Circle of Chairs with Will Parker Anderson

In this episode of Circle of Chairs, I have an inspiring conversation with Will Parker Anderson, a book editor at Penguin Random House Christian and founder of the Writer's Circle podcast and newsletter. We discuss how writing can be seen as a form of worship and a means to connect with God, especially for those in recovery. Will unpacks the powerful role of writing in processing thoughts and emotions, as well as the importance of receiving and giving feedback with grace. He also shares personal stories that highlight the transformative power of words, regardless of publication. For anyone feeling unqualified or rejected in their writing journey, Will's insights will provide encouragement and a fresh perspective.

00:00 Introduction to Circle of Chairs
00:13 Meet Will Parker Anderson
01:04 Will's Journey as a Book Editor
01:36 The Writer's Circle and Writing as Worship
03:30 The Spirituality of Writing
07:41 The Role of Editing in Writing
14:22 Advice for Aspiring Writers
21:34 Closing Thoughts and Future Plans

Connect with Will at: https://www.writerscircle.co/

Sign up for Caroline Beidler's Circle of Chairs Substack: https://carolinebeidler.substack.com/

Caroline Beidler, MSW, is an author, speaker, and Managing Editor of Recovery.com, where she combines expert guidance with research to help people find the best path to healing and treatment. Her next book, When You Love Someone in Recovery: A Hopeful Guide for Understanding Addiction, is coming Spring 2026 with Nelson Books. Drawing from her own recovery journey through addiction, mental health challenges, and trauma, along with training as a clinical mental health provider and addiction recovery expert, Caroline is passionate about guiding you into seasons of greater healing. Learn more about her books here. 

Subscribe to her Circle of Chairs Substack community at carolinebeidler.substack.com 

Transcript

 Welcome to Circle of Chairs, conversations with Caroline Beidler, real talk on addiction, mental health, healing, and hope for people in or seeking recovery, and our loved ones. So pull up a chair. You are not alone. 

Will Parker Anderson, I'm so excited to talk to you today. This is Circle of Chairs conversations and so this is our next season, which is a really exciting time for us.

We are going from Substack only to like all the platforms, so I thought I wanted to talk to people who've been really impactful in my writing journey in the past year, and just people I've just really connected with. On Substack and just in this space, and you are on the top of that list. So would you mind introducing yourself for folks and just telling people a little bit about you and what you do?

Of course. Yeah. Thanks Carolyn. It's, thank you so much for having me. Uh, I love circle of chairs and, uh, just following the work that you do on Substack as well, and the conversations we've had about your book, ideas and all sorts of stuff. So I, I'm so honored to be here. Yeah, so for those that do not know me, I am a book editor.

That's my main full-time job. I work for Penguin Random House, but specifically PRH Christian. So I edit adult nonfiction and get to work with many. Incredible folks. I feel honestly, so privileged to do what I do. To sit with ideas and to sit with people are my two favorite activities. And so I get paid to do that, which is surreal at times.

It has its challenges as well. And then I also. Founded something called Writer Circle, which is a podcast in a newsletter just because the moment I became an editor years ago, uh, people started reaching out to me and asking for advice and help, and I just realized, oh, wow, publishing for most people is this mysterious behind the curtain thing that they're not quite sure.

How to access or, there's a lot of self-doubt we struggle with as writers. Like, am I good enough? Would anyone even read this? And so just wanting to be a guide and an encourager to writers trying to find their way, maybe into publishing a lot of them, that's their goal. Or just to keep writing in general and, uh, to help people believe in their own ability to process on the page.

The, those are the passions, uh, that I give a lot of my time to. That's so amazing. And I have to say, I connected with you through your newsletter, the Writer's Circle. Mm-hmm. And podcast. So I think I saw someone, a friend of mine had reposted a story with a link to a podcast. It was the one with Curtis Yates.

Um, it was a two part. Yeah. And I've listened to that multiple times because I was like. I've needed to hear all of this information. Yeah, it is, it was the perfect thing for me to hear at the perfect time. And I love how you bring your expertise in writing, publishing, and then your faith, because that, I feel like is a huge part of what's, at least for me, um, as a writer in recovery who's also a Christian.

Like I was just missing that. So yeah. Anyways. Love, hate social media. I usually hate it, but for that reason, I'm, I'm glad that I, that I found you. Um, so folks, yeah, the Writer's Circle podcast and Substack letter, um, we'll have links to all, all of those things, but I would love to talk to you a little bit, will, starting off with, in one of your podcast episodes, you were talking about this idea of writing as worship, and I just love that so much and connect with it.

So writing be in a form of worship. Can you unpack what that means for you personally and maybe spiritually? Yeah, such a good question. Writing, there's so many things to say. I'll try to be concise, but writing slows us down, right? You, we can't, even typing wise, we can't type as fast as we speak. And so there's just something, there's a settledness in our soul.

Sometimes that's what makes writing so difficult is when we slow down, a lot rises to the surface and it's like, oh, I don't know if I want to think about that or process that, but that's part of it. We're so busy and frenetic and distracted that we don't often sit with our thoughts. We're not even aware of our thoughts, and so writing is a way to bring all of that before God.

And more and more. I was actually just thinking about this this morning. I view writing less in terms of the outcome or the goal, although. I have goals as a writer. There are things that I want to do, metrics I'm going for, but more than anything, writing is a way to come into God's presence and bring my full self and to process things that I can't do in any other way.

You know, I love a good conversation with a friend or with my wife, or with one of my kids. That's very special. I love being with the people of God at my local church. But along with those things, I think to sit down and write and to ask the Lord, will you speak to me? Will you guide me? Will you just show me things about myself, about you, about the world?

There's just something great about that, and one of my favorite quotes is Thoughts disentangle themselves over the lips. Through the fingertips, meaning inside, everything's kind of churning around. We're not sure what we really think about a lot of things or what we're really feeling, but the minute you allow your emotions and thoughts to flow out through your fingertips, meaning writing, suddenly there is clarity.

And so some people say it like this, you know, we right to figure out what we believe or we right to discover what we feel. And I really do think, uh, writing is worship because God wants our full selves. He loves us, he wants us to commune with him. All throughout scripture, there are these pivotal moments where God says, write this down, like he's speaking to someone, and that's a powerful experience.

But he says, write this down, because these words are not only for you, but therefore. Generations to come. And in the same way when we write things down, I, I think it actually opens the door for other people to worship, for other people to discover what God did generations ago. And there's a beautiful legacy to that.

Much more I could say, but. In a nutshell, I just think in the world we live in, one of the greatest gifts we can have is stillness and something tangible to do to help bring what's inside of us, outside of us in God's presence. And if listeners or anything like me, it's hard to sit and pray in my head. I just start thinking about what I'm.

Worried about what I'm having for dinner. Uh, an issue with one of my kids, a work project. So writing focuses me and it focuses my prayers in a way that I don't think many other things can do. That is so good. I love that so much and I think it really invites us to think about writing as a practice and like a way to connect, like you said, with God.

And I think for people in recovery too, I've experienced it. I remember when I was in addiction treatment as a teen, we had like journaling activities. You know, one of the assignments I had was to write my own epitaph and as wow. Like a 17-year-old that was a, I will never forget it and I still have it, but like for recovery and for addiction recovery, writing is getting all those thoughts out and when we start to get in touch with our feelings and our thoughts, when we stop using substances to escape and mask those and really start the healing journey, writing is such a huge part of that.

So, and it, for me, it's, it's. It's been instrumental, so I love that answer. And I'm curious, because you're both a writer and an editor, how would you say editing plays into that? Because one of the things I've found and and why I, I love that I've connected with you and other people that have helped mentor and coach me.

