Welcome to What Holy Mystery. This series of writing practices coordinates with the What Holy Mystery Incarnational Study found here.

Looking around a space in your imagination takes a bit of credulity. My four year old niece and six year old daughter have no problem with this, but somewhere along the creeping edge of life our imaginations and hamstrings stiffen. We are dragged into the “real world” by automobile license renewal forms, acquiring vaccination records, and the pernicious rise of the scale and systolic and diastolic. The world is a lot to bear. It feels trivial to sit and imagine. Even for ten minutes. Even if we know it is good for us.

So writing practice asks you to make a commitment to believing that there is just a little bit more to life than this green carpet and those beige walls. Life has an inner aspect. Could it be asking you to come inhabit a room you have never seen? What could we encounter in these unexperienced places? Who might be there?

Writing practice is a permission slip to walk into your inner landscape. That field you write into being might hold a salve for the broken hearted. Will you let yourself see it deeply enough to bring it to life? That nook might provide a space for that conversation you never got to have with your mom who died too early. Will you endure the grief of building it?

Writing landscapes (or city scapes or homescapes) presupposes that our bodies and minds inhabit spaces, but sometimes the spaces we need are not out there. I know your knees ache and your emotions are bruised. Life hurts. Writing can’t make that go away. Life hurts and life is good and life goes on no matter what you do with it. Writing sometimes helps you make beautiful things or grotesque things or meaningful things along the way.

Monday: When I walked through the door I thought there would be…

Tuesday: To the north there are(is)…

Wednesday: Dust covered the surface of the…

Thursday: The table was set with…

Friday: I was so glad to get out of…

Writing Practice Rules:

Grab a pen and paper or dictation device or computer.
Write/record the prompt at the top of your page.
Set a timer (you can adjust the time to suit your needs…I keep the practices short so they don’t seem overwhelming).
Take a few moments to visualize what the prompt is bringing up.
Write or speak or type!! Try not to edit or criticize. Just write.
Write the details of what is coming up. I call this catching what rises.
If you get stuck, make loops with your pen or nonsense syllables with your voice or tap the keyboard.
If you get really stuck, rewrite/record the prompt as a new paragraph.
Write the details of what you are seeing until the timer goes off.

How to Write a Landscape, Week 3