There's a constant hunger in the world for books that explore the spiritual aspects of life, but writing about spirituality is far more complex than simply sharing personal reflections about God and the life of faith. Editors and publishers who specialize in spiritual writing find that what is important to work out for yourself on paper may not always be the best way to connect to readers. Because of its personal nature, it can be difficult to find the balance in spiritual writing between what is good writing for you and what is good writing for others. Incorporating her 20+ years of publishing and writing experience, Vinita Hampton Wright provides a practical and straightforward look at spiritual writing for a broader audience in The Art of Spiritual Writing. This slim volume is loaded with writing tips, advice, and exercises to help the writer hone and craft his or her personal thoughts into an engaging, inspiriing, and publishable piece. Readers will learn such things as why authenticity matters, how to find their authentic voice, and how to engineer their creativitiy so that it resonates with readers. The Art of Spiritual Writing demonstrates that by taking the time to learn and implement the process and craft of writing, we can begin to uncover new ways to ocnnect with ourselves, our readers, and God. And as we grow in our writing ability, our spirituality blossoms as well.

A woman's coming-of-age journey through the rugged landscape of Wales to the reflective quiet of a retreat center. Along the way she questions and explores the depth of her Methodist faith as she comes to terms with her bisexual identity.

"When I begin to write, I open myself and wait. And when I turn toward an inner spiritual awareness, I open myself and wait." With that insight, Pat Schneider invites readers to contemplate their lives and deepest questions through writing. In seventeen concise thematic chapters that include meditations on topics such as fear, freedom, tradition in writing and in religions, forgiveness, joy, social justice, and death, How the Light Gets In gracefully guides readers through the artistic and spiritual questions that life offers to everyone. Praised as a "fuse lighter" by author Julia Cameron and "the wisest teacher of writing I know" by the celebrated writing guru Peter Elbow, Pat Schneider has lived a life of writing and teaching, passion and compassion. With How the Light Gets In, she delves beyond the typical "how-to's" of writing to offer an extended rumination on two inner paths, and how they can run as one. Schneider's book is distinct from the many others in the popular spirituality and creative writing genre by virtue of its approach, using one's lived experience--including the experience of writing--as a springboard for expressing the often ineffable events that define everyday life. Her belief that writing about one's own life leads to greater consciousness, satisfaction, and wisdom energizes the book and carries the reader elegantly through difficult topics. As Schneider writes, "All of us live in relation to mystery, and becoming conscious of that relationship can be a beginning point for a spiritual practice--whether we experience mystery in nature, in ecstatic love, in the eyes of our children, our friends, the animals we love, or in more strange experiences of intuition, synchronicity, or prescience."

In Subversive Spirituality Peterson has gathered together a host of writings penned over the past twenty-five years that reflect on the overlooked facets of the spiritual life. Comprising occasional pieces, short biblical studies, poetry, pastoral readings, and interviews, this work captures the epiphanies of life with the pleasing pastoral style and inspiring depth of insight for which Peterson is well known. Peterson describes his book this way: "This gathering of articles and essays, poems and conversations, is a kind of kitchen midden of my noticings of the obvious in the course of living out the Christian life in the vocational context of pastor, writer, and professor. The randomness and repetitions and false starts are rough edges that I am leaving as is in the interests of honesty. Spirituality is not, by and large, smooth. I do hope, however, that these pieces will be found to be freshly phrased".

"Witches are gathering." When most people hear the word "witches," they think of horror films and Halloween, but to the nearly one million Americans who practice Paganism today, witchcraft is a nature-worshipping, polytheistic, and very real religion. So Alex Mar discovers when she sets out to film a documentary and finds herself drawn deep into the world of present-day magic. Witches of America follows Mar on her immersive five-year trip into the occult, charting modern Paganism from its roots in 1950s England to its current American mecca in the San Francisco Bay Area; from a gathering of more than a thousand witches in the Illinois woods to the New Orleans branch of one of the world's most influential magical societies. Along the way she takes part in dozens of rituals and becomes involved with a wild array of characters: a government employee who founds a California priesthood dedicated to a Celtic goddess of war; American disciples of Aleister Crowley, whose elaborate ceremonies turn the Catholic mass on its head; second-wave feminist Wiccans who practice a radical separatist witchcraft; a growing "mystery cult" whose initiates trace their rites back to a blind shaman in rural Oregon. This sprawling magical community compels Mar to confront what she believes is possible-or hopes might be. With keen intelligence and wit, Mar illuminates the world of witchcraft while grappling in fresh and unexpected ways with the question underlying every faith: Why do we choose to believe in anything at all? Whether evangelical Christian, Pagan priestess, or atheist, each of us craves a system of meaning to give structure to our lives. Sometimes we just find it in unexpected places.

