Saturday, March 1, 2008

I met Anne Lamott!

On Thursday night one of my dreams came true. My favorite Christian author, Anne Lamott, came to speak and read at Barnes and Noble. If you haven't read her books, you just need to. She is known for her amazing faith journey, irreverance and the way she weaves Christianity with politics. She writes a lot about addiction, motherhood and being a woman. I just love her.

I have to admit, I was a little worried about going. I was worried that her real self would ruin the image I had of her in my mind. What if she was boring or rude? She definitely did not disappoint though.

I got to ask a question, which was one of my main goals. My question was if she ever edited herself or thought something was too far out there to write about. Initially she said no, but then proceeded to explain that she believes in the devil, especially as it pertains to addiction, but thought that was too much for most Christians to handle. Then when I met her and got my book signed, I told her how her writing has really freed me in a lot of ways to be who I really am. I was hoping she would invite me to come and live with her in California, but she didn't.

Some of my favorite Anneisms from the night:

"I don't know who shot the Holy Ghost." This came up as she was describing how many interviewers press her to have a more defined theology. It was Meaningful to me because we had just been talking in lofty terms about the Triune doctrine in class that day and I sort of thought it was all BS, that it's personal and emotional and nothing we can define anyway.

"If you're a woman over the age of 12 in this country and you aren't angry, then you've really missed the boat." On anger and how women aren't allowed to express it.

"We'll just do this one last time and then tomorrow we'll stop." On the voice of the devil and addiction.

"I'm stoked." The way God feels about who we are currently, not who we should or will become.

"Make mistakes." She talked a lot about this in terms of writing and creativity, but also in terms of life, that we've all grown up with this mentality that our best isn't really good enough.

One of the main reasons this night was so important to me is that I am currently thinking a lot about writing. I think this blog is a testament to the fact that I enjoy writing and maybe even am a little good at it. It's scary to me, but something I want to keep exploring. I don't think I've ever had complete time and freedom to really work on it so I want to seek out those opportunities.

Feel free to contact me with your Anne Lamott questions as I can now tell you what she smells like!