Through not just writing, but publishing and platform development and all those things is writing the, although it is a solitary activity, it's not done in isolation or it shouldn't be because for me, something really drastic changed and is continuing to change when I've invited other people into that solitary process.

Mm-hmm. Kind of that like where two or more. Idea. Yes. And bringing that into the right. So with editing, how is that a form of worship and how do you connect God kind of with your editing process and with the folks that you're working with? Oh wow. Yeah. What a great question. I was just listening to a podcast from a friend of mine actually, and he was talking about the fiddle leaf fig tree and the lessons it teaches us about.

Leadership and resilience. And the short version is an indoor plant actually needs some wind blowing on it, otherwise it gets weak and it will actually fall over. And there are these liturgies of resistance we need in our lives. Um, we need things pushing up against us. Now, I wouldn't wish. Tragedy or hardship on anyone, of course, but it could be as simple as having a hard conversation, having someone disagree with you, certain disciplines that you're implementing into your life.

And as an editor, I can say this. It can be uncomfortable on both sides. As an editor, it reminds me of, of the need to be honest, the need to give my real opinion. 'cause I wanna help this author better, their manuscript. But I have to al always do that in an environment of love and safety and care. But then on the flip side, I think it's even more significant, um, when you're receiving feedback.

Our relationship with God involves. Correction and refinement. Um, again, all in an environment of grace. God because he loves us, does not always agree with us, and he does not always let us settle for where we are in life. And he loves us so much that he's reshaping us and there's endless grace for the, the failures, the mistakes.

But God and his kindness is taking us somewhere. And so you see it. In the gospels with Jesus's closest friends. I mean, how many times, uh, is he gently correcting them and leading them back in the direction he has for them? And similarly, I mean, a lot of editing is just suggesting. So I'm not God, I am not omnipotent all knowing.

Um, certainly not always right. My job is to suggest, but in a very real way, when you get enough reps under your belt and you start to understand what makes books work well or how you can help authors connect their stories. Or make their book more cohesive or strengthen their introduction, that's vulnerable work.

And so I actually will often bring prayers and liturgies into the editorial process, and I'll just share them. Like one of my favorites is from every moment Holy, and it's called a Liturgy for receiving feedback. I recently did a podcast on this, and it's just recognizing that in everyday life. Difficult or scary moments, big or small, are all opportunities to receive from God.

So writing and editing are no different, and if a writer is receiving feedback from a friend or a professional editor, it doesn't matter. That's actually an opportunity to remind yourself. God loves me. Regardless of whether this feedback crushes me or is encouraging or somewhere in between, my identity is not tied to my ability.

And yet, because I know I am loved by God, I want to do everything I can to grow in my craft, to reach as many people as I can with whatever message God has given me. And so, yeah, there are. Many, many lessons throughout the editorial process, and my prayer is always, as I'm working with writers, that God's spirit would just attune me to their emotions, their heart.

I never know the day they've had. I never fully know the season that they're in. I don't know what their experiences in many cases have been with feedback in the past. So I'm always just assuming that I need to care for them as well as I can. While also challenging them. 'cause that's my job. And there's something about that that feels very much like following Jesus.

He never abandons us, but he also never says, I don't care if you grow. He, as I said earlier, loves us enough. To draw out the best of us, even when it's challenging and even when sometimes we question, Lord, why are you doing this? Why is it so hard? Even in the midst of that, he's doing something good and hopefully the a good editorial.

Relationship with an author will reflect that dynamic in some way. Well, thank you so much for sharing that. And it's so interesting the parallels as you were sharing between like recovery, sponsorship or mentorship too. It's just this walking alongside and supporting, correcting and love, being very mindful of how we're approaching that support, but at the same time, not.

Shying away from that feedback that needs to happen. And I, I was also reminded Will, I sent out my newsletter on Thursday and I sent one out this, this past week actually. And it had some typos in it, which usually I'm pretty careful about going the night before and like double checking and um, I had someone send me an email.

