![The Writer's [Inner] Journey](/wp-content/themes/thesis_151/custom/images/header2.png "The Writer's [Inner] Journey")
Jennifer Haupt’s articles have for years appeared in national magazines including O, The Oprah Magazine, Readers Digest, Woman’s Day among many others. Her work has also been published online at ABCNews.com, CNN.com, and others. but her newest creative journey involves exploring the world of faith beyond religion which she does regularly at My Faith Project. Here she talks with me about faith, fear and finding her own story.
Meredith: Faith, like a good story or the process of writing one, is both universal and personal. It’s not necessarily religious (though it may be). It leads to a depth of trust and peace. Can you draw some more similarities between writing and faith—or differences between the two?
JENNIFER: Faith and fiction writing are deeply intertwined for me. Both are 
a daily process, both involve focusing on finding something more than you can see, feel, or know. My Faith Project is like creating a story. I’ve only been posting for a few months, and I feel as if I’m just beginning to figure out what that story—my story—really is.
Meredith: Was My Faith Project born out of a place of something that scares you or from a familiar place of strength? Tell us about it.
JENNIFER: This project came about last summer, at a time when I was really questioning my faith in myself—in everything, really—and that was extremely scary. At the same time, it took a lot of strength for me to decide I was going to try and discover what I had lost by looking at how people I admire found/rediscovered/use faith to find “something more” in life.
When it comes down to it, what scares me most is losing my faith. I’m still struggling to regain it, and writing the blog does help. Here’s something not many people know about me: I deal with what I call medication resistant depression. I tried about 15 different anti-depressants as well as alternative medicines during my twenties and thirties—the side effects were always worse than the depression. For me—I’m not against medication in the least—the only way to manage my depression is wrapped up in faith. It’s not religious in the least, but it is about believing in “something more” than I can see, feel, or even know.
Meredith: How do you know in your gut that an idea is viable and worth following? Is there a telling moment for you?
JENNIFER: A lot of people send me story ideas since I contribute to profiles and human interest pieces to high-profile magazines. After more than 15 years of pitching editors, I pretty much know what they’re looking for. Usually if I want to know more about what happened, I figure editors and readers will feel the same way. And, yes, there’s always a moment where I think: Yes! This works. I’ve learned that a story won’t sell unless I’m 100 percent certain about it.
Meredith: Is the process of fiction writing similar to the narrative, and high-profile magazine writing you’ve done?
JENNIFER: No, no, a thousand times no! For me, fiction and nonfiction are totally different sides of the brain. I can’t write both in one day, and I’ve found the best work strategy for me is writing nonfiction Monday to Thursday, then fiction Friday to Sunday. If I’m really efficient and finish my assignment work, I let myself write fiction on Thursdays, too.
Nonfiction is all about telling someone else’s story, interviewing folks about the facts, getting at exactly what I need to write a piece. I don’t really let people ramble much; I know exactly what I want to ask and what I’m looking to find. Fiction is all about entering a parallel universe where I’m living someone else’s story, feeling what the character feels, so that I can write it as they are living it. And, it’s a lot of rambling! I ask my characters a lot of questions, then I just write while they talk and get to their truth.
Meredith: Is fear ever an issue? How do you temper fear?
JENNIFER: Fear is a huge issue for me. I temper it with faith: believing that there is more than I know, more than I see, more than I am.
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I think, Jennifer, that you can be sure you’re not the only person to question your faith, which is why your blog has been so successful in such a short amount of time. So many people can relate to what you write about, and we learn from it. Thanks, Meredith, for bringing Jennifer here for an interview.
Yes, thank you, Meredith. I found Jennifer’s description of the differences in writing fiction and non-fiction helpful as I’m a non-fiction writer about to embark on a novel set 1000 years ago. I follow Jennifer’s blog because the concept is so original and her posts always make me think.
I like that Jennifer draws a distinction between religion and faith, because I think faith goes way beyond religion. While often religion divides people depending upon their beliefs, faith connects us all, binds us and makes us stronger as a result. We can have faith in ourselves, faith in others, faith in “something more” and faith that things will work out, even if we don’t know how. And that’s just the beginning. As for writing fiction, I love asking my characters questions and having faith they will give me wonderfully enlightening answers. Thanks Meredith and Jennifer for an interview that made me ponder all this.
I enjoyed reading all of this, but the last line was really powerful. I wish it was a plaque on my desk. Or a T shirt.
I am not someone who has a strong faith system in place. I grew up in an atheist household and although I admire people who believe in God or in other higher powers, I have trouble believing myself. But I think the kind of faith Jen is talking about here goes beyond just a simple faith in a higher deity. It’s about having faith in oneself and one’s writing and in others. And I s
do trive to have that kind of faith and to tap into it on a day to day basis.
I’m in a constant balancing act between faith and fear. Some days faith wins, some not so much. I’m happy to say that I’m definitely leaning more towards the faith side of the scale the past two years, but then there’s always the fear that I’ll slide back into sadness and anxiety. Aaaah.
Thanks for all of your comments. Stephanie, I also struggle between faith and fear. The thing that helps me is knowing that the fear always passes — even if it takes a few hours of settling myself.