Want The Greatest Trick For Writing A Novel? Here It Is: Imagine Urgently Whispering Your Story Into One Person's Ear - And Only One. This One Visualization Will Clarify Every Word Choice You Make.

First, You Hand Over Some Basics-overwhelming Joy, Existential Angst, A Giving-in To Desire, Etc. And Then You Promise To Withstand Talking Idly About The Weather, To Encourage Cliché, To Uphold The Virtues Of Average. You Hand Over The Need To Be Understood And, In Return, You Get A Bar Of Normal Soap. And You Can Wash In It And Be Daily Reborn To A Safe World Of Modest, Enduring Love Or, At Least, Mild, Well-mannered Bonding.

And I Know I'm Supposed To Feel Guilty For Wanting People To Buy My Books... And Books In General? Novels And Poetry, They Belong To The Realm Of Art. How Dirty Of Us To Try To Hawk Art! But, After A Decade Of Hand-wringing And Apologies, I Can't Quite Muster The Guilt Anymore.

Love Is A Luxury. It's Something That People Are Allowed To Indulge In When They're Not Simply Trying To Survive And Keep Other People Alive.