I was like, I didn't know who they were, but they said, you know, if you'd like some copy editing help, you know, let me know. Wow. And it's just, I was like, well, you know, I appreciate that. Um, and I don't know who that person was. I don't think I'll reach out, but it was, it was a good reminder and I had to chuckle, but it.

I think it connects with recovery because whether it's our recovery journey or our writing journey, and I've, I hear from people at least once a week who say, I'm in recovery and I wanna write a book. I'm in recovery and I wanna share my story, you know, and I usually refer them to you and a couple other resources that I've connected with.

Yeah. Because I'm like, then do exactly what you do in your recovery. Reach out for help. Reach out for support. Yeah. Because we can't do any of this alone. And like I said, the writing process can be so. Instrumental and helpful in our recovery journey too. Um, I think it's, it's just such an important thing for people to keep in mind, but also, again, reach out for help.

Um, or someone may email you randomly and say they'll, they'll help you. Um. So you started the Writer's circle, which as you mentioned, is a community that's built on sharing wisdom, kind of demystifying that process that at least for me, you know, for many years felt like this closed door, this club that I could never be a part of.

Um, what would you, what advice would you give to someone who wants to start writing or exploring, publishing, but feels unqualified to begin? Like, they're not good enough to start. Yeah, that's, that's a great question. I would distinguish a little between writing and publishing as well. Obviously publishing involves writing, but writing may not involve publishing.

And, um, I just read a book by Mark Batterson called Gradually Then Suddenly, and it's this great book about the fact that a lot of life is just plotting along. It's these faithful small acts of obedience and then sometimes. That accrued effort over years, decades, even suddenly springs forth into some unexpected blessing, like a book deal or something like that.

But what I meet is a lot of writers who, they're just kind of starting out in their journey and they take a swing for the fences. They, they try to publish a book, they get turned down, and then they assume, well, I'm not meant to write. I should just quit. The problem with that is, number one, there are so many bestselling authors that receive dozens of rejections, like just Google that.

You'll find so many stories. So, but also we, we misunderstand the value of something as only being worth it if it leads to some kind of monetary or success related outcome. We instrumentalize writing, meaning, well, I should only do this if I'll get paid or if I'll get a book deal. And the problem with that is writing has so much more to offer.

I often tell people the two most significant pieces of writing I've ever read were not from published books. One was from an old man in my church growing up named Jerry. He read something I had written as like a sixth grader that they had put into the church newsletter back when that was still a thing.

And uh, he just wrote me and. Affirmed my gifts and, and called out some things he saw in me. To be honest, I didn't even really know him that well, but that letter has stuck with me my entire life. And then the second piece of writing was literally a single sentence, uh, written in a notebook. Uh, my mom passed away of cancer when I was in college, and the week that she passed, I flew from California, um, back home.

And uh, I got to the hospital room. And there was this little notebook beside her bed, and, and my mom was, you know, hooked up to all kinds of life support machines. It was difficult for her to talk through the mask, the oxygen mask, and so she had resorted to writing. That was how she could communicate in those last days.

So at one point, I don't know if the rest of my family had gone to go get food or something, but it was just me in the room and I picked up this notebook. My mom was asleep in the bed beside me and I'm flipping through it and all of a sudden I, I come on a note upon a note from a few days earlier and she had written, just have to make it until Will comes home and.

That single sentence is one of the most powerful pieces of writing I've ever seen. You know, um, it expresses a mother's love and just the, the will to, to hang on and, and so that I could get there and all of that. So, wow. I tell those, I give those two examples just to say we drastically underestimate the power our words can have, aside from publishing.

And I, I think when I say that to people, and I, I tell those stories because it's easy to roll your eyes at that. In fact, I've even had some honest folks on my substack when I posted on, on this idea, say, that's great. I'll still take the book deal. It's like, of course we all would. But that may not be your story.

