What I’ve Read This Week

I continued my journey through The Sherlock Holmes Complete Collection this week, finishing two short stories: The Adventure of the Three Students and The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez. There’s something deeply satisfying about Holmes’ methodical approach to solving mysteries—it’s inspiring me as I work on my own cozy mystery series!

What I’ve Written This Week

This was a productive writing week! I made solid progress on revisions for Blue Stone Blooms, the sequel to Blue Stone Christmas. I also published two Substack posts this week: my weekly devotional, Rest As the Foundation For New Beginnings: The Sunday Sabbath #11, and my weekly deep dive piece, Faith Comes From Hearing The Word: Your Platform Is Your Pulpit.

What I’ve Watched This Week

I’m still catching up on Vlogmas videos on YouTube from various creators. I’m completely caught up on Watson and NCIS: Origins now, just waiting for new episodes to drop. I’m also continuing my rewatch of Bones and need to catch the new episodes of the original NCIS.

What I’ve Created This Week

I’ve been continuing to work in my digital planner, but I’ve given myself permission to use it only as needed rather than forcing daily use. Since I work primarily out of Asana for my business planning and content management, this feels like a much healthier approach that honors how my brain actually works.

Other Creative Activities & Updates

This week brought something really special that isn’t creative work, but definitely feeds my soul: I just started a discipleship group with two of my good friends and ministry partners. We met this morning for breakfast and spent time getting to know each other better. I love being in a smaller group like this with just two other women, in addition to our larger co-ed Sunday School class. I especially appreciate that I’m not leading this group, so I can just show up, be fully present, and participate without carrying the responsibility of facilitation.

Watch the full video above for more details, behind-the-scenes thoughts, and to hear me share more about each of these updates!

Links Mentioned In This Video

• The Sherlock Holmes Complete Collection

• Rest As the Foundation For New Beginnings: The Sunday Sabbath #11

• Faith Comes From Hearing The Word: Your Platform Is Your Pulpit

What have you been reading, writing, or creating this week? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Connect & Support

🌱 Join Our Community: Subscribe to receive The Sunday Sabbath newsletter and follow along on this soft, sacred, slow journey.

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🤍 Support This Ministry:

• Monthly Support: Join the Cultivator’s Circle to sustain this digital ministry with a monthly contribution.

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• One-Time Gift: Prefer a one-time donation? You can nurture this garden with a single contribution.

One-Time Donation

📚 Explore Resources: Discover books, assessments, and resources to support your creative journey in the Salty Page Books shop.

Check out the shop

💬 Share Your Thoughts: I’d love to hear your perspective in the comments below.

Chantel’s Read Your Bookshelf Challenge

Books mentioned:

• Theology of Home

• The Sacred Slow

• Obsidio

• Magyk

• On Writing

• Sherlock Holmes Complete Collection

What are you planning to read this month? Drop your January TBR in the comments—I’d love to know what’s on your nightstand!

Connect & Support

🌱 Join Our Community: Subscribe to receive The Sunday Sabbath newsletter and follow along on this soft, sacred, slow journey.

Subscribe now

🤍 Support This Ministry:

• Monthly Support: Join the Cultivator’s Circle to sustain this digital ministry with a monthly contribution.

  Subscribe now

• One-Time Gift: Prefer a one-time donation? You can nurture this garden with a single contribution.

One-Time Donation

📚 Explore Resources: Discover books, assessments, and resources to support your creative journey in the Salty Page Books shop.

Check out the shop

💬 Share Your Thoughts: I’d love to hear your perspective in the comments below.

I don’t know what the future of Substack video holds or if they’re planning improvements to native uploads, but I want to try it out for myself and see how I like it. This isn’t replacing my Wednesday deep-dive teaching posts or Sunday Sabbath devotionals—those will continue as always. This is a fun creative experiment in addition to my regular writing, giving me another way to share my love of books, writing, and creativity with you.

So let’s kick this off with a Substack Video Newbie Tag!

The Substack Video Newbie Tag

An introduction tag for creators who are new to making video content on Substack—answer all or pick your favorites!

1. What’s your Substack publication name and what do you create here?

2. Why did you choose Substack for your video content instead of YouTube or other platforms?

3. What’s your favorite genre to read (or write, if you’re an author)?

4. Physical books, ebooks, or audiobooks—which do you prefer and why?

5. What’s the last book that made you feel ALL the feelings (cry, laugh, swoon, rage)?

6. How do you choose what to read next? Do you have a system or just vibe it?

7. If you’re a writer: Are you a plotter, pantser, or plantser? If you’re a reader: Do you prefer tightly plotted books or character-driven stories?

8. What’s your recording/creative setup like? (Where do you film, what equipment do you use, etc.)

9. What type of videos are you planning to create regularly on your Substack?

10. Do you script your videos, use bullet points, or just wing it?

11. If you could have coffee with any author (living or dead), who would it be and what would you ask them?

12. What’s one book you think is underrated and more people should read?

13. What do you hope people will get from watching your Substack videos?

14. What’s coming up next on your Substack that people should watch for?

15. Tag challenge: If you create video content on Substack, do this tag and share it so we can all connect!

How to Participate

• Answer all questions or pick your favorites

• Make it your own—add personality and stories!

