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Author, Jennifer Lunden, shares her struggles with chronic illness, the challenges of writing a hybrid memoir, especially when you’ve not trained in science writing, and the grit all writers, but especially writers with disabilities, need to cultivate.  

Jennifer Lunden Bio: Jennifer Lunden (she/her) is the author of American Breakdown: Our Ailing Nation, My Body’s Revolt, and the Nineteenth-Century Woman Who Brought Me Back to Life, which was praised by the Los Angeles Review of Books and Washington Post, and called a “genre-bending masterpiece” by Hippocampus. Her essays have appeared in Creative Nonfiction, Orion, River Teeth, DIAGRAM, Longreads, and other journals; selected for a Pushcart Prize; and recognized as notable in Best American Essays. She has been awarded grants from the Maine Arts Commission, the Money for Women/Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, and the Canada Council for the Arts, and was the 2016 recipient of the Bread Loaf-Rona Jaffe Foundation Scholarship in Nonfiction. A Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and former therapist, in 2012, she was named Maine’s Social Worker of the Year. She lives with her husband, the artist Frank Turek, in Portland, Maine.

Resources Mentioned During This Episode

The Lady’s Handbook of Mysterious Illnesses

“The Hero’s Journey Starring You” on the Hidden Brain podcast

Sarah Perry Episode

Laura Davis Episode 

Episode Highlights

7:11 Feedback We Get When Writing About Illnesses

12:00 Structuring a Hybrid Memoir

22:00 The Two Types of Grit Writers with Disabilities Need

31:07 The Three Kinds of Stories We All Have

39:48 Jennifer’s Best Writing Advice

Connect with Jennifer

https://jenniferlunden.com/
https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.lunden
https://www.instagram.com/jleelunden/
https://staging.bsky.app/profile/jenniferlunden.bsky.social

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Produced by Espresso Podcast Production