Author: Joy O'Toole

2022 Reading Recap

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https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2022/7993617

2022 was not my best reading year. Although I did read plenty of books (more than are recorded in Goodreads; I don’t list everything I read there), I ended up with a high percentage of rereads and not as much good reading as I would have liked. That is entirely due to a lack of planning on my part. Aside from books I read for my book club, almost everything was spontaneous and what I feel like reading at the time, rather than intentional choices.

Here are my stats for 2022:

I read 100 fiction and 20 nonfiction books for a total of 120 books. Of those, only three were audio books, seven were children’s fiction, and 59 were rereads! Most of the rereads were from detective fiction series by Agatha Christie and Ngaio Marsh.

My favorite books of the year were (in order that I read them):

Non-fiction

Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis – This was a reread. I picked it up after seeing The Reluctant Convert movie at the end of 2021 and thoroughly enjoyed reading Lewis’s thoughts on how God drew him to salvation over many years. I also ended up with a large “to-read” list of books that Lewis enjoyed.

Be Thou My Vision by Jonathan Gibson – This devotional guide is superb. Gibson has pulled together prayers, catechisms, and other devotional helps to create a 31-day guide with a structure to build your quiet time upon. I borrowed this from my e-library but intend to buy the print book sometime in 2023 to have on hand for when my prayer and Bible reading time seem a bit lackluster.

Martha’s Vineyard, Isle of Dreams by Susan Branch – In looking for comparative titles for the book I’m writing, a friend suggested I try Susan Branch. I loved this book about how she fled to Martha’s Vineyard for several weeks to regroup during a difficult time in her life and found a wonderful new life waiting for her on this tiny New England island. Beautiful illustrations and an uplifting story.

Be Still My Soul by Elisabeth Elliot – Reading Elisabeth Elliot is always an encouraging AND convicting process. I am still pondering some of the teaching in this book of essays that I had not read before.

All the Colors We Will See by Patrice Gopo – I read this for my book club and had the privilege of hearing Patrice Gopo speak to our group and answering our questions. The book of essays left me pondering the influences on her life as well as my own. Highly recommend.

Emmanuel by Ruth Chou Simons – Another great book club read, this Christmas devotional kept me focused on Christ throughout December. I will certainly reread this during Advent in future years. Plus her artwork is just gorgeous.

Fiction:

Passing by Nella Larsen – This slim novella is the story of two African-American women in the 1920’s, one of whom lives in an African-American community and one of whom “passes” for white. The ending is unforgettable and it has spurred me on to pick up more books about “passing” and what it meant to those who did it. I also read The Personal Librarian, which has a similar theme.

Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callihan – A thoroughly enjoyable book about C.S. Lewis, the Narnia books, and a young woman finding her place in the world.

The Maid by Nita Prose – A debut mystery novel about a neuro-divergent woman who gets caught up in a murder mystery. Disturbing and intriguing.

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien – A reread. Very few fantasy books can compare with Tolkien’s masterpiece. I plan to reread The Two Towers and Return of the King soon.

The Lost Book of the Grail by Charlie Lovett – This book pulled together many of my interests—the Grail legend and King Arthur, old books, liturgy, mysteries, and faith. I loved every second of it.

All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny – Finally I picked up Louise Penny’s series again. I had tried to read this in 2020, when it first came out, but could not get into it. I was still reading mostly comfort reads at that point and so put it aside for a time. Then she published a new book in 2021 and another one this fall, prompting me to finally pick this one back up in order to not fall any further behind. Things went much better this time around. I couldn’t put it down and read feverishly every minute I could spare. Paris, books, and Gamache–you can’t do much better than this.

My reading goals for 2023 are simpler than in past years. I want to keep up with my book club books, read more nonfiction (a perennial goal), finish War and Peace and the remaining books in Trollope’s Barchester Chronicles, read at least three books of poetry, and read six biographies and six works of theology. If I manage that, no matter how many books I read, I will have read better than in 2022.

How did you feel about your reading in 2022? What are your reading goals for 2023? Do you have any suggestions of great biographies for me to try this year?

