A priest, a minister, and a rabbi walk into a bar . . .*

Recently I’ve seen a bit of a twist on that old joke. In my version a priest, a recovering lawyer, and a professor are involved. They are not driving me to drink at the nearest pub . . . at least not yet.

However, three conversations—augmented by a book with “some instructions on writing and life”—have been spinning around in my brain in recent weeks.

The quality of my writing is generally a topic I hold close. Why go looking for trouble? But I initiated all three recent discussions to broach the subject with others. While I wasn’t looking for “benefactor moments” in these conversations, several nonetheless broke through.

The priest, whose writings are often read aloud, described the process he goes through in crafting a sermon. The recovering lawyer—a photographer and writer who explores the innate characteristics of a place—discussed our different journeys. The professor—a retired teacher and advocate for archivists—always expands my worldview in the most supportive and life-giving way. And the book included suggestions about a reason to write that I want to incorporate in some small way going forward.

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HOLD IT TOGETHER

As a teacher of homiletics and someone recognized as one of the outstanding preachers in the Episcopal Church, I knew Frank Wade—a long-time friend and mentor—would provide honest and thoughtful advice.

It helped that Frank knew of my eclectic tastes. One minute I can be writing about history and heritage conservation while the next few posts may focus on baseball, family, current events, or murder mysteries. “Make sure each piece holds together on its own,” he suggested, followed with thoughts on how that can work out in practice.

Writing in a crisp, clean, clear style, Frank creates a circle with three stops along the way (as at 3, 6, and 9 on the face of a clock) to reset the theme. The goal is always to come back to the main point at the end.

As a preacher, Frank has to be sensitive to the way people listen and hear what he’s written. Attention spans wander. Two minutes in and all of a sudden one parishioner may be drifting off to focus on brunch. Another has gotten hung up on a phrase and is turning it over in their minds. A third—this would be me—is thinking about how much they dislike the writings of St. Paul. Preachers and writers, Frank suggested, need to bring their listeners and readers back—frequently and gently—to the topic at hand. Good writers hold it all together, even if their readers want to wander.

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FIND MEANING IN THE WRITING

My second conversation was with Chuck Wolfe, a recovering lawyer who now writes on how to explore the innate characteristics of a place. I first met Chuck over a decade ago, and we recently sat down over coffee while I was in Santa Fe, his new home. In a recounting of our conversation on his Resurgence: A Journey newsletter, Chuck notes: “In a Substack world full of news, politics, and policy, I keep wrestling with writing personal reflections that overlap with guidance on how to understand places and our relationships to them.” He alludes to living in the “messy middles” and to being a humble newbie. In writing about New Mexico, Chuck notes that “each day brings fresh discoveries in the Land of Enchantment, but with them comes the responsibility to approach them as a thoughtful participant in a continuing story.”

That could be a good prompt for any place we find ourselves.

“Disappearance reminds us to notice, transience to cherish, fragility to defend,” Kathryn Schulz writes. “We are here to keep watch, not to keep.”

At this stage of life my interests are much too wide to be bound by a single-focus newsletter. In his very kind and generous description of our discussion, Chuck called MORE TO COME a “wise, eclectic, and refreshing non-Substack” newsletter. He remarked that he saw that I derive “simple, enduring meaning” from observing and writing about my diverse interests.

Sometimes others see things in you and your writing that are not always obvious when putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard.

“David remains engaged with many people and places, and our conversation resonated deeply. David’s quiet contentment—and his focus on a meaningful process of regular reflection rather than concern with measurable impact—was a necessary lesson in an era where we often feel pressured to find a single, easy answer for a complex life.”

Thank you, Chuck, for the reminder that writing—and the reflection that goes with it—brings resonance in people and places we may not even recognize.

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ACCEPTANCE

George Farr—a longtime professor of literature and the retired Director of the Division of Preservation and Access at the National Endowment for the Humanities—joins me for lunch once a month at the French bistro La Piquette. The wait staff knows that nine times out of ten we’ll both order the Trout Meunière Arc-en-ciel cooked with capers, shallots, and butter, a dish that is heavenly in its simplicity.

Our conversations are wide-ranging but always include books and writing. Some time ago George wrote a blurb that readers often find at the top of my home page. It reads:

“Each week I look forward to more of MORE TO COME ― David Brown’s ‘Letter to the World’ ― and each week I marvel once again at the range and depth of his cultural interests and am grateful for his knowledge, his insight ― and his humanity.”

When we last met I mentioned the conversations with Frank and Chuck, and George was intrigued. He listened carefully but then made the gentle suggestion that essentially encouraged me to accept who I am and how I write. It was a reminder that it is okay that we’re not solving world peace here at MTC, but doing our best to observe the world around us from our own perspective—as all writers do—and tell others about it, to paraphrase Mary Oliver.

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WRITE AS A PRESENT TO A FRIEND

While in Santa Fe, I not only met Chuck at the coffeehouse inside Collected Works Bookstore, but I also purchased several books. Among them was a classic on the writer’s world, which fit right into these conversations.

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (1994; Vintage Books Edition 2019) by Anne Lamott is worth reading even if you are not a professional or serious writer. If you’ve ever wanted to write, this funny, wise, at times cranky, and insightful work is full of wisdom that can support your journey. Lamott encourages her readers and students to get off their duffs, look around, explore, and then write about it. Good writing is about telling the truth, Lamott asserts, and this work is full of truth telling for the aspiring writer.

Her advice and asides alike will make you laugh out loud. Short assignments and sh*tty first drafts are the key to happiness. There will be people—other writers perhaps—to hate, although you can safely assume “you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” Even though most of the advice is geared for the writer of fiction there is much here for the writer of nonfiction as well (and Lamott writes very good nonfiction, as seen by her most recent column in the Los Angeles Times.) But the book is also a reminder that not all snarky humor ages well. Take the good with the not so good, as overall this work is worth it.

Near the end of Bird by Bird Lamott recommends other reasons to write besides the possibility of publication. She suggests that you write as a present to a friend.

That struck me as a great way to think about so much of what I do at MTC.

“Twice now I have written books that began as presents to people I loved who were going to die,” she states. Writing as a present risks freeing someone else, perhaps someone you love. It is a lovely chapter that stands out in what is already a provocative and helpful volume for writers.

“I got to write books about my father and my best friend, and they got to read them before they died. Can you imagine? I wrote for an audience of two whom I loved and respected, who loved and respected me. So I wrote for them as carefully and soulfully as I could—which is, needless to say, how I wish I could write all the time.”

As Frank might say, Amen.

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I hope the recent gifts given to me by Frank, Chuck, and George can be returned in some small way as I continue this journey to unpack the roles memory, identity, and continuity in all their forms play in shaping our lives.

More to come . . .

DJB

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*I didn’t want to waste the opening line:

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Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash