Writing The Sacred Journey: The Art and Practice of Spiritual Memoir

by Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew

Overview

“Here is the definitive handbook for those courageous souls taking on the creative and ethical challenge of writing a spiritual memoir.—Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality & Practice

In Writing the Sacred Journey, readers will discover how to construct a well-crafted spiritual memoir—one that honors the author's interior, sacred story and is at the same time accessible to others. Award-winning writer and teacher Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew provides practical advice on how to overcome writing obstacles as well as guidance for transforming the writing process into a spiritual practice. A writing instructor and spiritual director, Andrew teaches spiritual memoir at Wisdom Ways Center for Spirituality in St. Paul, Minneapolis.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781558965768
Publisher:	Unitarian Universalist Association
Publication date:	01/01/2005
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	976 KB

About the Author

Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew teaches creative writing at Wisdom Ways Center for Spirituality in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is the author of the novel, Hannah, Delivered; the essay collection On the Threshold: Home, Hardwood, and Holiness, and two books for writers: Writing the Sacred Journey: The Art and Practice of Spiritual Memoir and Living Revision: A Writer’s Craft as Spiritual Practice, which received a Nautilus Award in 2018. She is also a recipient of two Minneapolis State Arts Board artist’s fellowships, the Loft Career Initiative Grant, and a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award. She delights in her partner, daughter, and garden.

Read an Excerpt

Introduction

What, exactly, is spiritual memoir? I was halfway through writing my own before I knew. A mentor began handing me books—wild rides through the Christian faith by Augustine, Teresa of Avila, Margery Kempe, Simone Weil, Thomas Merton, and Henri Nouwen. Later my reading widened to include Sufic, Jewish, Buddhist, Mormon, and New Age memoirs, memoirs by authors of eclectic faiths and authors with no faith tradition at all. I read books by authors who were young, old, famous, unknown, spiritual leaders and ordinary folk, queer and straight, alive and dead. What all these authors had in common was a passionate striving to link their seemingly small lives to some broader truth, some vaster mystery. Although each author’s experience of the spiritual was unique, the way each one’s experiences emerged in writing was strikingly similar. Familiar themes, structures, and styles appeared across history and culture. Since then, in my work with hundreds of beginning writers, I’ve come to recognize that the process of writing our sacred stories is filled with common pitfalls and pleasures. Spiritual memoir is a form unto itself.

Philip Zaleski, the editor of Harper San Francisco’s annual Best Spiritual Writing series, defines spiritual writing as “poetry or prose that deals with the bedrock of human existence—why we are here, where we are going, and how we can comport ourselves with dignity along the way.” Spiritual memoir, then, is a genre in which one’s life is written with particular attention paid to its mysteries. It uses the mate-rial of the past and present to ask, What is the source of my existence? What makes me tick? What gives me breath, hope, or inspiration? Invariably spiritual memoir places one’s life in relationship to some-thing greater, whether that something be God or oneness or the earth or death. Unlike literary memoir, the purpose of writing spiritual memoir is only secondarily to create a well-crafted work. Spiritual memoirists write because writing brings them nearer to the ineffable essence of life.

This book will teach you how to write memoir with heart and flair; it will help you get started, move through drafts, and gain skills in the craft. That you might learn by others’ examples, I’ve quoted from a variety of memoirists, mostly contemporary, whose stories are accessible and directly helpful to the writing struggle. Underlying all these instructions is an exploration of creative writing as a spiritual practice—a means of opening one’s self to transformation and connecting the generative inner sanctum of hope, doubt, and faith to the wider world of community. Language is the bridge. If you write because writing helps you birth yourself, this book is for you.

Throughout the book are writing exercises that are relevant to the accompanying text. However, they needn’t be tackled in the order in which they appear. Try both the exercises that inspire you and those that turn you off. A strong emotional reaction (positive or negative) often points toward rich material. Especially do the exercises that seem radically different from your usual approach to writing. You’ll find new avenues into the creative process and widen your repertoire. Some of the writing suggestions are brief; others may get you going on an entire book. This diversity is designed to get you started and to teach new techniques, not to overwhelm you with homework. When you find yourself launched on a story, bend the exercise however you wish.

Blessings on you, dear reader, as you travel through this book. May the rigor of learning to write well deepen your insights, widen your relationships, and enlarge the sacred presence you bring into the world.

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Spiritual Memoir

Why We Write

The Attributes of Spiritual Memoir

Getting Started

Inevitable Resistance

Developing the Writing Habit

The Dilemma of Memory

Organizing Your Memories

Your Spiritual Life as Subject Matter

Describing the Indescribable

The Power of Epiphany

Symbols and Metaphors

The Vividness of Childhood

Being in the Body

Honoring Teachers

Journeys

The Significance of Setting

Sharing Suffering

The Numinous

The Craft of Writing

The Power of Showing, The Power of Telling

Finding a Structure for Your Story

Revision as Seeing Anew

Learning to Read as a Writer

Putting It Out There

Writing Practice, Spiritual Practice

Editorial Reviews

In a time when books on spirituality abound, Andrew writes with uncommon wisdom and generosity. To anyone skeptical that spiritual memoir may be too sentimental or self-centered, Andrew demonstrates that 'the real subject of memoir is not self so much as the human condition' and she urges us to write for the sake of the story itself. This is a book you will return to again and again.” —Julie Neraas, author of Apprenticed to Hope

“As one who regularly teaches courses in spiritual autobiography, Writing the Sacred Journey is the most useful writing manual–of any kind–I have read. Andrew has thought with exceptional depth and nuance about the inner processes of daily writing, what's at stake in revision and what's beyond the block. Andrew is astute not only on profound matters–like the psychology of integrating mystical experience–but also on the most practical, like how to cut a draft that's too long or flesh out a brief, timorous account. I know I will assign this book with confidence to my students. I also look forward to rereading and living with this book as with a wise and trusted mentor.” —Mary Rose O'Reilley, author of The Barn at the End of the World

“Andrew is a subtle and courageous spiritual memoirist. Her candid and compelling ability to share the hard-won secrets of her artistry with fellow writers is borne out in this fine book.” —Lawrence Sutin, author of A Postcard Memoir

From the Publisher