The Habit

This week's episode is an old favorite from 2024. Leif Enger writes novels about good people living through bad times. His new book, I Cheerfully Refuse, epitomizes what the Los Angeles Tines calls Enger's “musical, sometimes magical and deeply satisfying kind of storytelling.” In this episode, Leif Enger and Jonathan Rogers talk about dystopian fiction; courage, literacy, and hope; and the bass guitar.

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Joyce McPherson has written ten biographies–as well as several middle-grade novels–in 45 minute increments snatched from a busy life as a mother of nine and as a college instructor. Her most recent book is a biography of Jane Austen. In this episode, Joyce McPherson and Jonathan Rogers talk about how her mother convinced her to start writing for publication when she had two small children. We talk about research for biographies and historical fiction. And we talk about Joyce’s experiences with both traditional publishing and self-publishing.

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Winfield Bevins is an author, a visual artist, and the founding director of Creo Arts, a non-profit that exists to bring beauty, goodness, and truth to the world through the arts. His new book is How Beauty Will Save the World: Recovering the Power of the Arts for the Christian Life. In this episode, Winfield and Jonathan Rogers talk about how beauty will save the world. They also talk about a modern Renaissance of the arts, moving from beauty to truth, and making space for Sabbath rest.

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Daniel Nayeri’s latest novel—The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story—recently received the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. In this episode Daniel speaks with Jonathan Rogers about Iran’s role in World War II, food writing, fathers, providence, the wisdom of children, and incompetent spies.

This episode is sponsored by The Habit Writer Development Cohorts, a six-week small-group intensive starting January 12. The Habit Writer Development Cohorts provide practical tools, insights, and encouragement that writers at all experience levels. 

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You probably know Sally Lloyd-Jones as the author of the Jesus Storybook Bible, a book that has been around for almost twenty years. She has also published more than twenty other books for children, including Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing, His Royal Highness King Baby, and Skip to the Loo: A Potty Book. Her latest is Jesus, Our True Friend. Sally is committed to delight, and that makes her a delight herself. This is a delightful conversation between Sally Lloyd-Jones and Jonathan Rogers.

This episode is sponsored by The Habit Writer Development Cohorts. Join "Cohort Week Zero," a free mini-class, at TheHabit.co/Development.

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Galahad and the Grail is Book 1 of Merlin’s Isle, Malcolm Guite’s retelling of the King Arthur legends in ballad form. It releases in March of 2026. In the prelude to Galahad and the Grail, a voice shimmering in the morning air says:

Poet, take up the tale–
Take up the tale the land still keeps,
In earth and water magic sleeps,
The dryad sighs, the naiad weeps,
But you can lift the veil.

Malcolm has taken up a very old tale and lifted the veil on stories that have lingered in the traditions of the British Isles longer than the English language itself. 

Scholar and teacher Junius Johnson is taking up the tale in another way. Starting in January 2026, Junius is teaching a 20-week online class on the King Arthur legend. He describes the class as a chance to see for yourself why this story has fascinated the imagination for so many centuries.

In this episode, Malcolm, Junius talk with Jonathan Rogers about how King Arthur rode into their lives, and what these stories have meant to them.

This episode is sponsored by The Habit Writer Development Cohorts. Join "Cohort Week Zero," a free mini-class, at TheHabit.co/Development.

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Besides being the proprietor of the much-loved Substack, Miller's Book Review, Joel Miller is the author of a new book that has made its way into the world after a thirteen-year gestation. In The Idea Machine: How Books Built Our World and Shape Our Future, Joel make the case that books are one of the most important but overlooked factors in the making of our contemporary world. Books don't just preserve ideas, yes, but they also provoke new ones: they are true tools for thinking. This episode of The Habit Podcast was recorded live as part of a book-release celebration at The Rabbit Room’s North Wind Manor. 

This episode is sponsored by The Habit Writer Development Cohorts. Join "Cohort Week Zero," a free mini-class, at TheHabit.co/Development.

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Mischa Willett is a poet and writing professor. He is the Director of the Whitworth Writers' Workshop MFA in Creative Writing at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington. In this episode, Mischa Willett and Jonathan Rogers talk about MFA programs, failure as a means of getting work done, and apology letters written by robots.

This episode is sponsored by The Habit Writer Development Cohorts. Join "Cohort Week Zero" a free mini-class, TheHabit.co/Development.

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In her role as poet, Rachel Donahue has a track record of gathering other poets, encouraging them in their work, and giving them space to shine. In her role as publisher and editor at Bandersnatch Books, she has done all those things for poets by envisioning, then bringing to life I’ve Got a Bad Case of Poetry, an anthology of poems for children by dozens of poets, gorgeously illustrated by Emily J. Person. In this episode, Jonathan Rogers speaks with both Rachel and Emily about the origins of A Bad Case of Poetry, the joys of creating in community, and the role of delight in the making of art—especially art for children.

To get I've Got a Bad Case of Poetry by Christmas, preorder at Kickstarter before December 5.

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Rabbit Room Press has started a new podcast called Rabbit Room Press Presents, serialized audiobooks of favorite Rabbit Room Press titles. The first season consisted of the seventeen interviews with poets that make up Ben Palpant’s book, An Axe for the Frozen Sea. Each episode is a different interview. Besides being an excellent writer in his own right, Ben is a great interviewer. This episode of The Habit Podcast is a rebroadcast of the first episode of Rabbit Press Presents—en Palpant, reading the Preface to An Axe for the Frozen Sea, followed by Chapter 1 of that book, his interview with the poet Scott Cairns.

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