And if that's the case, and I ask myself this, if I never publish the book that I dream a publishing, would I still write? Mm-hmm. Um, are there still opportunities like. Handwriting notes to people. Um, I write letters to my kids on their birthdays that one day I'll give them. Um, writing your own poetry, writing your own stories, if that brings you joy or journaling helps you process life, or there's a small circle of friends or family that you exchanged these writings with, whatever it looks like.

If that's not enough for you, I would ask why. Hmm? Have you allowed an industry. The public recognition of getting published. Mm-hmm. Distract you from the beauty and the reward and the joy of just writing. And some people will say, well actually I don't really enjoy the writing that much. And that is fine.

There's other ways you can find joy, but I believe, 'cause they meet them all the time, there are a lot of folks who truly love to write, but they have allowed themselves to be sidelined and silenced because. Maybe, uh, I'll be, I'll be really transparent. Maybe they don't have the skill to write a trade book picked up by a publisher.

That's a hard reality. Maybe they can grow to get to that level, but maybe just, maybe just with the ability they have. God has incredible opportunities for them to use their words with the people they already know, to leave a legacy of words, uh, to bless with their words to speak life. So that would be my encouragement.

Oh, that's so good. I just wanna replay that for folks who might be struggling with rejection, and maybe that's someone listening today or feeling like it has to look a certain way, but to understand that Yeah. It's not about the book deal, it's not about, certainly most authors don't make much money, even if you are a bestseller.

Like it's not a, and it, and it should really come from a different place. Um, I found with now having a book deal from a traditional publisher, but starting, you know, I have folders of rejections from, I think I started trying to get an agent and when I was 19, it's been over 20 years and wow. For me, rejection has been fuel in a sense, but this experience for me of then landing the book deal and all of that, it's so interesting because inside nothing has changed.

Like I still love writing. Yeah. And I would do it anyways. And a part of me is like, well now I have to be extra careful because there's all these other temptations, uh, and challenges that come with with this opportunity. Uh, so yeah, it's really interesting, but I appreciate you being so willing and open to talk to folks kind of along the whole spectrum of experience from folks who are writing and journaling, and maybe that's a listener who's writing for their recovery or maybe, uh, someone further down the line.

But I appreciate you just being willing to share your gifts with, with everyone will, um, and you're such a blessing. So thank you so much. Before we close, uh, anything else that you would like to share? Tell us where we can find you. What do you have coming up? By the way, I'm waiting for your book announcement, so I don't know if you're working on your own project, but I'm really hoping someday, um, I'll hear and see that message.

But what, what's going on and how can people connect with you? Absolutely Carolyn. Yeah. Well, I will be re announcing something exciting soon about my own writing, and it's still a ways off, but it's, of course, as writers, it's always exciting when there is a clear next step that we're hoping to make. But yeah, the best.

Place, uh, to find me is just writer circle.co writer circle.co. Um, that's where you can sign up for the newsletter. You can find the podcast there. Uh, if you search writer circle on Spotify or Apple, you can find it there. The way that I think about my podcast, it's just like sitting in on a, a conversation at a coffee shop listing.

You know, some of them are well-known authors, others are people inside the industry. Some are just coaching style episodes. But I just hope that both through the newsletter and the podcast, it's just like having an encouraging conversation where you walk away. Feeling encouraged, equipped, like you have a next step, like you're seeing.

And a lot of authors who do have book contracts have just said, I just keep this podcast kind of in my ear because it keeps me motivated and it reminds me that it matters. Uh, 'cause writing is a slog as much as it's a joy. So, yep. Just write a circle.co. I will second that will It is amazing. And my favorite podcast, so there you go.

Thanks. Thanks. Well thank you so much for joining. Will I really appreciate you again and look forward to staying in touch. Absolutely. Thanks for having me. Thanks for listening. For more resources, visit caroline bidler.com.