Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Prayer Wasn’t Enough




Today, my convent memoir—Prayer Wasn’t Enough—becomes available on Amazon. My eldest niece has worked hard to ensure that this happens for me, and I am deeply grateful. She is, as you will appreciate, a blessing in my life. I'm also excited; my stomach continues to somersault!  I’m hoping that this book will enjoy the kind of success that will enable me to self-publish other books in the next few years.
           
Here’s an introduction to the memoir: Despite years of Catholic education, I never once considered becoming a nun. I grew up on a farm with a creek running through it and with the whisper of wind playing the fields. Nuns didn’t go barefoot, pick blackberries, or weed vegetable gardens. I thought their life had to be boring.

Then in college, a transcendent experience changed everything for me. After graduation, eager to pray, I entered a Benedictine convent certain that there I’d become a saint. Except for meals, evening recreation, and communal prayer, I lived in silence. That didn’t faze me: Life was new; perfection seemed possible.

For the eighteen months of the novitiate, during which I was given the name Sister Innocence, I studied The Rule of Saint Benedict, a document nearly 1,500 years old. Daily I gathered with other nuns for prayer and performed the tasks that demanded obedience. Laughter, good will, and a sense of purpose permeated my life as a postulant and then as a novice.

On January 1, 1960, I made first vows and went out on mission to teach. Five months later, I returned to the motherhouse on the verge of a physical and emotional breakdown. As the years passed, I taught, studied, and prayed, but dwelt in confusion as the vow of obedience became increasingly difficult. I wanted all nuns to be perfect; they weren’t. More importantly, I realized I couldn’t will myself into perfection.

In Prayer Wasn’t Enough, I describe my crippling hunger for perfection, my flawed misconception of sanctity, and my emotional immaturity. I also describe my deep love of prayer and how it became a thread that held me to the convent.

That’s the story in a nutshell. I think it will appeal to four groups of readers: those curious about why young women enter the convent; those who have endured their own struggles with perfection; those who have embraced a life committed to someone or something beyond themselves; and those whose dreams for the future have been shaken or derailed.

I hope you will want to read Prayer Wasn't Enough, and if you enjoy it, that you'll tell others about it. Click here to view the paper book. Click here to view the ebook.


Peace.

22 comments:

  1. Did you find enough?

    I will have to read it and see! ;-)

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    1. Dear Sandi, thanks for stopping by. I hope that if you do read the memoir it will speak to you in some way. Peace.

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  2. Congratulations Dee! I shared this.

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  3. Happy publication day, Dee. My book is ordered, and I can't wait for it to arrive.

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    1. Dear Jerri, I so hope you enjoy it. It's a very young Dee Ready! Peace.

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  4. How very exciting and satisfying for you to have reached publication day for your memoir, Dee. I shall definitely buy and read it with great interest and I hope it achieves a wide circulation.

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    1. Dear Perpetua, thank you for your good wishes. I hope it speaks to all those who have had a dream and had it derailed for whatever reason. Peace.

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  5. Congrats Dee! How very exciting! I will definitely share your info on my next blog.

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    1. Dear Rian, thank you so much. I appreciate all and any help that the wonderful bloggers I follow--like you--do for the book. Peace.

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  6. Ordered! :-)

    Now I just have to figure out how to open it on
    Kindle.

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    1. Dear Birdie, thank you for ordering the book. I so hope it speaks to you. You'll discover in it the beginning of a 10-year depression I health with in my 20s and 30s. Peace.

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  7. Ordered it this morning. It is my next to be read book. Wishing you great success

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    1. Dear Patti, thank you for ordering it and for the good wishes. I am so fortunate to have blogger friends like you. Peace.

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    1. Dear Sue, thank you. Please let me know if it speaks to you in any way. Peace.

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    1. Dear Joanne, I'm excited to have you read it and tell me what you think! Peace.

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  10. Congratulations, Dee! I've ordered two copies: one for me and one for my best friend Mary who spent 10 years in the convent. I'll be sure to do a review once I've read it and also will feature it on my blog. I'm so excited that this is available at last!!

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    1. Dear Kathy, thank you for getting a copy for your friend. I will be so interested to learn if her 10 years was in any way similar to mine. Thank you for all the help also. It is so generous of you. Peace.

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  11. I just ordered my Kindle copy. Will start it tonight or tomorrow!!

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    1. Dear Fishducky, thank you so much. I'm wondering how your husband is. I hope he is feeling much better. Peace.

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