In this week’s Jen’s Jewels, I share a beautiful conversation with Anna Mitchael, a superbly talented writer whose new book is one we all need right now. Are you at a crossroads in life? Struggling to get things right in a world that often feels upside down? Take a break from your busy day and meet the Anna I know—someone who shares deeply personal and inspiring vignettes that uncover the quiet beauty woven into our everyday lives. And don’t forget to visit her Substack, where your journey toward meaning continues.
Jen: Your book beautifully explores the search for fulfillment in a world full of mixed messages. What was the initial spark or moment that led you to begin writing this collection?
Anna: Thank you for those kind words. I love how you phrased that—this is a world full of mixed messages. I started the book because I was at a point where I was exhausted from weeding through those messages and trying to “get things right.” From a young age I’d been taught to be my own person. But then out of the other side of the mouth was a push to learn how to excel within the systems of the world. This book is fiction, but it reflects the real questions I asked as I was starting to look more closely at those conflicting aims. The search is difficult, and I’m not sure there’s a true endpoint on this earth, but in the ongoing process there is extraordinary beauty to be had. I truly believe that. If readers walk away from this book with that sense, I can’t ask for more than that.
Jen: The vignettes feel both deeply personal and universally relatable. How did you decide which moments from your life to include—and which to leave out?
Anna: When I wrote this book, I wasn’t sure if I would ever even try to sell it. I’d been writing for other people for so long, I just needed to do something that got back to my voice and was deeply true to where I was standing at the time. These vignettes are collages of events that happened to me, scraps of stories from people I love, and sheer imagination. I wanted to create little worlds that were emotionally evocative, reminders that our daily lives hold all kinds of invitations to truth. The measuring stick for what to include was whether or not the finished product had a stirring effect.
Jen: You write with such lyrical clarity. How does your background as a professional writer influence your voice in this more intimate, reflective work?
Anna: Balancing the part of my writing that is “professional” versus what I’ve always thought of as my personal writing has been a consistent struggle in my adult life. As I mentioned above, this book came about because I looked up after a period of intense work for other people and just felt absolutely drained. Writing is similar to living in that it’s easy to shut down the more intimate and reflective parts of ourselves to “get through the day” or “get the project complete.” There’s a million reasons for that response, none of them objectionable, but at the same time that response leaves us disconnected from greater threads that can give meaning. This book helped me peel off a lot of the habits and client-pleasing behaviors I’d adopted in my writing, so I could return to my heart, my off-beatness, and offer that up. Right now, I have hold of my two voices—the professional and personal—in a way I’ve not had before, and am very intentionally trying to protect both. I know balls will drop again, that’s life, but I hope I don’t get back to the place I was a few years ago where the seesaw is so flipped. That’s a hard space to come back from.
Jen: You challenge many of the cultural narratives about success and happiness. Was there one particular message or belief you had to unlearn in order to move forward?
Anna: Someone else asked me a similar question last week and I’ve been thinking about this a lot. When I discovered marriage was hard work that was a major mind shift for me. For most of my growing up life and throughout my 20s, I really thought if I found “my person” it would be smooth sailing from there. I love my husband and I love what we are building, but the happiness we find in our relationship is not some kind of fairy tale completion. I talk about this with friends a lot—how even at this mid-life stage there are still so many misdirects, and outright lies, to weed through about how our lives (and love) “should” look. I work to keep that out of my media consumption, but it’s hard. The messaging is sly and it takes work to keep comparison from sliding in.
Jen: There’s a gentle but persistent thread of divine love running through the book. How has your understanding of spirituality evolved over time?
Anna: I was raised a Christmas and Easter Christian. When I went to college I never even considered going to church. The older I got, the more my interest in subscribing to any traditional faith faded. I was a seeker though, always looking for something deeper. When I was pregnant with my third child, my midwife was a Christian. She and I spent those nine months so deeply woven together into beauties and mysteries of life and faith, our conversations were unlike any ministering I had ever known, yet that was exactly the end they accomplished. By the time my daughter was born, my husband and I were back in church—and that wasn’t what anyone in our lives saw coming, least of all us. My faith is now central to who I am and how I live. In that light, I’d say my understanding of spirituality went from accepting what everyone else said it should be, to thinking I was above it because that’s what everyone else said I could be, to stepping into what I felt called toward without care for what anyone else thought.
