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“It’s not about whether I believe this is good every day. It’s whether I can relate to this critical mind and understand that that’s just a part of my nervous system trying to protect me from the fear of ‘Will anyone read this?’…and understanding that the way I relate to that…is the journey.”

Dr. Tanmeet Sethi is a Joy Activist with a mission to give people access to their innate human right to their own joy practice. 

In this episode, we talked about the writing and publishing of her debut memoir, Joy is My Justice (May 2023, Hachette Go).

 INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS 

• What it felt like to sit down and start with a blank page
• How the theme of the book changed (quite dramatically) during the writing of it
• How Tanmeet vacillated between “I’m going to be on Oprah” and “Who ever thought they would put this in a book?”
• The importance of self-compassion, which Tanmeet believes is the seed for EVERYTHING

• How writers can understand how to feel safe when putting their stories and perspectives out there, on display, for the entire world
• How Tanmeet ensures that writing doesn’t feel “lonely” while writing (even though she is doing it “alone” much of the time)
• The journey to choosing (and signing with) an agent, then getting her publishing deal (She has the BEST tip on how to pick which agent to go with, regardless of how many want to work with you!)
• How being naive to the publishing process was of great benefit to her
• The most positive aspect so far in her experience being with a traditional house 
• How going through the editing process kept her book the same (but also made it vastly different)
• Tanmeet's best advice on what to do RIGHT after first full set of edits comes back from editor (as an editor, I second this a thousand times over!) 
• How Tanmeet intentionally wrote for more than one person (without diluting her message and staying centered in her voice)
• One of biggest lessons she learned about herself while writing the book

 

ABOUT TANMEET

Tanmeet Sethi, MD is an Integrative and Psychedelic Medicine Physician, activist, author, and speaker who has dedicated her career to care for the most marginalized patients in Seattle’s refugee, uninsured and homeless populations as well as global communities traumatized by manmade and natural disasters. In her clinical practice, she weaves modern and ancient medicine to catalyze the most profound healing from within. Dr. Sethi spent the first 25 years of practice as Core Faculty in residency medical education focusing on inpatient and outpatient family medicine, integrative medicine, and anti-racism in medicine. She is a primary researcher on a University of Washington study on psilocybin for COVID burnout of frontline medical workers. She lives in Seattle, WA with her husband and three children. 

 

CONNECT WITH TANMEET

Instagram: instagram.com/tanmeetsethimd

Website: www.tanmeetsethimd.com

Order your copy of Tanmeet's book: Joy is My Justice: Reclaim What Is Yours

 

RESOURCES

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Write the Damn Book Already is a weekly podcast featuring interviews with authors as well as updates and insights on writing craft and the publishing industry. 

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