One Quote + One Note + One Question January 10, 2024
One Quote
Motherhood has so much to teach about the human condition. Once we started looking, we found many mothers taking up that charge. The writing world was full of people managing somehow to write and mother, and often to combine those activities in really interesting ways. Some of the writers we knew rose early or stayed up late, writing while their children slept. Some left home to go on writing residencies (often ad hoc stays in hotels or friends’ homes, since many of the prestigious residencies require stays of two weeks or more that are difficult for parents of young children to manage). And some simply wrote through their children’s disruptions, allowing their children’s voices and bodies and demands to enter the writing. We set out in this book to learn both what mothers were writing and also how they were getting that writing done. In this book, we’ve gathered a wide range of voices and approaches. We’ve included poems that show the joy of experiencing the world through children’s eyes alongside poems that show the immense challenges of raising children. Our contributors include stepparents, adoptive and foster parents, those struggling with infertility, and those who’ve chosen to remain childless.
- Emily Pérez and Nancy Reddy, The Long Devotion: Poets Writing Motherhood
*
One Note
I started reading The Long Devotion last week as part of my preparation for the sessions I’m leading during the Online Seminar for Motherhood and Writing on Saturday, January 27th.
I’m joining Tanya Davis, Marlena Graves, Jamie Quatro, and Catherine Ricketts to offer sessions for moms, caregivers, and those who have experienced lament and loss in ways that are connected to motherhood. You can read an apology I needed to say along with more information about this gathering and the session leaders here.
One thing I’m curious about that I’ll be exploring as I continue to prepare for the two sessions I’m leading is how time helps us heal the wounds around motherhood. How can we work with time to inhabit this space affected by motherhood?
Maybe I’ll process that a bit here over the next few weeks.
Until next time,
Charlotte
*
One Question
What has motherhood taught you about the human condition?
*
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 was The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. Her next book on Spiritual Direction for Writers will be published by Eerdmans in 2024 or 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 Thoughtful Readers Etc. + Five Good Things.