[The Bookshelf #99] Quick Dispatch from Essayland

The art of writing this when I should be writing that

These days I’m in the final stages of writing (and rewriting) a reflective theological essay, the first major project for my doctoral program. For this essay I’ve chosen to write about my friend Augustine, whose Confessions model for us how paying attention to your life might just be a sacred art.

Day by day my word count is oscillating on either side of the assigned target, depending on which brilliant idea I’ve recently added or what half-baked argument I decided grumpily to delete.

Which is to say: I’ve still got work to do between now and Monday.

Alas, the next proper installment of The Bookshelf will need to wait just a bit longer. In the meantime, I thought I’d point you to a few shorter pieces I’ve published directly to timhoiland.com during the first quarter of the year, none of which have been shared here:

• Abandon the Orderly House by A.W. Regets is a winsome, grounded collection of “good news” sermons.

• Braided Creek: A Conversation in Poetry by Jim Harrison and Ted Kooser is comprised of brief poems written back and forth between aging pals.

• What We Ask of Poets offers a brief comment on Seamus Heaney and the vocation of a poet amidst high stakes.

I’ll get back to these occasional essays on books and life soon. Be well, friends.