The Habit

Judith McQuoid lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the hometown of CS Lewis—or Jacks, as he was known when he lived there. Inspired by Belfast, her love of Lewis, and her own family history, Judith wrote a middle-grade novel about young Jacks Lewis and an imagined friendship with a boy from a very different background. It’s a book about creativity, friendship, and the ways we can give one another a little more courage and a little more hope. It was my pleasure to talk to Judith McQuoid about her new novel, Giant.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Warren Kinghorn is a psychiatrist and theologian at Duke University, where he holds joint appointments at Duke Divinity School and the Duke University Medical Center. Warren’s work focuses on the intersection of theology, mental health, and human flourishing—and he brings an integrated, humane perspective to questions that too often get reduced to biology or technique. His new book is Wayfaring: A Christian Approach to Mental Health Care. In this episode, Warren Kinghorn and Jonathan Rogers discuss how the metaphor of the human being as a machine has shaped mental health care—and what is gained by reclaiming the older metaphor of the human as wayfarer; they talk about the ways that Thomas Aquinas’s teleological vision of human behavior opens up a richer account of freedom, agency, and virtue; and they talk about the possibility that the meaning of life is an active participation in blessing.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Andrew Peterson started the Rabbit Room—this was 2006 or 2007—he didn’t know what to expect. He had no way of knowing that this little group blog written by friends and friends of friends would give rise to annual conferences—Hutchmoot and Hutchmoot UK—to a publishing house, to an event space—North Wind Manor—to The Local Show, to Rabbit Room Theater, to the podcast network of which The Habit Podcast is a part. More to the point, Andrew had no way of knowing what a difference the Rabbit Room would make in the lives of so many people. In this episode, Rabbit Room founder Andrew Peterson and Rabbit Room Executive Director David Bruno tell the story of the Rabbit Room.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Will Parker Anderson is a senior editor at Waterbrook-Multnomah, a division of Random House Publishing. He’s also the proprietor of a Substack called Writer’s Circle, in which he provides tips on the writing craft and seeks to demystify the publishing industry. In this episode, Will and Jonathan Rogers talk the “three legs” of publishing: platform, content, and concept.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amy Baik Lee has written that in every place her life has taken her, "there have been hints of beauty and great knocks of mercy that have called to me from beyond my surroundings, always speaking of a King and Friend and Father whose presence is truly Home.” That sense of longing, those clues that perhaps we were made for a different world, make their way out in every thing Amy writes, and especially in her book, This Homeward Ache: How Our Yearning for the Life to Come Spurs on Our Life Today. In this episode, a replay from 2023, Amy and Jonathan Rogers talk about homeward longing, the idea of Sehnsucht, and the importance of writing in community.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Besides creating the One Year Adventure Novel and Cover Story writing curricula for students, Daniel Schwabauer has also written fiction and nonfiction for writers of all ages. He also teaches English at MidAmerica Nazarene University near Kansas City. His new book is The God of Story: Discovering the Narrative of Scripture Through the Language of Storytelling. In this episode, Daniel and Jonathan Rogers discuss ideals of power vs. ideals of principle, story as a means of defamiliarization, and story as a truly terrible flight simulator.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark Meynell is a freelance writer and speaker based in the UK. He’s the author of Life After Life and A Wilderness of Mirrors. He’s a co-host of the Tryptich podcast, and he’s an aficionado of Cold-War spy stories. In short, he’s a polymath and an excellent conversationalist. In this episode, Mark and Jonathan Rogers talk about the "immanent frame," instrumentalized art, and the power of beauty to challenge 'buffered selves' with the possibility of transcendence.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Matthew Clark, a free-spirited singer-songwriter and storyteller, travels across America in his van, sharing music and wisdom. In this engaging conversation, he delves into the themes of love and renewal that resonate throughout his Well Trilogy project. Clark talks about the resilience found in despair, and how enduring love can guide us through life's challenges, even in the face of loss. He celebrates the importance of vulnerability and community, emphasizing that true healing comes from embracing our connections with others.

In this episode, Allen Levi and Jonathan Rogers discuss this connections between writerly voice and the voice with which the writer speaks every day. Allen Levi is a singer-songwriter and the author of The Last Sweet Mile and Theo of Golden. This episode is sponsored by The Habit Writer Development Cohorts, a six-week online small-group writing intensive designed to help writers develop their unique voice, refine their ideas, strengthen their craft, and build sustainable work habits. TheHabit.co/CohortsSupport the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This archive episode of The Habit Podcast, from the first season, features a three-way conversation between Tish Harrison Warren, Doug McKelvey, and Jonathan Rogers. Tish is an Anglican priest, a former columnist for the New York Times and Christianity Today, a senior fellow at The Trinity Forum and the author of Prayer in the Night and The Liturgy of the Ordinary. Doug is best known as the author of the Every Moment Holy books. In this episode, Tish, Doug, and Jonathan talk about the liturgies of the writing life, finding meaning where it is to be found, and liturgy as a way of making room for mystery to assert itself.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.