Flourish Anyway® Spiritual Direction for Creative Souls Weekly Roundup No. 2: Retreat Vibes, Art Encounters, and More
Reflections, checkups, book notes, and artful links for writers, artists, and creative souls who want to move toward more goodness while acknowledging the current reality.
Flourish Anyway® Spiritual Direction for Creative Souls Weekly Roundup Series is a weekly roundup at the intersection of spirituality, creativity, and everyday life. On Sundays, I share a look back at past writing (with fresh notes), what I’m loving right now (books, essays, art, Daily Nourishment offerings, and more), and what I’m looking forward to across my writing and work with writers, artists, and other creative souls who want to move toward more goodness while acknowledging the current reality.
Here’s a list of my full email offerings and a note to former “Charlotte Donlon Newsletter” subscribers:
—Flourish Anyway® Spiritual Direction for Creative Souls Weekly Roundups goes out every Sunday. This replaces the former general update email newsletter sent via my charlottedonlon.com website. All subscribers from that email newsletter have been migrated to this Substack Weekly Roundup. Please Note: The CSV File included everyone who had ever subscribed, so please feel free to unsubscribe if you like!
In addition to this Substack Weekly Roundup, I have two more subscription options:
—Spiritual Direction for Writers® updates go out every weekend to people who have subscribed via spiritualdirectionforwriters.com and focus on SDW offerings, announcements, FREE co-writing sessions, and more. You can subscribe here for all things SDW.
—Take More Retreats updates will start going out every Friday to people who have subscribed via takemoreretreats.com and will focus on Take More Retreats offerings, book announcements, and pitch and submissions windows. You can subscribe here for all things TMR.
1. What I’m Looking Forward To >
Due to popular demand, I’ve added more Birmingham Contemplative Retreat Days to my calendar for the coming liturgical year. Many many thanks to Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church for providing a lovely space for people to retreat for several hours while nourishing their bodies, minds, and creative souls. If you’re in or near the Birmingham area, join us! You can learn more and register here.
If you aren’t in or near Birmingham, and would like to discuss me bringing a custom version of this retreat to your organization, church, leadership team, etc. email me at charlotte@charlottedonlon.com.
I am so excited to travel to Valle Crucis tomorrow and stay in a hermitage through Friday. I’ll work for few hours each day and NOT WORK for the remaining waking hours of each day. With a big book launch about a month out, I don’t want to take a full week off without any work right now, but I’ve cleared my schedule as much as possible and will have solo retreats each day and hang out with a friend each evening who will also be staying in a hermitage for the week.
Here’s some of the work I’ll focus on next week:
> > > Spiritual Direction for Writers book launch tasks, companion essays to pitch to publications during the launch, lots of admin tasks and emails, and workshop and event prep/research, etc.
> > > Prepare copies of Take More Retreats Volume One for shipping + trips to USPS to ship out to those who have already preordered the Founders Edition.
> > > The Great Belonging Project Volume One final edits.
> > > SDW Summer Intensive Cohort admin and updates.
> > > And when I’m not working, I’ll read and walk and read some more and walk some more. I’ll listen to a bunch of music and watch some TV and movies. I’ll pray a lot too—mainly for me to navigate the SDW book launch without getting too neurotic. I’ll journal and take notes, but most of my writing energy will go toward the work tasks above.
2. What I’m Loving Right Now >
This is one of my favorite poems by Ada Limón. It was our invocation for one of yesterday’s Spiritual Direction for Writers® Co-Writing sessions. It’s such a great poem.
I love hearing poets read their own poems, so I was thrilled to come across that recording linked above. Also—notice the word slip in Limón’s reading… Those types of mistakes during poets’ readings are so interesting to me. It makes me wonder how different the poem would be if it was written at a different point in time.
The Spiritual Direction for Writers® Daily Nourishment offerings are still giving me life. This past week I used more quotes from the forthcoming book as the bones of each daily offering. I added questions that aren’t in the book. This coming week I’ll layer in additional resources and books from others that Spiritual Direction for Writers is in conversation with. I’m really enjoying creating these new SDW Daily Nourishment Pauses, Prompts, and Practices.
Here are a few offerings from this past week if want to check them out:
> > > Belong, Become, Behold, Bestow: Four Movements of Creativity and the Spiritual Life
> > > Become Friends with Time: A Guided Reflection for Writers, Journalers, and Creative Souls
> > > Giving and Receiving: A Guided Contemplative Practice for Writers, Journalers, and Creative Souls> > > Bestow Through Story: A Guided Reflection for Writers, Journalers, and Creative Soul
I have been returning to my photos and videos from the recent(ish) Ruth Asawa Retrospective at MoMA—one of the best exhibitions I’ve ever seen.
And here’s another photo of her art (and me looking at people looking at her art). So so good.
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3. A Look Back >
As the publication date nears for Spiritual Direction for Writers: Everyday Rituals for Your Writing Life, I can’t help but think about the publication date for The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other.
Since The Great Belonging came out on November 10, 2020—just one week after the election, three months after my father’s death, and nine months into the COVID-19 pandemic—I asked everyone to celebrate with me by taking a nap. I was exhausted and grieving and had very little energy for public Zoom gatherings or events.
In many ways, my spiritual direction work with writers has been formed by how I learned to navigate that difficult season as a writer (and human!).
I’m full of so much gratitude and excitement for the upcoming SDW book launch events, gatherings, workshops, and retreats. While life circumstances are never perfect and we will continue to have difficult things to navigate personally and corporately, I am thrilled to bring this book into the world with more attention and intention.
So many people are welcoming me and this book into their communities, bookstores, and churches, and I don’t take that lightly. All is grace.
You can see the preliminary list of event dates and locations below. An updated list is coming soon because we’ve confirmed additional gatherings and more are in the works. Please let me know if you have any questions in the meantime.
And, if you’re a writer or journaler and haven’t preordered Spiritual Direction for Writers: Everyday Rituals for Your Writing Life, I’d love for you to do so now. Preordering the book is a great way to support my writing and work, as well as a fantastic way to help the book have a wider reach.
Much love to the creative souls. Thanks so much for being here!
💚 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.