Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Good Letters

Home
Catholic

Writing

Select a Category A. G. Harmon Alissa Wilkinson Allison Backous Art Authors Brad Fruhauff Bradford Winters Bryan Bliss Caroline Langston Chad Thomas Johnston Chris Hoke Christiana N. Peterson Culture D.G. Myers D.L. Mayfield Daniel Bowman Jr. David Griffith Elizabeth Duffy Faith Film Greg Wolfe Guest Contributor Interview Jan Vallone Jeffrey Overstreet Jessica Eddings-Roeser Jessica Mesman Griffith Kelly Foster Lindsey Crittenden Morgan Meis music Natalie Vestin Nick Olson Peggy Rosenthal Personal Reflection Poetry Friday Reflection Relationships Review Richard Chess Richard Cole Sara Zarr Shannon Huffman Polson Sonya Bilocerkowycz Tania Runyan Tony Woodlief Topical Categories Uncategorized Vic Sizemore Writing

Select a Month October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 February 2008

October 2018

October 08, 2018

On Writing Odes: Taking Time to Celebrate

Amidst the constant stream of bad news these days, we would do well to make...

September 2018

September 27, 2018

Writing Rules for Life

For my forty-first birthday, I decided to write a personal rule of life. Turning forty...

July 2018

July 31, 2018

A Conversation with Barbara Brown Taylor

Barbara Brown Taylor is an Episcopal priest, teacher, and author of thirteen books, among them...

July 03, 2018

Sonnets in the Prime of My Life

The sonnet, of course, is the gold standard of form, the first one most people...

June 2018

June 20, 2018

An Italian Journey with Auden, Goethe, Sex, and God

Recently, I was wandering around some of the less travelled corners of Tuscany with a...

January 2018

January 09, 2018

Invisible Man

What made me pick up Ralph Ellison’s classic 1952 novel, Invisible Man? Had I ever...

December 2017

December 14, 2017

The Sentences of William H. Gass

Last week, one of my favorite authors, William H. Gass, died at ninety-three. He was...

October 2017

October 03, 2017

Richard Osler’s Hyaena Season

We’ve all suffered wounds in some way. If not the physical wounds of war or...

September 2017

September 14, 2017

Why I’m Writing a Death Penalty Book for Teens

1. I was standing in the kitchen of a rental house in the middle of...

July 2017

July 27, 2017

Still Pilgrim

Still Pilgrim. Just the title of Angela Alaimo O’Donnell’s new poetry collection makes you pause....

July 06, 2017

How To Intuit a Book Title

How do poets and writers choose their book titles? I didn’t have a good answer...

July 05, 2017

The Mysteries of Revision

When a former MFA professor asked me to come to her class and speak on...

April 2017

April 10, 2017

Dancing with Words During National Poetry Month

Here’s your assignment. Choose a poem you’ve written (it could be any piece of writing,...

March 2017

March 28, 2017

Mysteries Sherlock Holmes Can’t Solve

“No, you should definitely major in English,” I told our babysitter, a high-school senior from...

December 2016

December 21, 2016

On the Front Lines

By Paul Anderson Seven months ago, I was teaching writing to high school seniors at...

December 12, 2016

Stopping the Press

By Mary Kenagy Mitchell This is the time of year when we work on Image’s...

November 2016

November 14, 2016

How Do You Write?

Do you write with a pen? Do you write with the wind? Do you pray...

November 03, 2016

Twitter #Micropoetry

Tootling around on Twitter, I’ve come upon a delightful community of poets. Their hashtag is...

October 2016

October 19, 2016

Reading (in) Walden

What are the classics but the noblest recorded thoughts of man? They are the only...

September 2016

September 08, 2016

The New Critics and the Barbarians

The poet and writer Dana Gioia penned an essay for the December 2013 issue of...

September 06, 2016

Of Cookbooks and Lynchings

“Men and women in automobiles stood up to watch him die.” That’s the sentence one...

September 02, 2016

My Own Commencement, Part 2: The Uses of Confusion

This post is excerpted from Gregory Wolfe’s final commencement address as director of the Seattle...

August 2016

August 05, 2016

Poetry Friday: “Onesimus”

In this month of painful national and international news, Tania Runyan’s poem “Onesimus” offers a...

July 2016

July 20, 2016

Why We Write

What is it about words that so moves those of us who are writers? We...

July 14, 2016

C.S. Lewis, Less Than Magical

I first encountered C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity, then quickly consumed The Screwtape Letters, The...

July 08, 2016

Poetry Friday: “Again to Port Soderick”

To behold God’s creation and to praise it with language is this poem—and it is...

July 01, 2016

Poetry Friday: “For Whom the Resurrection Is the Full Moon Rising” by Mark Wagenaar

This is a poem to stretch the mind. It begins by stretching our imagination to...

June 2016

June 24, 2016

Poetry Friday: “Daybreak, Winter” by Betsy Sholl

I have a complicated relationship with the sun, having grown up in southern California and...

June 09, 2016

The Best Conditions for Work

For William Carlos Williams I work best alone. In an empty house. When I’m ready...

June 01, 2016

The Arab of the Future

I snuck into a chair while a friend was describing how growing up under a...