Discover Your Biggest Failing
“Which do you need to learn most: patience, compassion, gratitude, strength or vulnerability?” Oh no: what if I occasionally fail at all of these and occasionally master all of these? Does that mean I am master of nothing? Let me give you a peek into moments of failure and moments of mastery in a few of these realms. Maybe you’ll see yourself in some of these vignettes. Patience Fail // My children are Montessorians. They both attend Montessori schools and one of the many beautiful pieces of education encouraged in their environments is… Read More
How Dying in 5 Years Would Change How I Live Now
I’ve begun following prompts to get some writing ideas down. I pulled this prompt out over one month ago. It has been sitting propped up by my computer, staring at me…daring me to write about a subject that wasn’t (but maybe now) is my favorite: If you knew you were going to die in 5 years how would you change your life. A huge Debbie Downer to start the New Year off, right? But here’s the thing: I haven’t been writing about this but I have been ruminating on it over the… Read More
Yourself OR Others // Which Will It Be?
Here’s the question: Is your highest duty to yourself or to others? As a writer, as a mother, as a woman, as a follower of The Way, as a neighbor, as a sister, my answer is usually the same. Answering as a writer: myself or my audience? As a writer I am not just holed up in a corner of a hut journaling in a book I plan to burn before the ink dries–I’m out there, I’m blogging, I’m submitting articles, I’m pitching books to literary agents, I’m guest posting, I’m thinking about… Read More
This Place on Earth Calls to Me // Land as Spiritual Conduit
Just as a quick reminder: I’ve written a novel. When you’ve written a book and actually completed it–like done all the work of editing and fixing errors and getting the story right or the lesson down or the truth conveyed–you finally get to casually drop that fact around: Yeah, so I wrote a book. Hey, I finished my novel. I actually wrote a book. I’VE WRITTEN A BOOK. I find myself mentioning that fact to, I don’t know, the guy who scans my card at the Y everyday or the barista waiting… Read More
Claire DeBerg // Writer 