• Restack this post with a note that includes a link to your version

• Or share your video in Substack Notes and mention this post

• Link back to this post in your video description and tag me @antonishapolitepeoples so I can see and support your content!

Let’s build community and discover new video creators on Substack!

A Note About This New Video Content

This bookish video content lives in its own section of my publication (The Creative Corner), so you can choose exactly what lands in your inbox. If you’re here primarily for Soft Sacred Slow teaching and devotionals, you can easily unsubscribe from just this section while staying subscribed to everything else. But if you’re curious about what I’m reading, writing, and creating behind the scenes, welcome to this creative experiment!

How to Customize Your Subscription

To unsubscribe from The Creative Corner section only: Go to your Substack Settings (click your profile icon > Manage Subscriptions), find Soft Sacred Slow, and use the toggles in the Notifications section to turn off specific parts. A grayed-out toggle means you’ll stop getting emails for that section while still staying subscribed to the overall publication and its other sections.

Alternative option: You can also go to your Notification settings and choose to only be notified of new posts in the Substack app without receiving emails. (This is actually how I personally manage all the Substack publications I’m subscribed to—but I am on the app every day!)

Both options are totally fine. Choose what works best for you and your inbox. 💙

Links & Resources Mentioned

• Guide to Video Posts on Substack

• Purchase a Christian DISC Assessment

• The Salty Pages Collection

• Blue Stone Christmas

• My 2026 Creative Plans (December Coffee Chat)

What about you? Are you creating video content on Substack? I’d love to see your newbie tag!

Connect & Support

🌱 Join Our Community: Subscribe to receive The Sunday Sabbath newsletter and follow along on this soft, sacred, slow journey.

Subscribe now

🤍 Support This Ministry:

• Monthly Support: Join the Cultivator’s Circle to sustain this digital ministry with a monthly contribution.

  Subscribe now

• One-Time Gift: Prefer a one-time donation? You can nurture this garden with a single contribution.

One-Time Donation

📚 Explore Resources: Discover books, assessments, and resources to support your creative journey in the Salty Page Books shop.

Check out the shop

💬 Share Your Thoughts: I’d love to hear your perspective in the comments below.

The Confession That Started Everything

I never thought I’d be the Christian author defending AI in writing.

For months, I watched the heated debates in writing groups, the passionate arguments about authenticity, and the growing divide between “real writers” and those who dared to use artificial intelligence. I quietly used grammar checkers and research tools, told myself that was different, and stayed out of the conversation.

Then I started experimenting with AI for brainstorming. Just small things—exploring character motivations, researching historical details, generating ideas for blog posts. I told myself it was no different from bouncing ideas off a writing friend or using a thesaurus. But the guilt gnawed at me. Was I cheating? Was I compromising my integrity as a Christian writer?

The breakthrough came when I realized I’d been asking the wrong question entirely.

The debate raging in writing circles—AI versus ghostwriting, authentic versus artificial, real writing versus fake—was creating false choices that didn’t serve anyone well. Writers were being forced into camps: you’re either completely against AI or you’re not a “real” writer. You either write every single word yourself or you’re compromising your integrity.

But here’s what struck me: I’d never questioned working with my editor. I’d never felt guilty about my cover designer creating visual art for my book. I’d never apologized for using spell check or researching facts online. So why was AI assistance fundamentally different from other forms of creative partnership?

What if the real question isn’t whether we should use AI, but how we can steward all forms of creative partnership with biblical wisdom?

As I wrestled with this in prayer and Scripture study, I realized that the current discourse was missing something crucial for faith-based writers: a theological framework for understanding creativity, collaboration, and stewardship that goes deeper than industry trends or cultural pressure.

We need a way to think about our creative partnerships—all of them—that honors God, serves our readers, and allows us to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading rather than the crowd’s opinions.

What follows isn’t a defense of AI or an attack on traditional methods. It’s not permission to use AI or a prohibition against it. Instead, it’s an invitation to think more deeply about how we partner with others—humans and technology—in our creative calling, and how we can make these decisions with spiritual wisdom rather than cultural pressure.

👇 The complete framework is for paid Cultivator’s Circles members only.

What you’ll get in the full deep dive:

• Theological Foundation - Biblical framework for understanding creativity, collaboration, and stewardship that goes deeper than industry trends

• The Five-Domain Partnership Map - Complete breakdown of spiritual, human, community, resource, and technological partnerships with specific discernment questions for each

• Six-Phase Creative Process Audit - Detailed guidance for evaluating AI and human partnerships across ideation, drafting, revision, publication, marketing, and community building

• Personal Partnership Philosophy Template - Step-by-step framework for creating your own biblical guidelines that honor your unique calling and convictions

• Red Flags & Green Lights Guide - Specific warning signs and positive indicators for each phase of your creative journey

• 30-Day Implementation Plan - Practical steps to audit your current process and make Spirit-led adjustments

• Real-World Examples - Behind-the-scenes look at how I personally navigate these decisions across different creative partnerships.

Read more