The Quaker Phrase That's Saving My Life

Paying attention to language and light

The hardest part of writing a book is all of it. It just depends on who you ask.

Some writers say starting is the hard part because the book ideas loom so large in their mind and they don’t know how to take the various stories and ideas and make them into one coherent narrative arc.

Others say it’s the middle part because the newness of the project has worn off and now you’re stuck in the part where you’ve gone too far to turn back but you are completely convinced there’s no actual way you can finish this ridiculous project because you have no writing skills, your idea is dumb and you cannot possibly let your most trusted friend read this garbage much less an editor or a stranger.

Still others would argue finishing the book is the hard part because how do you know when you’re done? What if there is still so much to say but you’re already over your word count?

Of course there’s the editing and the revising part, the collaborating with a publisher part, and the marketing and publicity part. Every part of book writing has the potential to be both wonderful and terrible depending on the day, the book, and the writer.

For my most recent book, How to Walk into a Room, I always knew how it would end. I knew I would close with a prayer inspired by the Quaker phrase: I will hold you in the Light.

Here’s why this small practice became a life-line for me during some of the most difficult years of our lives.