Proselytizing Contemplative Writing

by Ellen Prewitt

I've been talking incessantly about contemplative writing. Y’all know me. I tend to fall into things. Then I’ve got to share my new loves. But this time it’s not entirely my fault. People keep asking, "What are you writing these days?" I make some remark about my novel coming out next spring and how I need to focus on that. Then I’m off, proselytizing writing, “Mostly, what I’m loving these days is contemplative writing.”

I can’t stop there. I have to explain what I mean when I say contemplative writing, because the phrase means different things to different people. Often my description is not what listeners are expecting. Journaling, I think--that’s what most folks expect. But, “We use writing prompts to experience contemplative values,” not so much. Again, I keep going. “Like shifting our point of view, getting us out of our habitual way of looking at things, opening up to epiphanies, exploring compassion.”

At this point, some of the furrowed brows smooth. Not others. So then I tell them our contemplative writing group Zooms every Sunday evening from 5-6 CST and invite them to join us. Sometimes I give the background for the group (“It began as a workshop at Dillard, but now it’s a writing group run by the members of the group . . .). Sometimes I segue to talking about my general love of writing in supportive groups. Or share about our contemplative writing offering this summer at the Wild Goose Festival. Or invite them to our in-person gatherings we hold a couple of times a year (including this October 18th at Ship Island.) Flinging left and right, hunting for that spark that will lead them to say, “Tell me more about that.”

I’ve had people say, “That sounds exactly like what I’ve been looking for.” Others nod politely—they were really asking about something they could read. I wish I had a better pitch. I’m open to suggestions. But, either way, I’m gonna keep at it, proselytizing contemplative writing.