Monterey poet Patrice Vecchione's new non-fiction book explores the spiritual dimension of the writing process.

Let''s get one thing clear: There is no easy way to be a writer. It''s lonely. It''s unpredictable. It seldom pays well. In short, being a writer is a half-cocked way to make a living.

Having said that, it is no small wonder that so many consider themselves writers when there are far less taxing career choices to make. Consider dog grooming or mail delivery--essential, worthwhile pursuits that don''t demand constant reflection and deliberation while periodically miring one in a pit of mordant self-doubt. Why the hell would anyone want to be a writer?

"Because," says Monterey poet and author Patrice Vecchione, "on the other side, the rewards are so intoxicating, so surprising and so enormous."

Vecchione should know. As the author of the just published Writing and the Spiritual Life: Finding Your Voice by Looking Within, she found herself in some of the very same situations cited above.

As a well-established Monterey Bay area poet, this is Vecchione''s first stab at non-fiction, although she''s edited several anthologies. She says no one was as surprised as she was when she landed her book contract.

For her editor, however, it was a simple decision. "I''ve known Patrice''s work from two anthologies she had published," says Matthew Carnicelli, senior editor with Contemporary Books, a division of McGraw Hill in New York City. "She wrote a strong proposal and her agent sent it to me. I liked it and we made a deal."

When poet Adrienne Rich (a MacArthur Grant recipient and National Book Award winner) was asked to comment on Vecchione''s status as poet and writer, she had this to say: "As long as I''ve lived in Santa Cruz, I''ve felt Patrice Vecchione''s influence. She is one of those steady yet vibrant, serious and passionate temperaments who continually replenish our sense of communal creativity. In my country of possibility, she and people like her would be nationally honored figures."

It would seem Vecchione''s periodic tangles with the demons of worthlessness are in service to something greater.

And, in fact, those demons in all their terrifying glory are some of the topics dealt with in Vecchione''s book. Doubt, the internal critic and uncertainty are part of the writing process, Vecchione says, but putting your belief in perceived shortcomings instead of in the words that are trying to find the light means letting one''s weaknesses dominate one''s strengths. And which would you rather believe in--your ability or your inability?

Writing and the Spiritual Life is an enormously friendly book. Gentle but never saccharine, instructive but never pedantic, Vecchione brings to it her considerable experience as a poetry teacher in local schools for over 20 years. Coupled with a genuine reverence for life and the written word, Vecchione has created a guide for writing that won''t guarantee success, but will no doubt inspire those who have neglected their inner voice.

Still, there is no dearth of books encouraging one to write. In this era of self-help, there is a surfeit of guidance offered by those who purport to know. Books on writing fill both the shelves of bookstores and the pages of the Internet. The insecurity of the writer is legion, it seems, and writers from Annie Dillard and Anne Lamott to would-be gurus like Natalie Goldberg have taken their experiences and turned them into, if not publisher''s gold, at least a little silver.

With all this information out there, it seems an exercise in futility by both Vecchione and her publisher to contribute yet another book on the subject, let alone one by a regional author with little recognition outside her home state. What can they be thinking?

For Vecchione, the exercise was one that spoke to her own connection to writing. For Carnicelli and Contemporary Books, Vecchione''s book addresses a previously unbroached subject. "There are many expositional books on the writing process but I can''t think of any that explore the spiritual dimension as a writing process," says Carnicelli. "I think there''s some room for a new book with a new perspective."

That perspective, says Vecchione, is one bred of a desire to fuse writing and the spiritual process more directly than she''d seen it linked. And the audience, she continues, is manifold--writers looking to incorporate their work into a spiritual practice, spiritual seekers looking to deepen their practice through writing, or novices in either venture who are seeking one of those paths.

Writing and the Spiritual Life is a 10-chapter book filled with personal reflection and candid anecdotes. Pithy quotes from other writers begin each chapter, and the tome is peppered throughout with exercises designed to help open the gates of writing.

Though Vecchione recalls the experience of finishing the book "an uphill battle," it''s a curious phenomenon that calls her back. "I''m chomping at the bit to start another book and I think I''m nuts," she says. "That was the hardest thing I''ve ever done."

Degree of difficulty aside, Vecchione has tapped into a vein that needs mining. She recently met with several publishers in New York to discuss future book projects and will be waging more of those uphill battles in the near future.

If she''s crazy, Vecchione''s in good company. There can be nothing quite so harrowing as building something out of the raw materials of one''s imagination. Henry James comments on it in a quote used by Vecchione to introduce one of her chapters: "We work in the dark--we do what we can--we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art."

Patrice Vecchione reads from Writing and the Spiritual Life: Finding Your Voice by Looking Within on Sunday (3pm) at Bay Books, located at 316 Alvarado in Monterey. For more info, click on www.montereybaybooks.com,or call 375-1855.