Toni Morrison's Spiritual Vision unpacks an oft-ignored but essential element of her work--her religion--and in so doing gives readers a deeper, richer understanding of her life and her writing. Nadra Nittle's wide-ranging, deep exploration of Morrison's oeuvre reveals the role of religion and spirituality in her life and literature.

Today, the surprisingly elastic form of the memoir embraces subjects that include dying, illness, loss, relationships, and self-awareness. Writing to reveal the inner self—the pilgrimage into one’s spiritual and/or religious nature—is a primary calling. Contemporary memoirists are exploring this field with innovative storytelling, rigorous craft, and new styles of confessional authorship. Now, Thomas Larson brings his expertise as a critic, reader, and teacher to the boldly evolving and improvisatory world of spiritual literature. In his book-length essay Spirituality and the Writer, Larson surveys the literary insights of authors old and new who have shaped religious autobiography and spiritual memoir—from Augustine to Thomas Merton, from Peter Matthiessen to Cheryl Strayed. He holds them to an exacting standard: they must render transcendent experience in the writing itself. Only when the writer’s craft prevails can the fleeting and profound personal truths of the spirit be captured. Like its predecessor, Larson’s The Memoir and the Memoirist, Spirituality and the Writer will find a home in writing classrooms and book groups, and be a resource for students, teachers, and writers who seek guidance with exploring their spiritual lives.

Align Your Creative Energy with Nature’s “Everything we know about creating,” writes Tina Welling, “we know intuitively from the natural world.” In Writing Wild, Welling details a three-step “Spirit Walk” process for inviting nature to enliven and inspire our creativity.

The burgeoning interest in writing and spiritual growth, spurred on by books such as Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way and Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones has helped to establish writing books as a mainstay in the book business. At the same time, spiritual and personal growth books grace bestseller lists across the nation. Perhaps not so surprisingly, there is a cross-fertilization between people who are interested in personal and spiritual growth and those who are interested in writing.In Writing Spiritual Books, Hal Zina Bennett will take the writer by the hand: first, he will help illuminate and focus on the spiritual experience; then Bennett shares tips and secrets on the craft of writing, organization, and style of spiritual books; and finally, he will address the practical aspects of finding an agent and publisher, complete with a resource section.Including both anecdotal and prescriptive material gleaned from the Hal Zina Bennett's work on over 200 successful projects--for both publishers and individual authors - their will be writing exercises, exploratory questions, and other practical guidance, Readers will be taken through the entire process of writing books for the spiritual and personal growth markets.

Propelled by a desire for the sacred, spiritual seekers of the Middle Ages were masters of pilgrimage, dedicated to their journeys of religious devotion. Their epic voyages took them across continents and treacherous mountain passages, and were undertaken with a keen awareness of the possible perils of the journey. Still, by faith, they went on pilgrimage in hopes of tracing the steps of Jesus in the holy city of Jerusalem. In 3000 Miles to Jesus Lisa Deam invites us to embrace the adventure of spiritual pilgrimage in our everyday lives. Bringing alive the rich stories of medieval pilgrims, she offers an intimate look at these quests for the sacred, helping us draw rich application for our walks of faith today. To take this road, we won't have to give up flushing toilets, warm beds, or cell phones. But we are invited to travel the rugged terrain of faith: journeying in risk and adventure through unfamiliar territory, across the unknown seas of the spiritual life, meeting life's difficult passages of loss, accompanied by the temptation to turn back even as we march on. In meeting challenges in the wise company of the ancient pilgrims, we learn hope and resolve as we walk a wild and wonderful way to a city that shimmers beyond a horizon we cannot yet see. We are headed for the Jerusalem of our hearts. When we understand the risks taken and the courage and conviction driving the medieval pilgrim, a bigger picture of a lifelong journey of faith comes into view. We are opened up to the sacred world before us in new and unexpected ways.