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Writing
About “A Room of One’s Own” by Virginia Woolf: “The central point of ‘A Room of One’s Own’ is that every woman needs a room of her own … A room of her own would provide a woman with the time and the space to engage in uninterrupted writing time.” (Source: Sparknotes.com)
Here is a selection of memoir vignettes and other pieces I’ve written in my room.
"Buddy the Dog"
I know it's not the same That a dog is not a person But when my dog Elderly, diabetic, so diminished Unable once again to rise from his...

Susan Black
Oct 101 min read
"Creativity and Spirituality"
It's a delight to have this essay published in the September-October 2025 in Spirit & Life , the bimonthly magazine of the Benedictine...

Susan Black
Sep 156 min read
On Hiatus
This blog is on hiatus because I am on sabbatical for the next few months. In the meantime, please explore the previous posts and feel...
Susan Black
Jun 11 min read
“Benedictine Hospitality Reveals the Power of Synodality”
It’s an honor and a blessing for me to be published for the second time in “Benedictines”, the journal of the Benedictine Sisters of...
Susan Black
May 313 min read
“Beware of Co-Opting the Meaning of Mary’s Yes”
This essay was published today — the Solemnity of the Annunciation — on CatholicArtistConnection.com as part of their Lenten series of...
Susan Black
Mar 262 min read
“Heirloom”
Two faded photographs. Could be a single photo; each completing the other. They emerge from a mildewy box in a mildewy cellar filled...
Susan Black
Mar 51 min read
In Print!
I am delighted and grateful that the March/April issue of Spirit & Life , the magazine published by the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual...
Susan Black
Mar 51 min read
“Freckle” (RIP Dad 2/10/17)
I’m four years old. Dad is scrubbing my face with a washcloth. He keeps scrubbing just under my lower lip, just above my chin. “It...
Susan Black
Feb 101 min read
“The Spelling Bee”
From the Scripps National Spelling Bee website: The word “bee”, as used in “spelling bee”, is one of those language puzzles that has...
Susan Black
Jan 203 min read
“Intervention”
It is affecting for me to see this very personal essay appear in “Reflections 2025”, the literary magazine published by the University of...
Susan Black
Dec 28, 20241 min read
“Advent Reflection”
This reflection was posted on the website for Catholic Artist Connection yesterday: https://catholicartistconnection.com/wait-for-the-lor...
Susan Black
Dec 6, 20241 min read
“Thoughts on My Legacy”
This essay appears page 31 of the inaugural issue of The Branches: A Journal of Literature and Philosophy ; one of my paintings is the...
Susan Black
Nov 13, 20241 min read
“Resilience as a Benedictine Virtue — An Oblate Reflects on the Closing of Queen of Angels Monastery”
It’s an honor and a blessing for me that this essay appears in the 2024 Fall/Winter issue of “Benedictines”, a journal published by the...
Susan Black
Nov 5, 20245 min read
“First Lessons in Faith”
I am sitting in the front seat of a car with Dad. Perhaps I am four years old. We are parked on a street near the garden apartment in...
Susan Black
Nov 1, 20243 min read
“Finding My Place”
During the 2012 presidential campaign, Mitt Romney, visiting his home state of Michigan for the first time in a long time, said how glad...
Susan Black
Sep 28, 20243 min read
“It Was Tempting”
Writing class assignment for the prompt “$100”. Standing in the checkout lane at the supermarket, I glanced down on the floor and caught...
Susan Black
Sep 19, 20241 min read
“Hospital Corners”
One day Dad gave all three of us kids a bed-making lesson. Not about how to pull up the bedspread and neaten the bed after you’d gotten...
Susan Black
Sep 2, 20242 min read
“Thoughts on My Legacy”
I never set forth a five- or ten-year plan for my career. I don’t have a bucket list. Don’t make to-do lists either. It’s not that...
Susan Black
Aug 23, 20242 min read
My Interview with Catholic Artist Connection
I am delighted that I am now part of a regular feature of the Catholic Artist Connection’s blog: interviews with artists, conducted via...
Susan Black
Aug 10, 20241 min read
In Print!
The July/August issue of Spirit & Life , the magazine published by the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Clyde, MO, contains...
Susan Black
Jul 17, 20241 min read
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