11 Comments
User's avatar
Rachel S. Donahue's avatar

“You get to live on a patch of ground that looks a little bit more like the world you want to live in.” 🥹

Expand full comment
susan's avatar

Thank you again. Thank you for your creative work, for your patch of ground gives blessings to those of us who pass through it.

Expand full comment
Sandee Finley's avatar

So good. And timely for me too.

Expand full comment
Kimberly Barlow Cook's avatar

Yes, yes.

"I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow." (1 Cor. 3:6)

I see my writing and my personal ministry as the overflow of God's Spirit: "You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows." (Ps. 23:5)

Expand full comment
Kathleen Bradshaw's avatar

Thank you for this. I need it today, right now. I’m grateful for you.

Expand full comment
Jennifer Degani's avatar

I like the idea that hospitality for my reader is also a gift to me. After all, I live in my story, as I live in my home, more than the reader does. All the more reason to not write nihilistic, modern fiction, though I was never really tempted in that direction anyway.

Expand full comment
John's avatar

This is a fantastic observation! Creative work can feel more like the pilgrimage - a slog, unforgiving, often dry and unnoticed. I love thinking of it as the monastery! This will be a great reference point along the journey.

Expand full comment
Sara Bannerman's avatar

Wonderful. I never paid attention to the actual meaning of the word “prodigal.”

Expand full comment
Jenn's avatar

What a lovely thing!

Expand full comment
Reagan Dregge's avatar

That podcast essay is a fountain of wine. I want to pause and savor each sentence, which is hard to do in audio format, so I hope to see it printed in a book someday.

Expand full comment
Karissa Chmil's avatar

This is one of the best takes on "write the book you want to read" (or any number of variations on that) that I've heard in a long time.

Expand full comment