MICHIGAN CITY Author Jenniffer Weigel was the featured speaker during the Writing Out Loud session held on Saturday at the Michigan City Public Library. Weigel, the daughter of Chicago sportscaster Tim Weigel, has written three books including her latest book, This Isn't the Life I Ordered.

Focusing on how she became interested in modern spirituality and why she writes about it, the Writing Out Loud session was held in a conversation setting, with Bethany Lee, an English professor at Purdue University North Central conducting the interview.

Lee began by questioning how Weigel became interested in writing. I've always loved writing. I've always loved storytelling, Weigel said. Writing is something I've been doing since I could hold a pen in my hand.

Growing up a Christian, Weigel stated that she always questioned things in life. I would keep journals about my thoughts from an early age, she said, pondering issues such as death and heaven even as a child.

After his death, Weigel stated that she had an ongoing conversation with her dad in her head. She would experience times of coincidences and intuition that she would interpret as signs, or winks, from her father.

Inspired by her journalistic nature to question the world around her, Weigel set out on a journey to better understand the spiritual side of life and death. She interviewed many people including mediums, psychics and healers in her search for answers.

Among those she met in her quest were other spiritual authors such as Deepak Chopra and James Van Praagh.

She also interviewed common, everyday people who have also experienced similar situations including a woman who was pronounced dead before coming back to life and a woman who experienced tumors all over her body but is now cancer free.

Sometimes you can't explain things and it's a hard thing for a journalist like me to understand, Weigel said.

While she did come across several frauds along the way, Weigel also met some people she believed to be the real thing. One psychic she visited, for example, mentioned Laurel and Hardy in regards to Weigel's father. This referenced a private joke between them that nobody else knew about, she said.

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Weigel explores modern spirituality through books