{"id":3659,"date":"2009-11-11T22:12:09","date_gmt":"2009-11-11T22:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/11\/writing-about-prayer-its-tap-dancing-on-the-radio.html"},"modified":"2009-11-11T22:12:09","modified_gmt":"2009-11-11T22:12:09","slug":"writing-about-prayer-its-tap-dancing-on-the-radio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/11\/writing-about-prayer-its-tap-dancing-on-the-radio.html","title":{"rendered":"Writing about prayer: “It’s tap-dancing on the radio”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The astonishing Mary Karr reflects on prayer and writing<\/a>: <\/p>\n

\n\"14_marykarr.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>Writing about prayer to a secular audience is tap-dancing on the radio. I want to say “Gee whiz, isn’t this great” and have everyone’s head cocked like the RCA dog. I get very quiet. I listen to my breath. I get on my knees before I work and ask for guidance throughout the day. Sometimes I’ll say a prayer like the St Francis prayer, and then I try to listen. And then when I’m at my desk and writing, and get stuck, I’ll pray, I’ll say what am I supposed to do now? Here’s what it’s like. You get very quiet and you run a Geiger counter over a landscape, it’s like you’re flying an airplane over a landscape, but you’re running your heart over this landscape like a Geiger counter and looking for the places that it picks, and lights up. And that’s what it’s like. It’s often something you don’t want to write, something you don’t feel like writing or it’s embarrassing or frightening to write, but if you just have a sense of quiet around the decision to write, write that. Even if there’s either excitement or fear, there is an overwhelming sense of being guided to that place. I know that sounds insane. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can read more of the interview with Mary Karr at this link.<\/a><\/p>\n

Me, I’m galloping through Karr’s new memoir “Lit”<\/a> right now, and it’s just superb. Get it. Don’t wait another day. Really.   Read it. Savor it. It’s about alcoholism, abuse, madness, sanity, clarity, love, confusion, humor and, most importantly, conversion.   Her journey to Catholicism is surprising — and ultimately, deeply moving. <\/p>\n

This is a woman with something to say, and a way of saying it that will take your breath away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The astonishing Mary Karr reflects on prayer and writing: Writing about prayer to a secular audience is tap-dancing on the radio. I want to say “Gee whiz, isn’t this great” and have everyone’s head cocked like the RCA dog. I get very quiet. I listen to my breath. 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