Ask the Author: Mark Smutny
Answered Questions (6)
Mark Smutny
Write everyday. Do not wait to write until some perfect time. Write now. Right now!
Mark Smutny
The discipline of being a good writer forces clarity, simplicity, and brevity of thought and expression. A good writer becomes a better thinker, teacher, and speaker.
Mark Smutny
I'm re-writing my book THRIVE: The Facilitator's Guide to Radically Inclusive Meetings for a Christian leaders' audience. My first book, while informed by values shaped by Western religious traditions, is secular. I am writing THRIVE with an eye to Christian theology, Biblical insights, and the particular challenges of facilitating meetings in church settings. Many, perhaps most, church meetings are anything but engaging of all perspectives. My current writing project proves it is possible to be radically egalitarian and a follower of Jesus.
Mark Smutny
I don't seem to have the problem. My writing time (early morning) is sacrosanct--no email, no pets, no spouse, and a closed study. I write whatever comes to mind. Editing comes later. I believe the unconscious mind is waiting for fingers and brain to bring to consciousness the ideas, images, and metaphors that convey meaning.
Mark Smutny
I listen. I listen, observe and then dedicate at least ninety minutes a day to writing--very day. The regularity creates an expectation, a rhythm. If I don't write I feel unsettled. Writing while hard, is a joy.
Mark Smutny
Thrive: The Facilitator's Guide for Radically Inclusive Meetings emerged from decades of leading and facilitating meetings. I wanted to bring my insights and gifts to a wider audience. I've experienced so many meetings poorly facilitated and dominated by a few, usually white men like me that I wanted to offer an alternative.
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