So this is really more of an interview than a tell-all, but I thought the phrase “tell-all” seemed a lot more exciting. Still, I do share a lot of my process behind writing my new book Pilgrim Principles: Journeying with Intention in Everyday Life in a two-part interview I gave with our January Pilgrim in Residence, Kayce Hughlett over at her own blog, Diamonds in the Sky with Lucy. I had such a fun time looking back on my process and answering Kayce’s questions, and I hope you enjoy seeing behind the curtain a bit!
Read a preview below, and then click over to read the rest of part one of the interview and enter for another chance to win a copy of Pilgrim Principles!
Kayce: One of my favorite quotes in your new book is, “Without curiosity, the pilgrimage would never begin.” As a writer, I’m always curious to know what compels other authors to put in the time and effort to bring a book to fruition. Can you share how, when, or why you knew you wanted to write Pilgrim Principles?
Me: Pilgrim Principles was birthed out of two things: 1. I had been developing A Sacred Journey for six months and was ready to offer something more, and 2. in the six months of exploring the practice of pilgrimage on A Sacred Journey, I kept hearing the same question from readers: “What does this mean for me in my everyday life?”
While in graduate school, I wrote a Rule of Life for pilgrims and called it Pilgrim Principles (you can get a free copy of the Rule of Life when you subscribe to A Sacred Journey), and so in response to this question from readers, I decided to develop the Rule of Life further and turn it into an online course. That’s right—a course! In fact, I didn’t even know I would turn it into a book until I finished the first draft and realized that what I’d written could be a book. But once I came to this realization, I knew that turning Pilgrim Principles into a book, instead of a course, was the best step for me and A Sacred Journey. And who knows? Perhaps Pilgrim Principles wouldn’t be available today if I had sat down last year and said, “Okay, now it’s time to write a book. Go.” I always joke that the online course was my Trojan Horse—a necessary deception that was just what I needed to get the real work done.
Kayce: Chapter 5 is dedicated to daily rhythms of grounding. Did you establish your own sacred rhythms during the writing process and, if so, could you please share what they were and how they worked?
Me: I definitely developed some rhythms in my writing process that helped get the initial words onto the page. They weren’t necessarily overtly sacred in the spiritual sense, but I would still describe them as sacred rhythms in that they were the perfect formula for me to start writing, and it was no doubt through being faithful to these rhythms that something sacred emerged…