Second Sunday of Advent – Faith

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On the second Sunday of Advent, we focus on faith. Last week, we thought about the hope and expectation that the promised Savior would come. God had told Adam and Eve about Him back in Genesis 3. Abraham and the patriarchs looked for His coming. Moses talked about Him in Deuteronomy. The prophets and psalmists foretold His coming.

But hope requires faith. What is faith? The writer of Hebrews gives us one definition:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

If we don’t have faith, then we won’t have the assurance that those hopes and unseen promises will actually come true. But in Matthew 1 and 2, and in Luke 1 and 2, we see God’s people obeying His commands because they believed His promises He made in the Old Testament.

By faith, Mary and Joseph believed that the child she was carrying was the Son of God. By faith, the shepherds hurried to see the baby, whom the angels had announced. By faith, the wise men journeyed many days, weeks, months to see the child and worship Him. By faith, Simeon and Anna saw the infant Jesus in the temple and recognized Him as God’s promised Messiah.

We, too, can believe in God’s promises of salvation, life, and freedom from sin in the Lord Jesus. By faith we come and worship Him at Christmas, and day by day, we trust that all He has said will come true for us just as it did for Mary, Joseph, Simeon, Anna, the shepherds, the wise men, the disciples, and all who witnessed Christ’s life and death.

Do you have faith to believe that Jesus Christ came to earth at Christmas to save you, to give you life, to free you from the tyranny of evil? If you believe, then you can sing with the Christians who, all over the world and for many centuries, have caroled their faith:

O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant!
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold him
Born the King of Angels:
O come, let us adore Him, (3×)
Christ the Lord.

God of God, light of light,
Lo, he abhors not the Virgin’s womb;
Very God, begotten, not created:
O come, let us adore Him, (3×)
Christ the Lord.

Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation,
Sing, all ye citizens of Heaven above!
Glory to God, glory in the highest:
O come, let us adore Him, (3×)
Christ the Lord.

Yea, Lord, we greet thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to thee be glory given!
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing!
O come, let us adore Him, (3×)
Christ the Lord.

translated by Frederick Oakeley, 1841

Come, let us adore Him, the Promised Savior of the world.

First Sunday of Advent 2022

~ Joy O'Toole ~ Leave a comment 
O Come O Come Emmanuel

O come, O come, Emmanuel, 
And ransom captive Israel, 
That mourns in lonely exile here 
Until the Son of God appear. 
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high, 
Who orderest all things mightily; 
To us the path of knowledge show, 
And teach us in her ways to go. 
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free 
Thine own from Satan's tyranny; 
From depths of hell Thy people save, 
And give them vict'ry ov'r the grave. 
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer 
Our spirits by Thine advent here; 
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, 
And death's dark shadows put to flight. 
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come, 
And open wide our heav'nly home; 
Make safe the way that leads on high, 
And close the path to misery. 
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
Words: various, combined by unknown author approx 12th Century, Translated by John Mason Neale, 1851.

This haunting advent hymn is the first one that springs to my mind as we start the Advent season today. Over the next few weeks, as we meditate and prepare for the great celebration of our Savior's birth at Christmas, we must first stop and think about the world's darkness and our need of that salvation. In our sin, we are captive and exiled from the Lord. We need wisdom and understanding to know where to go in our lives. We need to be rescued from Satan and sin's tyranny over us. We need light to disperse the gloomy clouds of night and death's dark shadows. We need a path away from misery and towards God. 

Amid that darkness, misery, gloom, confusion, and captivity, Jesus came, and He has brought us light, gladness, joy, wisdom, and freedom. Do you need to be freed from the miseries of this world, from the darkness of sin, from eternal death? Come to Jesus this Advent season. He came so that you may have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10).

Mother and Reading

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Mother reading to my oldest son

I talk a lot about books on this blog because I have been reading and loving books since I was a tiny girl. That love did not grow in a vacuum, however. One of the biggest reasons I love to read is because of my mother. Since today is her birthday, it seemed appropriate to share a bit about how Mother shared what a reading life could look like.

