Read, Write, & Pray with The Great Belonging: Part Two
Our Faith in Writing’s Read, Write, & Pray with The Great Belonging series uses themes and excerpts from Charlotte’s first book, The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other.
It’s not necessary to have a copy of The Great Belonging to complete these exercises and prompts. If you’d like a copy, you can purchase one here.
I hope the Read, Write, & Pray series helps you make space to notice God’s presence in your life and creative work. I hope it gives you opportunities to discover how making and engaging with art help you belong to yourself, others, God, and the world.
Learn more about Read, Write, & Pray here.
Read
BOOK REVIEW: THE GREAT BELONGING
This Is Where It Hurts, And Why. Here Is How To Let It Heal
By Sarah Sanderson
Published by Mockingbird
In her debut book, The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other, each of Charlotte Donlon’s short, incisive chapters feels like a gentle push on an old bruise. Where does loneliness hurt? How much? Why? As she works her way around the edges of her own loneliness, Donlon maps a surprisingly familiar pain. Frequent moves. Lost friendships. Debilitating mental illness. The moments after sex. Whether we’ve experienced these exact same circumstances or not, Donlon’s keen observation skills, her calm reflective voice, and her extraordinary willingness to be vulnerable invite us to discover that even in our isolation, we share a common bond.
Write
Write a book review for a book you’ve read recently. Use Sarah Sanderson’s review of The Great Belonging linked above for inspiration, then use the questions below to take notes and write your first draft.
What personal experiences have you had that are connected to the book you’ve chosen for this review?
What is the core message of the book? What questions does it ask? What questions does it answer?
What does the author do well?
What is one of your favorite excerpts from the book? Why do you love it?
How did reading this book change you? Who were you before you read it? Who were you after you read it?
Use your answers to the questions above to write a first draft of a book review.
Pray
Write down a favorite passage from a book you’ve read recently that deepens your sense of belonging to yourself, others, God, or the world. Do a slow reading of the passage in silence. Set a timer and sit in silence with your eyes closed for two minutes. Then read the passage aloud two times. Then sit in silence with your eyes closed for two minutes. Read the passage in silence one more time, then journal any thoughts or prayers that come to mind.
I hope you enjoy this free resource for Read, Write, and Pray with The Great Belonging. Additional free resources can be found here:
Read, Write, & Pray with The Great Belonging
Free Resources
Read, Write, & Pray with The Great Belonging Part One
Read, Write, & Pray with The Great Belonging Part Two
Charlotte Donlon helps her readers and clients notice how they belong to themselves, others, God, and the world. Charlotte is a writer, a spiritual director for writers, and the founder of Spiritual Direction for Writers™ and Parenting with Art™. She is also the founder and host of the Our Faith in Writing podcast and website. Her essays have appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Seattle Pacific University where she studied creative nonfiction with Paula Huston and Lauren F. Winner. She holds a certificate in spiritual direction from Selah Center for Spiritual Formation. Her first book is The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. To receive Charlotte’s latest updates, news, announcements, and other good things, subscribe to her email newsletter.