Hi, friends ✵
I’m Anna Rollins, author of Famished: On Food, Sex, and Growing Up as a Good Girl (out December 9, 2025 from Eerdmans).
My groundbreaking debut memoir examines the rhyming scripts of diet culture and evangelical purity culture, both of which direct women to fear their own bodies and appetites.
I’m a Christian who believes in community, civil rights, and care. I’ve worked hard to deconstruct beliefs that stem from the health and wealth gospel, patriarchy, and fundamentalism. And I’ve reconstructed a faith that is not obsessed with certainty or rules, but in the radical love and forgiveness offered by Jesus Christ.
I’m a lifelong Appalachian, and I live with my husband in West Virginia where we’re raising our three small children.
I’m an award-winning instructor who taught English and directed the Writing Center at Marshall University for nearly 15 years.
My writing has appeared in outlets like The New York Times, Slate, Electric Literature, Salon, Joyland, and more. I’ve also written a number of scholarly articles about composition and writing center studies.
At the beginning of 2022, I had zero bylines in popular outlets.
In the span of two years, I published over 50 short essays. In the process of putting my writing out into the world, I signed with an agent and landed a book deal.
It’s not like I became particularly prolific during these few short years. I’ve *always* been a writer. I just became serious about learning the tips and tricks for placing a piece in a popular outlet.
Here, I unpack the story behind my stories. These reflections are part process, part strategy. There are clear takeaways for your own creative work. In some of my posts, I include sample pitches, along with editors’ names and rates (at the time my published pieces went live). I’m sharing the intel I’ve gathered in the hope that it can help you place your own work.
You can expect to hear from me about twice a month. At the beginning of each month, I send out a series called Path to Publication where I explain the process and pitching strategy I used for a particular byline.
Then, mid-month, I round up my favorite writing and publishing-adjacent resources to share with you.
So don’t worry— I’m not going to blow up your inbox. I’m just looking forward to connecting with you consistently to help you meet your own writing and publishing goals.
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