When she was in elementary school, her grandfather bought her beautiful books about nature that she read to my children when they were young. I have her set of Grimm’s and Andersen’s fairy tales, picture books, and several other titles. Although her family did not have a lot of extra money, books were important to her. She treasured each title and shared them with me once I was old enough to care for them. Her father’s sister loved to read and gave Mother many books over the years as well.

Mother instilled the importance of reading into my brother’s and my lives, too. My earliest memories include reading and books in our home, some belonging to us, and many borrowed from the library. Mother used to joke that I had been going to the library since before I was born since she regularly borrowed books from the local library while expecting me.

When I was in fourth grade, we moved to a new house and she gave me a bookcase that her grandfather had made for my books. I had numerous books at this point, and Mother made sure that I was able to collect more to read by spending allowance money for the latest Nancy Drew or receiving books as gifts. I could always count on at least one book every Christmas from my mother and usually one for my birthday as well. Even as an adult, I looked forward to my “Christmas book” that Mother would choose for me.

As I grew up, Mother and I often read the same books, and she introduced me to books she had loved as a teen, such as Anne of Green Gables, the Girl of the Limberlost, and Mrs. Mike. In high school, we read popular authors like Leon Uris together and she wholeheartedly supported my project of reading classic novels that I borrowed from the library, starting in the A’s with Jane Austen. She lent me her copy of Gone with the Wind and shared her love of Thomas Costain and Anya Seton.

After I grew up and moved out, books were still a subject of many of our conversations. Mother would ask what I was reading, share her recent finds, and we would promise to try something new that the other loved. We also shared when a book didn’t work for us. Since we enjoyed the same sorts of books, usually if one of us didn’t like it, the other probably wouldn’t either. After her death, my father gave me many of Mother’s books, including her collection of autographed Rosamund Pilcher books, one of our favorite English authors.

Having a mother who always had a book going was probably the key to my lifelong devotion to reading. I am thankful to my mother, who led by example and taught me that an afternoon spent with a book is never wasted.

Reading Life 2021 and 2022

~ Joy O'Toole ~ 3 Comments
2021 Books Read

My reading life in 2021 ended up being better than I had anticipated although I didn’t read as intentionally as I had hoped. However, I did end up reading 24% nonfiction, of which one title was a poetry book and eleven were devotional or theological. As usual, the bulk of my reading (almost half) was mystery fiction.

I read a good number of older books this year—17 titles were written before 1960, not counting my Agatha Christie rereads.

I never did get to a Russian novel or Shakespeare last year, but I did read a few books of essays and discovered a new-to-me mystery series written in the 1960s and ’70s as well as a new-to-me middlebrow novel author whose books were delightful English country village stories.

Top ten books from 2021:

Nonfiction:

  • The Dawn of Redeeming Grace by Sinclair Ferguson – a Christmas devotional that I listened to in the weeks leading up to the holiday
  • Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund – if you haven’t read this book by Dane Ortlund, don’t let 2022 go by without picking it up. It is one of the best books on the love of Christ for us that I have read. Unsurprisingly, he relies on many of the Puritan writings and this is also a great introduction to several of the best of the Puritans.
  • This Beautiful Truth by Sarah Clarkson – a helpful, thoughtful memoir on Christianity and mental illness
  • Union with Christ by Rankin Wilbourne – an excellent book on this important, often neglected, aspect of the Christian life
  • When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi – a heartbreaking memoir on a doctor’s last days but so beautifully written that it was worth the tears

Fiction:

  • Business as Usual by Jane Oliver – a delightful epistolary novel about a young woman who decides to fill in the year before her wedding by working in a large department store in London.
  • The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave – a thriller that I couldn’t put down and haven’t quite been able to forget since finishing
  • O, The Brave Music by Dorothy Evelyn Smith – a bittersweet coming-of-age novel
  • The Snow Woman by Stella Gibbons – the story of an old woman who stopped trying to live decades before but when she receives a visit from an old friend, suddenly her life takes a new turn.
  • West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge – a coming-of-age story about a teen boy, an older man, a girl with a mission, and two giraffes as they travel across the United States in the 1930’s.

