While the Kid’s at Camp

Three weeks ago, I emailed the manuscript of Finding God Along the Way to my editor, and now I don’t know what to do with myself. Is this what it’s like to send a child to sleepaway camp? I’d been paying such steady attention to my little darling, guiding it from scattered notes and random chapters into a bona fide grownup book with a table of contents and everything. Now it’s having an NYC adventure without me, and I miss it.

Of course, it’s coming back. Any day now, I’ll open the door of my inbox and there it will be, three inches taller and badly in need of a haircut, with loads of laundry to be done and lots of opinions it didn’t posses before I let it out of the house.

I can’t wait.

I truly love editing season–because I truly love my editor. Peggy Moran gets me; she laughs at my jokes, understands what I’m trying to accomplish, and always makes my work better. I get such a kick out of our conversations in the comments section, where we hash out adverbs and cadence and what-constitutes-a-commonly-known-word. She never fails to challenge obscure expressions (Brigadoon, anyone?) and will call me out on overused vocabulary (like the phrase “of course,” which apparently I often deploy to sneak the reader around to my side of an argument before making it). My manuscript will return to me changed, but that’s not a bad thing.

Until that ragamuffin shows up on my doorstep, however, I am using the time to focus on other work–the freelance equivalent of organizing closets and canning vegetables. I took an eight-week online class this summer for writers of spiritual nonfiction (fascinating), and leave tomorrow for the Ignatian Creators Summit; both of these cool opportunities have been sponsored by the Jesuit Conference. I’ve also been prepping for fall retreats, which include a day of prayer with the IVC Baltimore community and a women’s weekend for St. Elizabeth of Hungary parish in Wycoff, NJ, as well as several Advent engagements. (Check out my Speaker page for details; there’s room for more!)

Another upside to this hiatus: not constantly reading my own book has created space for others’. I know I’m late to this party, but I just devoured Erik Larson’s Devil in the White City and Tara Westover’s Educated. Both were recommended by my friend/Pilates instructor Elysabeth Gelesky, who left this world abruptly (and way too young) in May. How I miss our weekly conversations about books, movies, recipes, travel, and so many other things! I wish I could recommend to her Otherwise, a lovely book of poems by Jane Kenyon which I received as a birthday gift. The closing line of the title poem reminds me of Elysabeth as it invites me to cherish all my loves and friendships, because “one day, I know, it will be otherwise.”

More inspiration that’s come my way this summer includes two preaching podcasts (one new, one new-to-me). If you’re hungry for really solid homilies, check out “believe. teach. practice” by BJ Brown and Fr. Walter Modrys, SJ (who alternate weeks and introduce each other’s sermons) as well as America Media’s new podcast, “Preach,” which presents a homily then invites the preacher to reflect on the process.

Finally, allow me to rhapsodize about a book coming out on September 5 from Woodhall Press: Heart of Stone by David W. Burns. Dave is a college friend of mine (Go Hawks!) who entered the Pitch Week XXV competition at When Words Count in Vermont last year and swept all the categories. His heroine—a fast-thinking, wise-cracking, self-deprecating Gorgon working as a hit-woman in Chicago—takes readers on a satisfying romp, cheating death (in the form of mythical assassins) at every turn. This is an awesome read with a redemption theme; treat yourself and pre-order a copy! (Or, if you’re local, stop by Dave’s table at the Collingswood Book Festival on October 7.)

However you are spending these waning days of summer, I pray that you are carving out quality time for yourself and those you love. In, through, and above all, may you find God along the way!

Blessings,
Christine