Writing is solitary – I sit with my journal and scribble across the page or I compose words at a desk in my office, drumming away on my laptop one sentence at a time.
Writing is also a work best done in solidarity with others, other people who run with their butterfly net to capture fragile and fluttering ideas before they disappear into the blues of sky. These people are my kin. These ones create space for listening and lament, talk of craft, celebration and commiseration. And laughter. Yes, the best writing friends laugh hard at the mystery of it all.
This work also requires open and public spaces to share your words. I am honored to be part of some generous spaces, to labor among some great collectives of creative people, to bring my small offering to the table they set. Thank God for those who host good conversations.
SheLoves Magazine is a community of women committed to God’s imperatives of love and justice in the world led by Idelette McVicker. Back in the early days when the magazine had just made it’s on-line debut, Idelette invited me to write about spirituality. From there our friendship grew – and so did my role at SheLoves! Now we conspire together, and much of that can be seen on the pages and posts of SheLoves each month. What an amazing group of dangerous women!
Deeper Story was a collaborative conversation space created by Nish Weiseth. Here writers became friends and colleagues as we offered our essays, one month at a time. I made life-long friends among the Deeper Story tribe. I was allowed, encouraged even, to push my own story-telling edges and say some things out loud for the first time. My tenure at Deeper Story enlarged me, somehow.
Red Letter Christians, founded by Tony Campolo and Shane Claiborne, aims to exhort and equip people to live out the dangerous ways of Jesus in the world. I’m a fan of this group of diverse friends working to incarnate the words of Jesus, especially The Sermon on the Mount, in their various places throughout the country (and world). I was able to contribute a couple of posts – maybe there will be more offerings in the future!
A Life Overseas is a community of missionaries and expats, living and working in foreign countries. Laura Parker and Angie Washington created this space for honest conversations about missional work and between such practitioners. I enjoyed contributing for a season, many of the posts written from my kitchen table in Burundi.