My intentions for 2022 are a bit scaled back, considering the fact that I didn’t hold to my goals very well last year. A few things I’d like to do:

  • Read all the categories in the 2022 Literary Life Reading Challenge
  • Read a Russian Novel – Inspired by Laura Vanderkam’s reading of War and Peace last year, I decided to read one chapter a day of War and Peace in 2022. So far I’m enjoying it although I’m struggling to keep all of the characters straight. I may need to create a cheat sheet.
  • Read at least three theology books. I will be reading Genesis commentaries for the Bible class I’m leading, but I want to also read some theology this year. At least one of them needs to be an older title (pre 1900).
  • Read at least 25% nonfiction again this year.

While I set a Goodreads goal for 2022, I’m not as concerned with how many books I read this year as what I read. I want to leave lots of time for rereading and for serendipity. Plus I do some reading for my job and am part of a book club with a book to read every month.

Were you satisfied with your 2021 reading? Do you have any intentions for 2022? Please share them in the comments.

God’s Heart Toward Us

~ Joy O'Toole ~ 2 Comments

One of the things I most love about slowing down to read and think and ponder is how it gives me the bandwidth to notice common themes that pop up again and again. A recent theme has been the love of God for us in Christ.

I saw this several places: in a song by Twila Paris, We All Bow Down

Worship Jesus

For He is love

Unfailing love

He is the Love of God

I saw it again in D.A. Carson’s meditation on Psalm 103:8, The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love,

On the first signs of genuine repentance, he turns from wrath, for the Lord is “slow to anger, abounding in love.” Strict justice would be immediate–an easy thing for Omniscience! The truth is that God “does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities (103:10)

p. 6585, For the Love of God, Volume 2

I saw it multiple times in both the Old and New Testaments,

Sing, O heavens!

Be joyful, O earth!

And break out in singing, O mountains!

For the Lord has comforted His people,

And will have mercy on His afflicted.

God Will Remember Zion

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,

And my Lord has forgotten me.”

“Can a woman forget her nursing child,

And not have compassion on the son of her womb?

Surely they may forget,

Yet I will not forget you.

See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;

Isaiah 49:13-16a

Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,

Exodus 34:5-6

Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30

Then as I was listening to the Knowing Faith podcast a couple of weeks ago, Dr. Michael Kruger said,

…God that is presenting Christ as a propitiation…God is basically offering His own Son to be the sacrifice that He Himself demands and so there’s this sense in which no one could say that God is this wrathful deity who’s angry all the time and you’ve got to placate Him with blood. No, this is a God who loves you and is going to give His own Son for you and He’s the One who offers Him. (Episode 121, you can start at where he is talking about propitiation at 27 minutes in but the whole episode is worth listening to)

Most of all, I have seen it in a book I’ve been slowly, slowly reading over the past several months, Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund. While I knew the theology behind what the author was saying in his book, I have found it too easy to forget that, in Christ, God the Father’s heart toward me is one of compassion and mercy, not judgment. This book has turned my heart and mind to the truth of God’s mercy and love for His children.

Filled with quotes from the Puritan writers, Gentle and Lowly returns again and again to who God truly is. Ortlund makes the point that the God of the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament are the same God, the One who loves us with an everlasting love, the One who has engraved us onto His hands, the One who redeems and clothes, sustains and provides for His people.

How easy it is to fall into the trap of thinking that God is angry, especially when we think of the Old Testament. Ortlund writes,

The Christian life, from one angle, is the long journey of letting our natural assumption about who God is, over many decades, fall away, being slowly replaced with God’s own insistence on who he is. This is hard work. It takes a lot of sermons and a lot of suffering to believe that God’s deepest heart is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger.” The fall in Genesis 3 not only sent us into condemnation and exile. The fall also entrenched in our minds dark thoughts of God, thoughts that are only dug out over multiple exposures to the gospel over many years. Perhaps Satan’s greatest victory in your life today is not the sin in which you regularly indulge but the dark thoughts of God’s heart that cause you to go there in the first place and keep you cool toward him in the wake of it.

