Living the Comma #22

[The Stage is on Fire] is a page-turner in which, much like life, there are no easy answers and yet each step of the journey yields insight and hope. This work of heart must not be missed!

Melanie Faith

Creative Writing Teacher, Essayist & Poet.

Katie Steedly’s first-person piece [The Unspeakable Gift] is a riveting retelling of her participation in a National Institutes of Health study that aided her quest to come to grips with her life of living with a rare genetic disorder. Her writing is superb.

The Society of Professional Journalists

In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.

I thank you … It is the authenticity of your “class notes”; and it is the delicacy and skill with which you present the nuances of classroom life and the actuality of your students’ and fellow teachers’ lives.

Maxine Greene

Philosopher and Education Scholar

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What if? Living the Comma. Water.

Dear Writer Friends,

Our minister recently asked the question, “What if?” To provide a little context, she asked it of our church responding to the questions of our times. Her message made me think of a few questions myself. What if curiosity is a superpower? What if our life is one big, huge, beautiful prayer? What if, as Maxine Greene suggests, imagination makes empathy possible? What if we have the power we seek? What if falling apart is a new beginning — a falling together, a resurrection? What if we are built for this exact time? If all that is true. Deep Breath. Now what? What then? What’s next?

She suggested that questions fundamentally asks us to reflect on how we are living the comma. Let me explain my take on living the comma. Our VHC Writing Group decided to name itself Living the Comma when we began in August of 2025. Living the Comma is a nod to the United Church of Christ, Virginia Highland Church’s denomination’s phrase, “Never place a period where God has placed a comma.” Within that, God is still speaking. The idea, as I have come to understand it, is that a spiritual path is quiet and loud and imperfect and wise and inclusive and holy and constant and unfolding and blessed with questions not answers and revealed in pauses not periods.

Then what is the work of our Living the Comma Writing Group? What if the work is to see one another? What if the work is to find and strengthen our voice? What if the work is to develop our craft? What if the work is to share our stories? What if the work is to build community? What if the work is a little of all that, connected by commas?

Our next in person writing session will be April 13 (to accommodate Easter, which is April 5th) at VHC after snack time.

We are scheduled to meet from 12:15 to 1:30 in May, too.

To virtually connect with the group during our meetings, use this link — https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85095318186.

This newsletter — Living the Comma — is delivered weekly to keep our community up-to-date and writing.

I came across an article on Literary Hub. “I Talked to 150 Writers and Here’s the Best Advice They Had: Joe Fassler On Seven of the Most Common Writing Tips.” The article is the synthesis of wisdom gained from years of talking with writers about their writing process and craft for the Atlantic.

Katherine May’s “The Clearing” is a perfect example of living the comma. Water Practice: A new series of prompts inviting ritual and reflection is her invitation, “to make a deeper connection with the building blocks of everyday life, taking a mindful look at the things we often take for granted – or which we would rather not think too hard about – and trying to understand what they mean to us. My aim is to avoid being didactic or judgemental, but instead to investigate parts of our unknowing; to simply notice rather than assume.” The Prompt — What do you experience today, drinking water?

Sarah Bessey’s, Field Notes, is another example of living the comma. Bessey explains, “Last week, I hosted a collaborative prayer circle in the comment section of Field Notes with the promise that I would create a collaborative prayer out of your comments and sure enough, that’s what you’ll find below this week. … If you are at all feeling alone in prayer and longing, I encourage you to go read through that comment section: you’ll find kindred spirit after kindred spirit sharing the cries of their own hearts right now.” — Sarah Bessey’s, “The Prayer You Wrote for Each Other.”

As we live the comma, let’s ask what if? Let’s be curious and awestruck and wonder full. Let’s find new shapes and truths and light. Let’s dance and celebrate and sing. Let’s be storytellers and weavers and healers.

From the heart of the comma,

Katie

Thank you for Living the Comma with me. This community is truly love and light. Subscribe to the Wide-Awakeness Project and share your light. It has never been more important.

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