Welcome to Week Two of Book It!, a weekly feature in which we talk about the two books we have been reading together for the past week. If you missed Week One, click here. This week finds us talking about Section II of Writer Mama and Eat, Pray, Love. Please leave your comments.

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Section II of Writer Mama focuses on practicing your writing. Instead of submitting feature-length articles to magazines, Christina Katz recommends getting your foot in the door with smaller clips that include tips, list articles, fillers, how-to’s, and personal anecdotes. *This was the part of the story that filled me with great satisfaction, as my contract work revolves entirely around writing how-to articles ~ great practice for being published in a glossy. I have close to 200 articles already written, any of which could be refined and submitted for publication.*

Katz also wrote about generalizing versus writing in a specific niche. Whereas my blog and contract work revolve around general ideas, I am hoping to acquire two writing jobs that would have me writing about one specific topic. I enjoy writing about many topics. When I think about submitting an article or pitching an idea, however, I fall back on my niche: pregnancy and parenting.

As a writer, do you have a Professional Mission Statement? I don’t, but I should. Before we discuss Section III next week, let’s each of us come up with a Professional Mission Statement and tack it up, either publicly on your site, or privately at your workstation.

If you would like to participate in reading and discussing Writer Mama, please read pages 132-215 before next Thursday. Then come back here and leave your thoughts in the comments section.

This is what Kristi said about Section I of Writer Mama:

First, I have to say I love that quote from Writer Mama. I wrote it in my notebook when I read it, because I need to follow those words of advice. I just haven’t figured out exactly how to do that yet. I liked her outlining the important sections for a query letter, because I have yet to write one. And she demystified that entire query-writing process for me, because I realized it’s a lot less scary (but a lot more important) than I thought it was. I also appreciated the tips about finding time during the day to do small snippets of writing or research. I’ve started getting up about an hour before Isabella does in the morning, so I can get a jumpstart on my work.

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“Letting go, of course, is a scary enterprise for those of us who believe that the world revolves only because it has a handle on the top of it which we personally turn, and that if we were to drop this handle for even a moment, well – that would be the end of the universe. But try dropping it, Groceries. This is the message I’m getting. Sit quietly for now and cease your relentless participation. Watch what happens. The birds do not crash dead out of the sky mid-flight, after all. The trees do not wither and die, the rivers do not run red with blood. Life continues to go on . . . with all my hyped-up fervor and with this stupidly hungry nature of mine – what should I do with my energy, instead?

That answer arrives, too:

Look for God, suggests my Guru. Look for God like a man with his head on fire looks for water.” (page 155-156)

Section II of Eat, Pray, Love touched me in such a profound way, mainly because I have been searching for my own spirituality for the past thirty year. Yes, I realize I am only thirty years old as I write this, which just goes to show how lacking I am in faith, God, and all things higher, holier, and mightier than I am. Oh, how desperately I want to believe. Please don’t pity me for being of little faith, because I will find my way; I want to. However, I am unsure the path.

Elizabeth Gilbert’s description of her time spent at an Ashram in India was tedious, which is to say she did a wonderfully adequate job in relaying her experiences. I understood her. In the beginning of Section II, I felt the angst and frustration in relation to her inabilities to meditate and pray how she believed one must meditate and pray. I felt the isolation of silence, the weariness and reward of manual labor, the need to understand, the joy of finding faith and letting it envelope your entire being.

We learned that Liz finally found her word, antevasin. “The antevasin was an in-betweener. He was a border-dweller. He lived in sight of both worlds, but he looked toward the unknown. And he was a scholar.” (page 204)

Have you found your word? I have.

What will happen to Liz in Indonesia? If you would like to participate in Book It!, please read pages 215-331 before next Thursday.

Have your gotten your next-on-the-list books?