Ask the Author: Gretta Vosper
Answered Questions (7)
Gretta Vosper
Oh my goodness!! My apologies for not answering this sooner. I need to figure out notifications!
No. I cannot say that writing my books took courage if you are referring to content. The content of my books was not new to me and had not emerged in a vacuum. It was the product of years of a vibrant, reflective, and mutually challenging relationship with a a congregation. So I was confident that the material, encountered and affirmed in theological college and refined within the practical realities of a congregation was what needed to be written.
The courage, as every author likely knows, is in offering one's work to the world and being willing to accept the world's judgment of it. And that remains the most challenging part.
No. I cannot say that writing my books took courage if you are referring to content. The content of my books was not new to me and had not emerged in a vacuum. It was the product of years of a vibrant, reflective, and mutually challenging relationship with a a congregation. So I was confident that the material, encountered and affirmed in theological college and refined within the practical realities of a congregation was what needed to be written.
The courage, as every author likely knows, is in offering one's work to the world and being willing to accept the world's judgment of it. And that remains the most challenging part.
Gretta Vosper
I'm not sure I've ever had writer's block excepting when I've been given an outline and I've had to try to write to it. Since I learned to ignore the outline, I've not had any difficulties writing. That said, the sheer physical and mental challenge of writing a book has kept me from planning another one. Maybe that is a writer's block of a sort. But if someone gave me a topic and asked me to write on it, I'd likely be very tempted if it was one I thought I had something to say about!
Gretta Vosper
Engaging with readers and others who have become aware of my work through the books I've written. I love speaking about my work but I love love love engaging with the audience afterward and hearing where they have taken it or where they think it might be taking them.
Gretta Vosper
Read, read, read. And learn about how publishing works in your field before you start writing. Publishers almost always want to work with an author if the book is nonfiction but many authors have their book finished before approaching a publisher.
It is important not to let the book get in the way of your writing. In my acknowledgements in Amen, I noted that my husband, Scott, makes me an author. I'm just a writer; he helps me organize my written pieces into a coherent whole. If I had to do write to an outline, I'd be stopped dead in my tracks. Never let the book get in the way of writing it.
It is important not to let the book get in the way of your writing. In my acknowledgements in Amen, I noted that my husband, Scott, makes me an author. I'm just a writer; he helps me organize my written pieces into a coherent whole. If I had to do write to an outline, I'd be stopped dead in my tracks. Never let the book get in the way of writing it.
Gretta Vosper
I am very excited to be working on a resource for clergy who wish to move their congregations in a progressive or post-theistic direction. It will be based on the lectionary and be ready for the beginning of Year C, next November. It's stretching me to go back to the lectionary, which I haven't used for many years, but this work needs to be done by many, many people and so creating resources for others is a significant part of it. Right now, I am planning it as an online resource. And hoping, too, to have a secular version for secular group events and a personal one for your own reflection practice.
Gretta Vosper
I love to write. It's a creative outlet for me and I work on it every week as I prepare for the services I lead on Sundays. Research and organizing my thoughts are my biggest challenges. I love to read widely and disciplining myself to read deeply within a particular subject matter is not my preference so I really need to get myself going when it comes to research. The discipline is imposed from outside - either by a deadline (as in Sunday morning or from my editor), or simply by the other realities of my life which require that I keep writing within confined areas and times
Gretta Vosper
Amen was a challenging book to write. John Shelby Spong, my mentor and hero, was the inspiration behind my willingness to tackle the subject. I especially appreciated his comments early in Eternal Life: A New Vision when he dismissed previous books on the afterlife as all being based on a foundation he did not acknowledge. That cleared the way for me to explore beyond the existing books on prayer, the most of which were also built on a foundation I did not accept.
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Feb 05, 2019 09:22PM