We dubbed this episode "Slow Reading", and in it we discuss the art of reading well, the importance of community in reading, and practical strategies for deepening our engagement with books and poetry. We share some of our personal practices and note-taking methods, and we talk about how reading influences our writing and spiritual growth.

McEntyre invites us to enter a text, eat it, and breathe it.

“If you’re reading slowly, listening to be addressed, one word or another will summon you. Those are the places where, instead of going on, you go in. You pause. you do that countercultural thing you can’t do at the movies: you stop.”

“A Little Lectio,” by Megan Willome

• Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, by Marilyn McIntyre
• The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne (yes, you read that correctly, he of Pooh fame)

• Megan: Bea Wolf, by Zach Weinersmith, art by Boulet
• Callie: Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim David Sedaris
• Tresta: Galahad and the Grail by Malcolm Guite

In this episode, we explore the importance of honesty, trust, and boundaries in life and writing, inspired by Marilyn McEntyre's insights on truth telling and the power of metaphor. We also get a little glimpse into Tresta's forthcoming book 'More Beautiful Than Necessary: Finding God's Goodness in a Life Beyond My Control', releasing October 14, 2026.

McEntyre offers questions to pose about our news sources, including:

“Who is framing the questions? What questions are conspicuously not being addressed—or being consigned to a back page, or a subordinate clause? Who is selecting? Sequencing? Explaining?”

“April Fool,” by Callie Feyen

• Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, by Marilyn McIntyre
• The Geography of Memory: A Pilgrimage Through Alzheimer’s, by Jeanne Murray Walker

• Megan: Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy
• Callie: Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
• Tresta: Life, and Death, and Giants by Ron Rindo

Visit us at https://necessarytroublepodcast.substack.com/ to read the revised essays from each episode, find links to each of our websites, and more.

In this episode we explore Marilyn McEntyre's insights on truth, the craft of writing, and the importance of honesty and humility in storytelling. Callie expounds on the value of scene and reflection, and we give practical tips for writers seeking authenticity.

McEntyre offers a list of distinguishing characteristics of truth, including:

“Truth is not two-sided; it’s many-sided.

Truth burrows in the body.

Truth flickers.”

“Sorting Truth,” by Tresta Payne

• Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, by Marilyn McIntyre
• Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, by Mem Fox
• The Daily Poem podcast

• Megan: Lonesome Dove
• Callie: Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout
• Tresta: The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

In this episode, Megan, Callie, and Tresta explore Marilyn McEntyre's book 'Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies,' emphasizing the importance of loving words, slow reflection, and the stewardship of language in our lives. They share insights on how reading, writing, and silence deepen our understanding and connection.

“We care for words when we use them thankfully, recognizing in each kind a specific gift borne in the mother tongue, bestowed at birth as a legacy from the Word who was in the beginning.”

~Marilyn McEntyre

• Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, by Marilyn McIntyre
• Still: notes on a mid-faith crisis, by Lauren Winner
• The Crossover, by Kwame Alexander
• Love & other Mysteries, by Megan Willome
• Emma M. Lion series, by Beth Brower
• History of the Rain, by Niall Williams

• Megan: History of the Rain, by Niall Williams
• Callie: On Writing by Stephen King; Middlemarch, by George Eliot Book One: Miss Brooke
• Tresta: The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol. 8 by Beth Brower

All three of us! Pleased to meet you.

Visit us at https://necessarytroublepodcast.substack.com/ to read the revised essays from each episode, find links to each of our websites, and more.

Episode 1 coming September 1, 2026!

Welcome to season 1 of the Necessary Trouble podcast! Each week we read a chapter from a book on writing craft, write from it, and take turns critiquing one another’s words.