The Habit

After years overseas, poet Rachel Donahue settled into life on a property that had been in her husband's family for generations. Paying attention to that piece of land transformed her poetry. Beyond Chittering Cottage is a collection of the poems that grew out of that new attentiveness. In this episode, Rachel and Jonathan Rogers talk about stewardship, place, and writerly friendship.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ben Palpant is a poet, memoirist, novelist, and writer of nonfiction. His new book, Letters from the Mountain, is a collection of letters to his daughter about writing, creativity, paying attention, and generativity. He speaks of these and other matters with Jonathan Rogers in this episode of The Habit Podcast.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ashley Hales is a writer, a speaker, and the host of the Finding Holy Podcast. Her new book is A Spacious Life: Trading Hustle and Hurry for the Goodness of Limits. In this episode, Ashley Hales and Jonathan Rogers discuss a paradox: embracing your limitations can create more space and lead to greater creativity.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dave and Licia Radford constitute the husband-wife duo, The Gray Havens. Their upcoming album, Blue Flower, is inspired by C. S. Lewis's autobiography, Surprised by Joy and explores "inconsolable longing" and every human's homesickness for a place they've never been. Most of the album's songs are available on Spotify. In this episode, Dave Radford and Jonathan Rogers talk about the ways that joy is both a spur and a guide for creative work. You might also check out the Blue Flower Podcast, in which Dave talks through the origins of each song on the album.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Singer-songwriter Taylor Leonhardt's second solo album, Hold Still, releases in September, 2021. (You can hear several of the songs already on streaming services.) In this episode of The Habit Podcast, Taylor and Jonathan Rogers discuss what it means to be God's idea, and coming to terms with the truth that we are all in suspense and incomplete.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Carrie Givens is a publisher and co-founder of Bandersnatch Books. She is also the author of the recently released novel Rosefire. In this episode, Carrie speaks with Jonathan Rogers about writers' groups, dry spells, the role of "namers" in our creative lives, and characters who arrive unbidden in our stories.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bill Haslam was a two-term governor of Tennessee and a two-term mayor of Knoxville. In a political climate marked by metastasizing outrage and division, he found success by finding common ground and treating everyone—allies and opponents alike—with decency and respect. Bill Haslam is the author of Faithful Presence: The Promise and the Peril of Faith in the Public Square.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Professor Diana Pavlac Glyer is an expert on Tolkien and Lewis, especially with regard to their collaboration in the Inklings group. She is also the editor of A Compass for Deep Heaven—a collection of essays about Lewis's Ransom Trilogy. This book is the fruit of Professor Glyer's practicing what she preaches in generous collaboration with emerging scholars.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

JJ Heller writes lullabies with her husband Dave and sings them for children, their parents, and the children inside the parents. Since 2017, the Hellers have released a new song on Spotify the first Friday of every month. One of those songs, "Hand to Hold," grew into a picture book by the same title, released a couple of weeks ago. In this episode, JJ and Dave talk with Jonathan Rogers about bedtime liturgies and the work of giving language to parents' deepest hopes for their children.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For a decade and a half, Buddy Greene and Jeff Taylor have been making music together in a wide variety of venues and a wide variety of costumes. They are remarkable as performers, but even more remarkable is their friendship and good humor. As Jeff says, even a worst-case scenario performance is redeemed when it becomes a sad story told for laughs shared between friends.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.