Hat tip to Kathy Schiffer for a link to this post by Arleen Spenceley, “Being Catholic Isn’t An Excuse for Crap Writing: Lessons from a Journalist”.  A couple excerpts that caught my eye:

If you’re gonna write, you’ve got to read. And you’ve got to read good writing. ”

Your senses are your friends. Whether what you write reads well might depend on whether you use them. “

Read the whole thing here.  Then click over to another post linked by host Edmund Mitchell, “New Evangelization Must be Cheese“.  Quote that caught my eye:

The methods and modes we use to evangelize should be crafted and perfected – the object of a loving art.  The way we speak, write, and advertise should all be approached with a awed humility.  We are announcing the Most High, we should remember that we share this task with angels.

I also enjoyed the Chesterton Memes.

How about you?  Read any good Catholic writers lately?

 

Avatar photo

Jennifer Fitz is the author of The How-to Book of Evangelization: Everything You Need to Know But No One Ever Taught You from Our Sunday Visitor and Classroom Management for Catechists from Liguori Publications. She writes about all things evangelization and discipleship at jenniferfitz.substack.com. For updates on where else to find her, visit JenniferFitz.com.

5 Replies to “Reading Around: “No Such Thing As Writer’s Block””

  1. Pingback: jonnimb0
  2. I define a “writer’s block” as “a desire not to write hidden by a desire to be a writer.” For me, at least, having writer’s block is always something of a scavenger hunt looking for the reason I don’t want to write. Usually it is some kind of psychological reason, or a spell of joylessness caused by forgetting (in my heart) the true reason for what I’m doing. That is, For God’s Greater Glory. (Pardon the annoying Latin failure.)

    God Bless!

    God Bless! Glad I found you!

    1. V – yes, that’s a great definition. (And welcome to the blog! Stick around and make yourself at home.) I always have some excuse or another.

      What I tell people when they don’t know where to begin — a problem I often have — is to skip the beginning and just write down a bit of the middle. And if you can’t figure out how to say what’s on your mind, forget trying to say it the right way, and just right down the ideas in your head, no matter how goofy and uncomposed.

      Those two tips, plus making myself sit-in-chair and do the work, always succeed for me. It’s the sit-in-chair and do the work that’s the killer.

  3. I am currently reading and loving Anthony Esolen’s “Ironies of Faith: The Laughter at the Heart of Christian Literature”. The past year I have been getting more and more interested in classic Western literature, and Esolen shows himself to be an incredibly well-read master of these classics, as well as a revealer of stunningly beautiful Christian truths within them. It’s a deeply joyful and profound book, drawing from Augustine to Shakespeare to Tolkein and many, many others. Reading this and others of Esolen’s books has already been, I believe, a life-changing experience for me.

Comments are closed.