In this episode, I talk with author Elise Tegegne about how spiritual disciplines not only help us grow in our walk with Jesus, but they also benefit us as writers. Elise explains some of the disciplines she has found helpful and sometimes challenging. You’ll come away with practical ways to refresh your walk with God and your writing!

Mama, editor, and writer Elise Tegegne has published articles at Risen Motherhood, Christian Parenting, and (in)courage, among others. Her first book In Praise of Houseflies: Meditations on the Gifts in Everyday Quandaries is now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Calla Press, In addition to serving as the Director of Communications for missions organization Synergie Francophone, she also writes a monthly blog, which inspires readers to cultivate eyes for the divine in their own daily difficulties. After teaching at a mission school for four years in Ethiopia, she now lives stateside with her husband and energetic four-year-old. Read more of her words at elisetegegne.com or reach out on Instagram @elisetegegne.

The Purposeful Pen is a weekly podcast for Christian writers designed to help you build a writing life with eternal impact. Each week you’ll hear practical tips and Biblical truth on topics such as improving your writing, honing your message, and managing your time. I always respond to listener emails and I’d love to hear from you! Amysimon@amylynnsimon.com

Disclaimer: I believe in and approach life (and writing) from a distinctly evangelical Christian perspective, but some of my guests may not. When I interview a guest on a specifically spiritual topic, I do my best to know in advance that I can support their theological stances on the topics that relate to our interview. When the topic is not particularly spiritual, our theological views may differ. My interviewing of guests and providing links to their work does not necessarily indicate a complete theological endorsement of all their written work.

Welcome to the fall 2025 season of the podcast! From now through Thanksgiving, we’ll be covering the topic of rhythms and routines surrounding our writing.

In this episode, I share some personal life updates, and I also ask for your input.

* In this world of AI, what types of writing help from an actual, knowledgeable human would you find helpful?

* What types of formats do you like to get that help—online courses? Articles? Coaching sessions? A live group webinar?

Drop your response in the comments or send me an email!

Also, we look at how writing can be a spiritual discipline in itself. The things we learn through writing, if we don’t give up, are part of our broader sanctification journey as followers of Jesus.

I’ve created a new resource called The Christian Writer’s Mindset Makeover to help you identify faulty mindsets surrounding your writing and replace them with truth from God’s Word. You can download that for free at www.amylynnsimon.com/makeover.

As always, if you benefit from the podcast, please tell someone about it!

The Purposeful Pen is a weekly podcast for Christian writers designed to help you build a writing life with eternal impact. Each week, you’ll hear practical tips and Biblical truth on topics such as improving your writing, honing your message, and managing your time. I always respond to listener emails, and I’d love to hear from you! Amysimon@amylynnsimon.com

This is the last episode of the summer 2025 season, talking about how to refine our reader and message.

In this brief episode, I give you a basic round-up of the episodes and topics from this season. I’ll be off for the month of August, but new episodes will launch starting September 2.

If you’d like to dive deeper into uncovering your ideal reader and message, you can purchase my 30-page digital workbook, A Path to Purposeful Writing. Between now and September 2, you can use the code podcast20 to get 20% off. You can find the workbook here.

The theme for September-November 2025 will be rhythms and routines. We’ll look at creating a sustainable writing routine, how spiritual disciplines play a role in our writing, and the overlap between writing and spiritual formation.

My weekly Pen Points email will still go out during August. If you haven’t signed up yet, you can do so here.

Happy listening, and I’ll see you again in September!

In this episode, I talk with author Jac Filer about the writing of his newly-released memoir, The Widower and the Washer.

Listen in as we talk about how this memoir came about and how Jac decided on the reader and central message for the book. We also talk about some of the challenges in writing a memoir, the importance of both a writing community and a spiritual community, and knowing when it’s OK to go against the grain of typical writing advice.

Jac took up writing as a second career in 2020. He built his skills through freelance work, mostly writing devotionals and articles for Christian websites and media, using skills and knowledge he had gained from serving as a small group leader and lay preacher. Since then, he’s centered his writing on his own projects, which include an Advent devotional, a novel, and a newly-released memoir.

