Jason Howell
asked
Jo Baker:
Hi Jo. I'm asking this question of several writers, some friends, some strangers... Do you consider your writing process a "spiritual" practice? If yes, what makes it so? If no, why not? What, in your mind, either qualifies or disqualifies writing as a spiritual practice? Please feel free to either share concrete personal views on this, or approach it as a concept apart from you. Or both.
Jo Baker
I hadn't thought of it as being spiritual itself, but I do see that the practice of writing has similarities with spiritual practices - there's a ritual element, and an inner focus, and one steps aside from the every day. It certainly has a meditative effect for me - it lets the murk settle out, and things feel much clearer afterwards.
More Answered Questions
Alison
asked
Jo Baker:
Hi Jo, I recently read and enjoyed "Longbourn," in part for the sense of getting a better feel for daily life in that era. Did you have to do lots of historical research to get details right about how to make soap, what groomsmen did while waiting to drive carriages home from a ball, who washed the diapers, etc? And how did you choose which chores fit the narrative (aside from shoe roses, of course)?
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