The Liturgy of Writing

One good thing about having to get up and out early: it gives me almost 2 uninterrupted hours of writing time, without having to say "later, honey" to someone I love. As a result, I just finished an 8-page report on baptismal substances and symbols for my Liturgy class (Insert Doxology Here).

Writing is the area in which I find I exert the most effort. Reading is time-consuming, but not impossible; I read pretty fast, so most of the time I keep up with it. But I'm a slow writer, and choosy about words and structure. At first, I think: "2000 words? How will I come up with that much?" Then I find myself doing a switch: "How in the world will I keep this under 2000 words?" In either case, it seems to take forever to develop a coherent argument.

My bishop makes the point that, for clergy, words are part of the stock in trade; prayers and sermons will be occupying a goodly portion of my time in ministry, so I'd better get used to producing them in quantity. He's right, of course-- but brothers and sisters, it's hard work.