"But what's he been doing, anyway?"
Answers to questions unasked.
I realized in late June that I’d become a little too obsessed with the Monday morning email Substack sends to tell you that you’ve successfully maintained your writing streak. “You’re better than 98.6% of everyone on Substack,” it said. “Where do you find the courage to be so wonderful? The entire cosmos is lucky you’re here.”
Or, that’s how I read it. I might be paraphrasing.
At any rate, week after week, I returned to the dusty sponge of my soul, wringing it for every last drop of prose. Gotta keep up my streak, I told myself. Gotta satiate the Substack gods. But as the very image of a dusty sponge might suggest, I began to wonder if I was really saying anything useful or if I needed to return to the well to at least wash off the dust.
For someone who mostly writes spirituality, I was pretty slow to realize how inordinately attached I was to cranking these things out and the algorithmic affirmation that followed.
So, I took a break. I focused on other things. And I haven’t been back since. Something of an overcorrection, I admit. Whoops!
But I have been busy all the same. And so, for those of you wondering how I’ve been spending my time or what comes next, I’m sharing some updates and links below.
New Books & Writing Projects
First off, I have been fiendishly working on a new adult spirituality book that will be published by Loyola Press. The manuscript was due July 1 and I received edits back July 27. So, that’s been consuming a lot of my attention. What’s it about? Great question.
This is a prayer book, a collection of guided meditations. But it’s also an adventure through fairy tales and fantasy. It’s a wrestling with the fantastical through the lens of the Catholic imagination. I offer 40 guided meditations written in the second person. They each drop you in the scene of a classic fantasy trope: you’re meeting a wizard, encountering a centaur, lost in an enchanted forest, onboard a pirate ship. Each meditation invites you to employ Ignatian contemplation, putting yourself in the scene, while also drawing from these fantastical vignettes spiritual nourishment and insight for your very real life. The meditations are interrupted by an essay in which I draw some of those parallels from my life. I’m pretty excited about this project—more to come soon.
Second, my friend
invited me to a monthlong writing sprint. We spent July writing, reflecting and encouraging one another. So, I turned in my manuscript, turned my attention to fiction, and cranked out about 43,000 words before I received my edits back. I’m going to be returning to that story again very soon.Finally, my friend
and I are back on the children’s book beat. We are well into the weeds of that project, already reviewing illustrations and the like, and that will hopefully come out early next year. I’m not sure how much can be said about it now, but it’ll also be awesome.
Retreats & Presentations
Have you ever thought to yourself, “Wow, Eric’s words are super fun to read but what if I could hear him speak them aloud while also watching him bounce around a small space, gesticulating wildly with his arms and definitely sweating?” If so, you’re in luck! I have a number of retreats and presentations coming up this fall. To start:
I’ll be in Ireland and Northern Ireland Sept 3 - 14 offering a number of retreats and talks in Dublin and Belfast.
For folks in or near Dublin, come hang out for the weekend of Sept 5 - 7 at the Manresa Jesuit Centre: https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/jesuits-and-jedi-in-ireland/. I’ll be giving a weekend retreat on Star Wars and spirituality.
For folks in Belfast, come by the Belfast Jesuit Centre Sept 12 & 13: https://belfastjesuitcentre.co.uk/seasonal-events/. I’ll be at two events: a Star Wars talk and a daylong retreat on praying with pop culture.
There are a few other events on the books for my time there, so if you’re interested, reach out!
I’ll be offering a weekend retreat entitled “Cultivating a Spirituality of Storytelling” Sept 26 - 28 at Villa Maria Education and Spirituality Center near Youngstown, Ohio (but on the PA side!). Learn more and register: https://vmesc.org/programs-retreats/all-events?id=1024
On Wednesday, October 22, I’ll be at Mount Saint Mary House of Prayer in New Jersey offering the 12th annual major speaking event: “Spiritual Lessons from a Galaxy Far, Far Away.” This is going to be a lot of fun—the Garden State Trombone Quartet is going to be playing Star Wars music! Register here: https://www.msmhope.org/events/12th-major-speaker
And there’s lots more to come!
Podcasts
I was interviewed on a great Star Wars fan podcast—give it a listen here. We tackled such important questions as, “Which Star Wars character would make a good pope?” Spoiler: It’s not who you think.
And I interviewed my buddy Brody Bond for the latest episode of “AMDG: A Jesuit Podcast.” Brody is so wise and so reflective—this one is worth a listen (or two).
Writing
I reflect on why I wear a cross around my neck over at IgnatianSpirituality.com.
I wrestle with a pretty tough Gospel passage by way of a guided meditation over for the Ignatian Solidarity Network.
I wrote about peace and what a soldier-turned-saint can teach us about it for Red Letter Christians.
I was honored to be asked to review the new history book, “Success on the Sound,” on my alma mater, Fairfield University, for “Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal.”
Book Review
Finally, I’m super grateful to my friend
for her generous review of my new book, “Finding Peace Here and Now: How Ignatian Spirituality Leads Us to Healing and Wholeness,” over at NCR. Give it a read!More to come! Happy start to the school year.
Eric, terrific stuff that is afoot. Would you consider offering Cultivating a Spirituality of Storytelling online so others can learn?
I appreciate your British/Irish spelling of “centre” - and what fabulous retreats!!