Pinch me. CatholicMom.com has chosen In Pieces as its Fall 2023 Book Club selection.

This is a huge honor. My editors and I will be discussing the book with the CatholicMom.com team over four sessions. I’m eager to see what everyone brings to the table. Also: I probably should reread my own book before discussing it. 😅

Click here for the schedule. I hope you can join us!

Namely, overthinking everything. Steven Pressfield nailed it:

Steven Pressfield, The War of Art.

A Professional Demystifies

The pro views her work as craft, not art. Not because she believes art is devoid of a mystical dimension. On the contrary. She understands that all creative endeavor is holy, but she doesn’t dwell on it. She knows if she thinks about that too much, it will paralyze her. So she concentrates on technique. The professional masters how, and leaves what and why to the gods. Like Somerset Maugham she doesn’t wait for inspiration, she acts in anticipation of its apparition. The professional is acutely aware of the intangibles that go into inspiration. Out of respect for them, she lets them work. She grants them their sphere while she concentrates on hers.

The sign of the amateur is overglorification of and preoccupation with the mystery.

The professional shuts up. She doesn’t talk about it. She does her work.

Steven Pressfield, The War of Art, p. 78

Philosophizing (including my own) advances the Catholic literary renaissance only so far. Overindulge and it will become an impediment.

I could say more, but I have yet to do my own work this morning, so…

I stepped into the arena. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. But I took some pot shots at Immanuel Kant in the process, so it’s worth it.

Read my latest article, Popular fiction and the Catholic Literary Renaissance, over at Catholic World Report.