Invisible Stories: Write to be Seen

On today's episode I speak to Sarah Gallardo, author of Hiding in Plain Sight: A Glimpse Into the Reality of Domestic Violence.

Sarah's story goes beyond being a survivor. Her message is about overcoming adversity, defying the odds, and staying positive when the world feels like it's crashing down around you. Her non-profit, Sarah Speaks Up, supports women, children, men, and families living free of every kind of abuse. In a society where discussions of domestic violence, intimate partner violence, and spousal abuse are not supposed to be openly reviewed, Sarah Speaks Up.

In this episode we discuss:

• One way to cope with writing triggering topics is to build a team of friends/family/supporters around yourself who can help when you need them.
• If you have difficulty writing in your current space because of the rising up of difficult emotions, if you have the ability to leave your home, and you can go to a coffee shop or a friend's house, the more you can get away from your current working situation, the better.
• Don't isolate, don't make a painful thing more painful that it needs to be. You are only hurting yourself.

Enjoy the episode!

On today's episode I speak to Azul Terronez, author of The Art of Apprenticeship: How to Hack Your Way into Any Industry, Land a Kick-Ass Mentor, and Make A Killing Doing What You Love.

In this episode we discuss:

• Whatever you need to go to get it done, do it. Whatever works for you is what you should do.
• Get out of your usual place to write, to avoid distractions. Find a "writer space" to change your scenery when you are writing, so it feels different than where you live and work.
• I was looking for the big idea in the book. There is no such thing as big ideas: There are small ideas that every walks over but you stop and you pick it up and go, "hey, did you notice this?" The small idea becomes a big idea the more you talk about it.
• When you are leading from a place of service, you are like a magnet everything else kind of comes to you.
• All writers struggle with the same things, we are all in it together.

Enjoy the episode!

On today's episode I speak to Talonya Geary, author of #goDo: How to Live on Purpose.

In this episode we discuss:

• Be your authentic self no matter the circumstances, and it will help resonate with readers. Knowing who you are, and not continuing down a path that doesn't feel right for you.
• It's so much easier to write in your own voice, rather than someone else's voice.
• Use social media or blogs to get feedback and test out your voice.
• If you lose yourself in the process, it is ok to stop and find yourself again, to become a more authentic version of yourself.
• Be ok with being in the position of being a seeker of new knowledge, as long as it takes for you to be ready to apprentice that new knowledge. When you are done apprenticing, and it's time to create new art, you've apprenticed enough and you can now go on and create art on your own. Go do that. When you have done that enough, and you can now share that with others, go and mentor them, go share your mastery.

Enjoy the episode!

On today's episode I speak to Tina Alexis Allen, author of Hiding Out: A Memoir of Drugs, Deception, and Double Lives.

In this episode we discuss:

• Writing as a way to work through your trauma and past
• How your book can "pay it forward" for others who need to hear what you went through
• The impact your book has on individual readers and the feeling when they reach out to tell you this
• How your ability to be brave and courageous is good for you in your healing, but how that provides hope and helps heal others

Enjoy the episode!

On today's episode, I speak to Dr. Tony Byers, author of The Multiplier Effect of Inclusion: How Diversity & Inclusion Advances Innovation and Drives Growth.

Dr. Byers is best known for leading and revitalizing Starbucks' highly respected and successful Diversity and Inclusion function and programming. As Head of Global Diversity and Inclusion, Dr. Byers developed and led the company's strategic direction to drive engagement, innovation, and business growth. He now speaks and consults worldwide on effective strategies for building support for diversity programs among senior leaders.

We have a fascinating discussion that weaves in and around how we tell our story and the impact doing so can have.

On today's episode, I speak to Debra Lynne Driscoll, author of A Series of Surrenders: A Memoir of Grief.

Debra is an author, grief guide, healer, and speaker who believes we all have access to magic and are our own greatest teachers and healers.

Using intuitive guidance, storytelling and lessons learned in death and grief, Debra will help you to ease your 'ouch', unwrap your gifts, and soul expand.

In this episode we discuss:

• How to craft your story to be in service of others
• Your responsibility to sit with people with your story after they've read your book
• How grief is a different form of love and how we can learn to sit with her and befriend her
• How to focus on getting your story out, and having mentors and people around you to help you find the balance.
• In the creation of your book, it might hurt a little bit. You will be challenged, but you will also be delighted.
• Books do not have to be written in a linear fashion. Sometimes you need to choose when you will dive into writing the hardest parts of your memoir.

Enjoy the episode!

On today's episode, I speak to Betsy Cerulo, author of Shake It Off Leadership: Achieving Success Through The Eyes Of Our Labels.

Betsy's greatest professional accomplishment is designing a healthy workplace that advocates creativity, excellence, and unconditional acceptance. As an openly LGBTQ+ business owner, she is proud to create a safe workplace where they walk the talk of diversity and inclusion for all people.

In this episode we discuss:

• Who is going to benefit from hearing your story? Even if you just make a difference in one person's life, it is worth it.
• Everyone struggles with feeling not worthy, not good enough. Write your book anyway! Just write for you. Write for your eyes only first. Then you can make that decision gradually to decide, ok, I wrote for me only. Now I'm getting more comfortable with the idea of someone else reading this. And moving from there, rather than trying to come from a place of perfection right out the gate.

Enjoy the episode!

On today's episode, I speak to Fern Pessin, author of I'll Be Right There: A Guidebook for Adults Caring for Their Aging. In addition to being an author herself, Fern also works with people on telling their stories.

I'll Be Right There was written to remove the overwhelm of the caregiving role and support families on the caregiving journey; to help people know what they didn't know they needed to know when they find themselves in the role of helping a parent.

In this episode we discuss:

• Your memory/recollection you recount in your book isn't going to align always with the memory of others you are talking about in your book. You just need to clear it with them in advance or include a disclaimer that says this is told according to your truth and memory, and it may not match up to how others may have remembered the experience.
• Make it a habit to write every day.
• Writing can be a cathartic experience, getting everything out of your head and onto paper, so you can have some emotional separation when you are editing it.
• Write every day, get it all on paper. And then you can look at it after.

Enjoy the episode!

On today's episode I speak to Iman Gatti, author of Cracked Open - Never Broken.

Iman is an empowerment trainer, a transformational speaker, an author and Certified Grief Recovery Specialist®. She helps people go from feeling unfulfilled to living life with joy, self-love and confidence.

We cover a lot of ground in this episode, along the lines of key questions such as—

• How do we make sense of what seems meaningless, and why we must for survival
• Can I be safely seen?
• How do we find perspective amidst a traumatic story?

Enjoy the episode!

On today's episode I speak to Dina Proto, author of Identity Impact: When Society's Expectations Collide With the Authentic Self. We had a really interesting discussion that covered a lot of ground. A few highlights include:

• When writing or communicating it's okay to not have the right words to say.
• The therapeutic use of self applies both in healthcare and in writing which allows us to find a way to relate to a patient or the reader based on our common experiences.
• Don't judge how long it takes to complete your book; the comparison game serves no one.

I hope you enjoy this episode!