Hello Again + Personal News
Here's what's been happening since my writing hiatus here.
Hello and Happy New Year!
I shared my last Substack post almost 18 months ago. It’s not for lack of writing, but I have been busy over the last year and a half writing in a different place.
My aim this year is to get back to writing more at Heart on Pilgrimage, so I thought I’d start with what I’ve been doing during my long hiatus.
About three years ago, I became a member of a nonprofit organization called The Society for Women of Letters. Their aim was to “support all women in their pursuit of a robust intellectual life for the glory of God.” I signed up quickly after their launch. I was a new mom staying home with her babies and missing the edifying conversations I’d had during my days in college ministry and seminary. What a gift it was for me during that season to join this group and their monthly Zoom discussions on books, film, and other works and their relation to the things of God.
In 2024, I began working as a contractor for the organization, designing its social media content and managing those accounts. Later that year, the leadership council asked if I would like to join them and serve as Editor-in-Chief of Shadowlands Dispatch, The Society for Women of Letters’ Substack publication.
If you know me or have followed my writing journey through the years, then you know this was an easy “yes” for me to give! In short, that’s what I’ve been doing during my absence from this space.
In February 2025, I also got to meet the entire leadership council in person for the first time at a lovely reading retreat in Waco, TX. (My visit with them was less than 24 hours, thanks to several delays with my flight from Tupelo where I live to Dallas, the decision to forego a sketchy Uber ride, and other adventures, but that’s a story for another time.) For many months, I had gotten to know these women professionally as well as personally, so finally gathering with them in person was such a gift.
Since I have been writing over at Shadowlands Dispatch, I thought it would be fun to share my pieces with you here—something I had intended to do all along, but life:
“Children, Imagination, and the Recovery of the Image of God” - This essay is personal and precious to me because, for several years after becoming a mother, I felt any time for creative pursuits like writing had been pushed to the margins. At the same time, my imagination and creativity exploded. I finally explored this mystery in writing. My conclusion?
…the more we enter the minds of children, the more we recover something essential about the imago Dei in us… [W]hat if this uninhibited imagination of children is a ministry to our adult souls, a gift of God’s grace to see the world as ripe with possibility like we did when we ourselves were children?
In October, I began writing a monthly column for Shadowlands Dispatch. These posts are reserved for our paid subscribers, but Substack allows you to unlock one paid post for free if you’d like to read one of them.
Shameless plug: You can also become a paid subscriber to Shadowlands Dispatch for only $5/month and receive ALL posts and other benefits like book discussions and interviews with Christian thinkers and writers. I also host Writer’s Block, a weekly Zoom meeting where those of us who enjoy the accountability write together on Fridays from 9:00-10:15am CST.
“The Sustaining Nature of a Good Book” - Winnie the Pooh has become a household favorite around here. In one of these beloved stories by A.A. Milne, Pooh mentions “Sustaining Books,” which got me thinking about the sustaining power of a good book, even in “the dark night of the soul.”
“The Christian Story: An Opiate for Human Suffering?” - Is Christianity little more than an “opium of the people,” as Karl Marx put it? I don’t think so, and I explain in depth why here.
“Where Are You Christmas: The Antidote to Holiday Grief” - I’m learning these days that a lot of joy is lived alongside a lot of heaviness, especially during the holidays. In this essay, I share how is teaching me to hold both in tension during the Christmas season and year round.
At the Dispatch, we also have a monthly column called “Poetica,” which features a poem, along with a contributor’s reflections or analysis. I have long enjoyed poetry, so I wrote several columns for “Poetica” last year, which are available to free and paid subscribers:
In Other News
As you can see, 2025 was a full year of writing, though my hope is to write more here, too, in 2026. Another transition is on the horizon that I’m excited to share with you—we’re adding another Anderson to the bunch! Baby #3 is expected to make her arrival in late March, and we are thrilled!
Because a new baby is always a big transition, I will be stepping back from my position as Editor-in-Chief of Shadowlands Dispatch at the end of February. If motherhood has taught me anything, it’s that I am limited, and that’s a good part of God’s design to be embraced instead of fought. (I wrote about this some HERE at Heart on Pilgrimage a couple of years ago.)
Serving as Shadowlands Dispatch’s Editor-in-Chief has been a gift from the Lord in 2025, and I will write more about this over at the Dispatch in my February column. However, we are transitioning as a leadership council to a shared role in editing responsibilities, so I’ll still be writing and editing there in some capacity.
In this season of letting go or stepping back from some responsibilities to embrace others, images of an ocean’s waves have come to mind a lot. Sometimes, we have the capacity to roar toward the shoreline, saying “yes” to several things at once. Other times, we must recede, embracing our limits and saying “no” to some things so we can say “yes” to others. I’ve learned that these seasons of receding aren’t forever, and God usually blesses them in ways unforeseen.
I had the opportunity to do some other things in 2025, but I’ll save that for the next post. Until then, thank you for reading. Many of my subscribers here are people I know in person or people who have gone out of their way to encourage me as a writer. Your support and exhortation to press on truly mean so much to me.