Charlotte Donlon on Book Launch Preparation, the Comfort of Predictability, Caring for Her Grandcat Dracula, and More: Spiritual Direction for Creative Souls™ Checkup Series No. 1
May we flourish anyway, have a broader view of creativity and the spiritual life, and feel less alone in our art, work, relationships, and beyond.
During my recent drives to North Carolina and back, I pondered the questions below as I traveled through Chattanooga, Knoxville, Dandridge, Newport and Hot Springs. I don’t remember any of my responses, and it was nice to take some time to reflect without needing to capture my thoughts.
What I love about the Spiritual Direction for Creative Souls™ Checkup is that you can take some time to sit with these questions as often as you like and have different responses each time.
That’s one marker of a solid examen. And yes, if you are familiar with the spiritual practice of examen, that’s pretty much what we’re doing here. Except I used part of a framework I developed for the intersection of creativity and the soul to form the list of questions.
It’s almost six o’clock in the morning on Saturday, August 15, so my responses below are true for this moment right now in the quiet of these early hours while my husband and two children (who are currently home from college and graduate school) still sleep. While my grandcat, Dracula, grooms himself beside me.
Side note: I will miss my grandcat tremendously after he returns to Syracuse with my daughter for her second and final year of graduate school. I’ll miss my kids too, of course. I’m not a monster. But it’s been really nice having a pet around the house again this summer.
How do your creativity and spiritual life help you belong to yourself, others, your places, and the divine?
I’ve been thinking a lot about how I want to inhabit and enjoy the next several weeks as I prepare for the launch of Spiritual Direction for Writers: Everyday Rituals for Your Writing Life which will be in the world for real for real on September 3. I want to belong to myself, others, the places I visit, and God in ways that are healthy and spiritually + emotionally grounded. I don’t want to be anxious about book sales or launch events or consumed with numbers. And the best way I know how to do this—the only way I know how to do this?—is to keep returning to my nourishing rhythms, meaningful rituals, and solo retreat practice. My rhythms, rituals, and retreats are built from my main creative expressions and spiritual formation preferences, and always help me return to the version of myself I prefer to be. They help me remember who I am and who God is. They help me explore and honor the places I in which I dwell and the places I visit.
How have your creative expressions and spiritual practices helped you become more of your full self?
I often say that writing and practicing spiritual direction help me feel like more of who God made me to be. I will add that my main nourishing rhythms, meaningful rituals, and solo retreat practice have formed who I am today and continue to form who I’m becoming. Reading, writing, praying, walking outside, and putting myself in the way of others’ art are the main ways I notice the divine in my life, work, art, and beyond. These practices also help me know what I believe and what I don’t believe. Who I want to be and who I don’t want to be. Who I am now, and who I want to be tomorrow and next week and next month.
What do you behold regularly that nourishes your creative soul? (Nature, art, music, TV shows, etc?)
I’ve been listening to (and singing along with) a lot of Allison Russell, Audrey Hobert, First Aid Kit, and Florence + The Machine lately. I’ve also watched 15 or so seasons of Made In Chelsea this summer which makes me chuckle because there are so many other shows I could watch. But I’m fascinated by the display of the human condition. I also love the predictability. Someone will have a crush on someone. They will go out or hook up. Someone will cheat. The other person will find out. There will be drama. Then the cycle will repeat. With so much unpredictability in the world, I’m happy to watch this show full of characters who will do what they do.
I’ve also had some lovely trips to beautiful places in North Carolina with more trips to come. I love love love solo road trips. And I love the nature and landscapes of NC. I have so many thoughts on this and could write a whole new essay about my recent NC travels. I should probably do that soon.
What good things are you bestowing on yourself, others, your places, and the broader world?
I’m really proud of my spiritual direction work and the books I’ve written that others are receiving good things from. I’m also very good at giving myself a lot of rest and silence and solitude every single day. And I took care of my grandcat all summer while my daughter was in New York for an internship. So I gave him lots of care and love while giving my daughter knowledge that her cat son was fine while she was doing her thing in the big city.
What do you want more of for your creativity and spiritual life?
I honestly want my books to sell millions of copies. No lie. But I also want to be very much satisfied and happy with the non-millions-sales that will be the reality. And I want to keep talking to God about all of this. God and I talk about all kinds of things, including how my books probably won’t sell millions of copies. We are both disappointed by this fact but it’s not consuming us. We’re good. We just keep doing the next thing.
What do you want less of for your creativity and spiritual life?
I want fewer interruptions and disruptions. Always and forever. Maybe I’ll have a more interesting response to this question one day soon. Maybe I’ll always answer with “I want fewer interruptions and disruptions. Always and forever.”
Is there anything else that you'd like to share that defines or represents this current season for you creatively and spiritually?
The amount of gratitude I feel for my family, my friends, my writer friends, the Spiritual Direction for Writers® community, my online audience, the people who are supporting my book launch etc etc is ENORMOUS.
I’m doing the work I want to do and making the art I want to make. I’m in beautiful relationships. I am living my dream. Every day I’m thoughtful and intentional about how I can flourish anyway and help others flourish anyway—even though I’m navigating a few hard things personally and we are navigating so many hard things communally as citizens of this country.
What a gift and a grace.
Learn about the purpose of the Spiritual Direction for Creative Souls™ Checkup Series here. And if you’d like to participate and be featured in this series, please complete this Google form. I’ll reach out within a week or so to let you know when your checkup responses will be published.
Please let me know if you have any questions. You can email me at charlotte@charlottedonlon.com but know it may take a week or so for me to respond. This is a lovely and full season for me, but I also need a lot of rest, solitude, and breaks from email.
Thank for being here. Much love to the creative souls. May we flourish anyway and take some time to reflect on our creativity and spiritual life.
💚 Charlotte
Charlotte Donlon is a writer, spiritual director, and gatherer whose work centers on helping people explore themes of belonging, artful encounters, spiritual growth, and how to Flourish Anyway®, even when life is full, busy, or chaotic. Her work has woven together themes of belonging, art, and soul exploration for more than 25 years. With a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing (2015-2018), a certificate in spiritual direction (2018-2020), and a life coach certification (2026), Charlotte guides writers and other creative souls in developing sanctuaries of acceptance and connection.
A Christian in the Episcopal church who believes the tenets of the Nicene Creed, Charlotte employs a universal framework of belonging and connection in her spiritual direction work. She fosters meaningful, soulful conversations and gatherings that are welcoming to all—regardless of faith tradition or spiritual inclinations.
In 2020, Broadleaf Books published Charlotte’s first book, The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. Spiritual Direction for Writers: Everyday Rituals for Your Writing Life is slated for release by Here Below Books in September 2026. Some of volumes of Charlotte’s “Guidebooks for the Soul”—Take More Retreats, The Great Belonging Project, and Belonging Through Art —will also be published in the coming months.
As the founder of several initiatives—including Spiritual Direction for Writers®, Parenting with Art®, Belonging Through Art™, and Spiritual Direction for Creative Souls™—Charlotte has established herself as a thought leader and an authentic presence at the intersection of creativity and spirituality. Her essays have been featured in publications such as The Washington Post, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, and The Millions, among others. A new essay about art conservation, Joan Mitchell, and mystery is forthcoming with Image journal.
For those interested in staying updated on Charlotte’s latest work, news, and insights, subscribe to her Substack Weekly Roundup Series and visit Flourish Anyway®, Charlotte’s online hub for all of her writing, spiritual direction, small press, gatherings, and other offerings.
Beautiful thoughts, Charlotte! Thank you for sharing.