Places to find Jac:

* Website

* Instagram

* Facebook

Disclaimer: I believe in and approach life (and writing) from a distinctly evangelical Christian perspective, but some of my guests may not. When I interview a guest on a specifically spiritual topic, I do my best to know in advance that I can support their theological stances on the topics that relate to our interview. When the topic is not particularly spiritual, our theological views may differ. My interviewing of guests and providing links to their work does not necessarily indicate a complete theological endorsement of all their written work.

The Purposeful Pen is a weekly podcast for Christian writers designed to help you build a writing life with eternal impact. Each week you’ll hear practical tips and Biblical truth on topics such as improving your writing, honing your message, and managing your time. I always respond to listener emails and I’d love to hear from you! Amysimon@amylynnsimon.com

Join me as I chat with author Mary Grace Johnson about how she took a traumatic event from her childhood and turned it into a children’s book. She wasn’t originally planning on writing for kids, but over time, it became clear who she was writing for. Listen in to hear about that process.

Her book, And the Sun Came Up: A True Story of Grief and Hope, comes out this fall.

Mary Grace Johnson writes inspirational stories for those who have faced grief and loss at a young age, offering love, comfort, and hope. You can find her at https://marygracejohnsonauthor.com or on Instagram.

The Purposeful Pen is a weekly podcast for Christian writers designed to help you build a writing life with eternal impact. Each week you’ll hear practical tips and Biblical truth on topics such as improving your writing, honing your message, and managing your time. I always respond to listener emails and I’d love to hear from you! Amysimon@amylynnsimon.com

Disclaimer: I believe in and approach life (and writing) from a distinctly evangelical Christian perspective, but some of my guests may not. When I interview a guest on a specifically spiritual topic, I do my best to know in advance that I can support their theological stances on the topics that relate to our interview. When the topic is not particularly spiritual, our theological views may differ. My interviewing of guests and providing links to their work does not necessarily indicate a complete theological endorsement of all their written work.

This week, I deviated a bit from my theme of finding your reader and message to talk about a topic that affects us as writers in a broad way—the use of AI in our writing.

In this episode, I explain my three questions that I ask myself when considering the use of AI in my writing:

* Is my use of AI God-honoring?

* Is my use of AI causing my God-given creativity or other skills to atrophy from lack of use?

* Am I valuing expediency over the longer writing process in a way that short-changes the end result and my own participation in that process?

I also break them down and share some of the ways that I have decided not to use AI, some of the ways I currently do, and where I feel the area is a little grey.

I don’t claim to be an authority on this topic or have all the answers, but this episode gives you a peek into my own thought process as I consider different ways to use or not use this new technology.

(PS - I did not use AI to write these show notes!)

Resources mentioned:

Episode 105

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The Purposeful Pen is a weekly podcast for Christian writers designed to help you build a writing life with eternal impact. Each week you’ll hear practical tips and Biblical truth on topics such as improving your writing, honing your message, and managing your time. I always respond to listener emails and I’d love to hear from you! Amysimon@amylynnsimon.com

Sometimes we feel the pressure to include every aspect of all the things we’re passionate about in the core message of our writing. It just doesn’t fit, nor does it need to!

Covered in this episode:

* It’s OK NOT to talk about certain topics

* You may have more than one book in you

* The importance of being intentional about what personal details we share or don’t share

* What to do with smaller ideas that don’t fit into our main message

* Why having an intentional personal brand isn’t inauthentic or fake

Other episodes referenced:

Episode 40 - What is an author brand? with Cara Ray

Episode 66 - Branding and Business Planning for Creatives with Karla Colahan

The Purposeful Pen is a weekly podcast for Christian writers designed to help you build a writing life with eternal impact. Each week you’ll hear practical tips and Biblical truth on topics such as improving your writing, honing your message, and managing your time. I always respond to listener emails and I’d love to hear from you! Amysimon@amylynnsimon.com

This week, I talk about the balance between settling on our reader and message and also remaining flexible and responsive to reader input and feedback.

We’ll look at:

* The importance of adjusting as you write rather than trying to have it all figured out ahead of time

* Different ways of getting feedback from your readers

* Examples of how a popular post doesn’t always equal a drastic change in your future writing focus

Resources:

If you haven’t signed up yet, check out Pen Points - a weekly email of writing tips, resources, and prayer.