P. 128, Gentle and Lowly

In fact, before we were born, before God even created Adam, from all eternity the Godhead had already agreed to what theologians call the Covenant of Redemption, which was God’s Plan A all along. R.C. Sproul explains it more fully in this article, but the gist of it is that God the Father sent God the Son into the world to save sinners and that God the Son willingly did so. It wasn’t some last-ditch effort because Adam and Eve messed up. No, God the Father loved us before He created us and had planned to save us from the beginning.

In one of the end chapters, Ortlund talks about our tendency toward “law-ish hearts” being so natural to our sinful selves that we struggle to see God’s lavish heart toward us, just as the Galatians did in Paul’s time. Ortlund writes,

And the Christian life is simply the process of bringing my sense of self, my Identity with a capital “I,” the ego, my swirling internal world of fretful panicky-ness arising out of that gospel deficit, into alignment with the more fundamental truth. The gospel is the invitation to let the heart of Christ calm us into joy, for we’ve already been discovered, included, brought in. We can bring our up-and-down moral performance into subjection to the settled fixedness of what Jesus feels about us.

p. 160, Gentle and Lowly

His heart toward us is one of love and grace, not harsh condemnation because of Jesus. What good news is this!?

I highly recommend this book to all Christians. It’s one that I will go back and re-read often as it reminds me of the thing that I most often forget: God’s magnificent, all-encompassing love for His people. Our beliefs drive our actions so the more this truth sinks into my soul, the more I will be able to live it out in my daily life. And then extend that love and grace to those around me.

Do you believe the Father’s heart is one of compassion and mercy towards you? How could believing that truth change your thoughts and words and actions today?

NaNoWriMo Goal for 2021

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Four years ago, I attempted a goal for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). Since I write nonfiction, not novels, I participated as a “rebel”, which meant I wouldn’t try for 50,000 words but instead would come up with a goal of my own to attempt during the month of November. You can read more about that goal here: Daily Writing and NaNoWriMo

This year, I will again create my own goal that I want to achieve. I wrote about my desire to get back to journaling a few weeks ago and after reading this article by Michael Hyatt, in which he suggested sticking with the habit for 30 days, it occurred to me that November would be the perfect month to work on that habit.

This morning I wrote out my NaNoWriMo goal for 2021:

I will write in my journal for 30 days, every day in the month of November, even if it’s only a few lines, to redevelop that rhythm of daily writing.

One of the things I cover with my writing group every year is that preparation for NaNoWriMo leads to better success in reaching your goal. Following that advice, I’ve chosen a “template” to use. By asking myself the same questions every morning, I won’t have to stare at a blank page, wondering what to write. On busy mornings, perhaps I’ll only choose one question to answer, while on weekend mornings, I’ll have time to answer all eight.

Also, I’ve decided to not limit myself to one particular medium but instead, I will write by hand in my paper journal, on my phone when I’m out, or on my computer, if it’s handy. In other words, my goal here is to capture my thoughts each day in whatever means possible.

Now, this won’t be my only writing since I’m still working on regularly posting here and also working slowly on my book project. That’s one of the reasons I’m not being too perfectionistic about how I get my journal writing done each day.

Will you be participating in NaNoWriMo this year? Do you have a regular journaling habit? I’d love to hear how you fit writing into your day.

Autumn Senses

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Image by Rebekka D from Pixabay

Ah, September! The month that starts my favorite season. I know most people prefer spring for its new beginnings or summer for its heat and vacations, but I love autumn the best. My senses are filled with autumn things:

  • The smell of wood smoke, apples, and fallen leaves
  • The sight of pumpkins piled high, the bluest of skies, the changing colors of the trees and chrysanthemums everywhere I look.
  • The sounds of raking and honks of geese as they fly over my head towards warmer climes.
  • The taste of homemade applesauce, the special ginger cookies I make every fall, and the first beef stew of the season.
  • The feel of a wool sweater embracing my shoulders, the crisp mornings, and the knitting beneath my fingers as I pick it back up after a break during summer’s heat.