Jen: Your book feels like a conversation between writer and reader. What do you hope someone carrying their own questions takes away from reading it?
Anna: The idea of going deeply into our everyday lives to connect more richly and find meaning is one that keeps me going. I very much want to offer that for anyone else who’s wondering about the why to the matrix.
Jen: As someone who writes so introspectively, what’s next for you creatively? Are you working on another book or exploring a new direction?
Anna: Earlier this year I started writing fiction vignettes on substack and I love connecting with readers in that space—it’s so different than writing a book, where there’s so much time between when you put it on paper and someone has it in their hands. That said, I’m also working on a new book. Having both the immediate and the more studied, big picture projects is really wonderful right now. Readers can find me here. https://annamitchael.substack.com/
Jen: I always love to know—what’s on your TBR (To Be Read) stack right now?
Anna: When I read interviews like this with authors (which I always do, I love behind the scenes on anything) I always wonder if the TBR answers are real or tweaked. So, in honor of trying to keep it real, I’m going to give you the 5 books on top of my TBR stack with no editing whatsoever: Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfield/I See You’ve Called in Dead by John Kenney/ Rediscovering Jonah by Timothy Keller/ The Menopause Reset by Mindy Pelz/Make Me Rain by Nikki Giovanni
Jen: How can readers connect with you online? Are you active on social media, or do you have a newsletter or website?
Anna: I send a vignette every other week from my (free) Little Rebellions substack so I would love anyone and everyone to join me there. I’m also on Instagram and I do have a website, though that’s really more of my editorial work.
Jen: If you could offer just one sentence of encouragement to a reader standing at their own crossroads, what would it be?
Anna: When I am at crossroads I appreciate when people ask questions that gently encourage me forward. So I would ask: Could this be temporary?
Where do we find true fulfillment? How did we get lost along the way? These lushly written, emotionally resonant stories light candles along the path as we each search for purpose.
They will tell you that a better version of yourself is waiting to be found.
Every day, we hear a version of this message, and so we search and strive. Yet none of the places we’ve been told to look—our careers, relationships, even dreams that come true—seem to give lasting satisfaction. After twenty years as a professional writer of other people’s truth, Anna Mitchael found herself at the same crossroads. Tired of reaching and wondering where it was all headed, she began asking questions.
They will tell you to cut the blooms off your roses so that the flowers can grow back bigger and better.
This book is an invitation that grew from those inquiries. A series of vignettes, as incisive as they are lyrical, paints a portrait of a woman growing from childhood into early adulthood, navigating family, friendships, identity, career ambitions, and love. While this woman moves through a time of crisis that ultimately turns into an awakening, we see her explore, fall down, and get back up. As she learns to sift the messages she is told, we, too, are encouraged to seek truth beyond what the world has prescribed for our happiness.
Even with our wild differences, I still believe in something greater we share: a spirit of divine love at our core that, no matter how far away we get, will always be calling us home.
For hearts in search of answers, this collection poses questions to help find lasting truth.
Fiction [Convergent Books, On Sale: May 20, 2025, Hardcover / e-Book , ISBN: 9780593735497 / ]
Anna Mitchael is a Louisiana-born author who now lives and writes on a ranch in Texas. She is the author of Copygirl, Rooster Stories and Just Don't Call Me Ma'am. For five years she has been a columnist about motherhood and the country life for Wacoan magazine. Read more of her work on her website.
Jennifer Vido writes sweet romances set in the Lowcountry, earning acclaim as the award-winning author of the Gull Island series. Her debut novel, "Serendipity by the Sea," secured the prestigious Best First Book award from the New Jersey Romance Writers Golden Leaf Contest. In 2024, Vido's talent garnered further accolades, with Baltimore Magazine readers naming her Best Local Author in their annual Best of Baltimore poll, while the Baltimore Sun acknowledged her with an Honorable Mention in their Best of 2024 Author category. When not writing fiction, she interviews authors for her weekly Jen’s Jewels column, leads water exercise classes, and directs a legal nonprofit. Currently residing in Maryland, she and her husband are proud parents to two grown sons and a rescue dog named Fripp.
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