Jeanne d'Arc (Historiated initial depicting Joan of Arc from Archives Nationales, Paris, AE II 2490, poss. 15th cent)
Jeanne d’Arc (Historiated initial depicting Joan of Arc from Archives Nationales, Paris, AE II 2490, poss. 15th cent)
“Si je n’y suis [en la grâce de Dieu], Dieu m’y mette; et, si j’y suis, Dieu m’y tienne! Je serais le plus dolente de monde si je savais ne pas être en la grâce de Dieu”
— Jeanne d’Arc

Today’s Feast Days

27 March

Augusta di Serravalle
(5th cent.)
Martyr
Gelasius
(1174)
Archbishop
John of Damascus
(676–749)
Apologist, Hymnographer, Monk, Priest

I understand immediately the thrill of seeing oneself in print. It provides some sort of primal verification–you are in print: therefore you exist. Who knows what this urge is all about, to appear somewhere outside yourself, instead of feeling stuck inside your muddled but stroboscopic mind, peering out like a little undersea animal–a spiny blenny, for instance–far inside your tiny cave? Seeing yourself in print is such an amazing concept: you can get so much attention without having to actually show up somewhere. While others who have something to say or who want to be effectual, like musicians or baseball players or politicians, have to get out there in front of people, writers, who tend to be shy, get to stay home and still be in public. There are many obvious advantages to this. You don’t have to dress up, for instance, and you can’t hear them boo you right away.

Anne Lamott (1954– )

American writer

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (1995)