Best of all, autumn is a time of reflection, a time to assess how the year has gone so far and decide what I’d like to wrap up by year’s end. I actually love that the days are growing shorter as I find it easier to reflect in the darkness of early mornings and evenings that increases throughout the season. I’m more content to sit inside with a hot cup of coffee or tea and gather my thoughts when there is no lovely sunshine beckoning to me to go outside.

What season do you love best and why? Please share your favorite in the comments below.

Autumn Reading

~ Joy O'Toole ~ 2 Comments

We are at the start of my favorite season. I love the golden light, the crisp evenings and mornings, the bright blue sky, the sounds of birds flying south, and the smells of bonfires and falling leaves.

My reading in the fall tends to be focused on reflective novels and books that warm my heart and soul. I’m always seeking new titles to read, but in autumn, I do a lot more rereading. Here are some of my favorite books to read this time of year.

Persuasion by Jane Austen – My favorite Austen novel, Persuasion is perfect for reading in the autumn as it talks about second chances later in life. I like to reread this one every few years and always in October.

September by Rosamund Pilcher – The title speaks for itself as it is set in September, but I love that most of the characters are in middle life, thinking about their lives, their choices, and where to go from here.

Possession by A.S. Byatt – An intellectual mystery, this novel follows a set of scholars as they seek the truth of the relationship between two Victorian poets – for those who enjoy an academic puzzle and unraveling historical mysteries

Anne of the Island or Anne of Windy Poplars by L.M. Montgomery – School stories always seem appropriate to read at the start of a school year and either of these work for that although Anne of Windy Poplars seems a bit more “fallish”.

Autumn Story by Jill Barklem – If you have not yet read any of Jill Barklem’s stories about the mice in the hedgerow over the various seasons, go immediately to your library and pick one up. The drawings are enchanting and the stories sweet without being cloying. The tale reads quickly but you will want to pour over the illustrations to look at all of the details of country English life.

Vittoria Cottage by D.E. Stevenson – This title by Stevenson is another book about second chances, this time for a woman in middle life with grown children.

Fresh From the Country by Miss Read – Another school story, this one describes the life of a brand new teacher. Miss Read’s Fairacre Series is also great for school-story lovers.

Pilgrim’s Inn by Elizabeth Goudge – Many of Elizabeth Goudge’s books are thoughtful and reflective, but this one is a favorite of mine with many descriptions of cozy home scenes.

Mrs. Miniver by Jan Struthers – Always good for a reread but especially great in fall and winter, each essay covers a small portion of Mrs. Miniver’s life in a way that can lead you to think more closely about the ordinary things in yours.

Books I’ve read that would make perfect fall reads:

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield – This gothic tale about an old woman who wants to tell the truth of her life after many years of hiding it away is perfect for fall reading.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen – Austen pokes fun at gothic tales while telling one of her own. Delightful.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving – The classic story of Ichabod Crane and his night ride is spooky without being horror.

Early Days by Miss Read – Miss Read recounts her early childhood in this lovely memoir.

Books that are on my to-read list that would fit into fall reading:

Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope – I’m slowly reading through Trollope’s Barchestershire series, and anything by him has one thinking about the human condition and the choices we make.

September Moon by John Moore – I found a copy of this after reading about it at a bookish Instagram account I follow. It’s set in hops-picking time in England, a time I’ve always been intrigued by after reading about it other books. I’m looking forward to picking this up soon.

The Headmistress by Angela Thirkell – Anything by Angela Thirkell is good cozy reading and being about a school is an added bonus.

The Last Bookshop in London by Madeleine Martin – This book about a bookshop in World War II may not appear cozy at first glance, but I find any book set in London involving books takes me away to another world so it qualifies for me.

Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee – Memoirs about childhood memories are always good for fall, and this one has long been on my to-read list so I’m hoping to finally get to it this year.

The Cottage Kitchen: Cozy Cooking in the English Countryside by Marte Marie Forsberg – Cool nights and earlier evenings call out for spending time in the kitchen. I love to read cookbooks and this one just seems perfect for this time of year. I have certain things I always make in autumn and am hoping to find another favorite.

Autumn from the Heart of the Home by Susan Branch – I loved her memoir about her trip to England and hope to find an affordable copy of this book for the drawings and recipes.

Do you have a favorite book to read this time of year? Please share it in the comments. I love to add books to my autumn reading list.

Feeding Your Creativity

~ Joy O'Toole ~ 4 Comments
Writing Desk – Pen & Ink drawing by Victor L. Doyle

Earlier this month, I was gathering ideas to share with the writers group at the library. Our topic for August was Feeding Your Creativity, an idea I first read in Wild Words by Nicole Gulotta. During my research, I discovered this great article on creativity based on an old book from 1939. Artists and writers looking for creativity is apparently not a new concept!

The author of the book listed five steps to cultivating creativity:

  1. Gathering raw material
  2. Digesting the material
  3. Unconscious processing
  4. The A-Ha Moment
  5. Idea Meets Reality

As I thought about this five step process, I realized that I follow these steps almost unconsciously when I think about my writing, work on a Bible study, plan my goals for the next quarter, and a host of other creative and thinking work.

Then this morning, I came across this lovely video about Training Your Creative Flow by photographer Shaye Elliott.

In her video, Shaye is talking about Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, which I started reading but quit partway through because I never conquered morning pages. I tried so many times on my own and did something similar last winter during a writing class. However, the pain in my hands when I write with a pen for more than a few minutes keeps me, mentally and physically, from maintaining that habit. Julia Cameron’s insistence that it must be pen and paper makes sense to me intellectually and the lovely piece of writing on the beauty in pain that came out of the exercise last winter both keep me thinking about this. But until I conquer the very real mental or emotional barrier of my fear of the pain, I know that I won’t do morning pages.

Consequently, I’ve decided to adapt these ways of capturing creativity to make it work for me where I am right now. Rather than just give up, which has been my tendency, I’ve come to the conclusion that if writing is important to me, and it is, then I have to do what works and stop trying to live someone else’s ideal process.

Here is how I plan to use these steps to feed my creativity:

  1. Raw material – This is not a problem. I read so much and so widely that I’m always gathering raw material. The challenge is to organize it for easier retrieval. I have a system that I’m working on but that is for another post.
  2. Digesting the material – I think this is where the morning pages will come in. Rather than fuss myself about doing it by hand, I’ve decided to just type my thoughts. Perhaps this is not optimal but it’s better than not doing anything at all, a sentiment echoed in this article by a leadership coach for lawyers.
  3. Unconscious processing – This requires silence and solitude, which are hard to find in the world today but not impossible. A combination of weaning myself off of social media, planning in slots of reflective time, and adding in more walks, some of which I will make thinking walks, should give me time for the processing that is crucial to idea generation.
  4. The A-Ha moment – I have a small notebook and/or my phone with me all of the time so that when the ideas hit, I’m ready for them. In the past, I’ve jotted down words and phrases on a slip of paper, dictated my thoughts to Siri as I drove, sent myself an email, added a note to my phone, and scribbled down thoughts for a new direction in my notebook. Writing down ideas as they strike is a discipline that is well worth cultivating for every creative. I wrote more about this in my post A Writer’s Notebook.
  5. Idea meets reality – Make time for regular writing! Two other ideas from Julia Cameron’s book are to have a creative date with yourself every week and to practice your art regularly. For me that looks like having a book on writing that I read for an hour a week, as a minimum, and sitting down every day to write—morning pages, a blog post draft, my journal, a book draft—whatever it is to get the words on paper and develop the discipline of showing up to my art.

Have I perfected this process? Not at all. However, the steps are in place and now I need to walk in them. If I can do it, so can you!

Do you think these five steps to creativity are helpful? Do you write morning pages either by hand or electronically? Please share your practices in the comments so we can all learn to live the creative life together.