Writing Your Resilience: Building Resilience, Embracing Trauma and Healing Through Writing

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In this summer rewind episode, we revisit my conversation with Courtney Maum, author of Alan Opts Out, Before and After the Book Deal, and The Year of Horses. During our chat, we discuss writer mental health, the key ingredients in an author brand, what success really means and how you can achieve it, as well as the number one skill all authors need to cultivate. 

Episode Highlights

• 3:00 The Importance of Protecting Your Mental Health
• 6:45 The True Measure of Success
• 15:00 Understanding Your Yesses and Nos
• 19:50 Building Brand Assets for Your Author Platform
• 28:50 Navigating the Realities of the Publishing Industry
• 42:00 The Impact of Health Challenges on Our Identity
• 60:00 Having Faith in Yourself

Resources for this Episode: 

• Buy Alan Opts Out
• Making Art Inside Delicious Darkness 
• Last Night an ENT Saved My Life
• Exploring the Loneliness Epidemic with Athena Dixon
• How to Stop Gaslighting Yourself with Ingrid Clayton
• Get Your Free Human Design Report 
• Ditch Your Inner Critic Now 

Courtney’s Bio: Courtney is the author of six books, including ALAN OPTS OUT, the groundbreaking publishing guide that Vanity Fair recently named one of the ten best books for writers, BEFORE AND AFTER THE BOOK DEAL and the memoir THE YEAR OF THE HORSES, chosen by The Today Show as the best read for mental health awareness. A writing coach, director of the writing workshop “Turning Points,” and educator, Courtney's mission is to help people hold on to the joy of art-making in a culture obsessed with turning artists into brands. Passionate about literary citizenship, Courtney sits on the advisory councils of The Authors Guild and The Rumpus and runs a bestselling Substack on publishing conundrums. You can sign up for her weekly newsletter and online masterclasses at CourtneyMaum.com

Connect with Courntey: 
Website: courtneymaum.com
Substack:https://substack.com/@courtneymaum
Instagram: @cbmaum

Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/
Website: https://lisacooperellison.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisacooperellison/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UColPDzpoQlVktIv7-f7ObRg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisacooperellison/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-cooper-ellison-b5483840/ 


Produced by Espresso Podcast Production: https://www.espressopodcastproduction.com

Visit https://lisacooperellison.com/yourdesign/ and use promo code RESILIENCE to get 30% off your foundational report.

Visit https://lisacooperellison.com/yourdesign/ and use promo code RESILIENCE to get 30% off your foundational report.

Building Better Memoir Scenes: https://janefriedman.com/building-better-memoir-scenes-with-lisa-cooper-ellison/

Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/
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In this summer rewind episode, we revisit my conversation with writing instructor and author of The Courage to Heal, Laura Davis. During this episode, Laura and I discuss the healing power of writing, the difference between writing to heal and writing for a public audience, and the challenges Laura faced while writing her memoir, The Burning Light of Two Stars.

Episode Highlights

• 8:25 Dealing with the Emotional Rigors of Memoir Writing
• 12:45: Writing to Heal
• 21:00 Writing for Yourself versus an Audience
• 34:45 Beginning Your Book
• 46:50 Structuring Your Book and Including Primary Resources

Resources for this Episode: 

• Free Ebook: Writing Toward Courage: A 30-Day Practice. 
• Get Your Free Human Design Report
• Ditch Your Inner Critic Now 

Laura’s Bio: Laura Davis is the author of The Burning Light of Two Stars, The Courage to Heal, and five other groundbreaking books. In addition to writing books that inspire, the work of Laura’s heart is to teach. For more than twenty-five years, she’s helped people find their voices, tell their stories, and hone their craft. Laura has been published in Publisher's Weekly, Writer's Digest, CrimeReads, Brevity, and The New York Times, featured in Los Angeles Review of Books, and on QWERTY, Write-Minded, The Only One in the Room, and dozens of other podcasts. She's a featured speaker for The National Association of Memoir Writers and a popular teacher at The San Miguel Writers’ Conference and at Esalen in Big Sur. Learn about her workshops, classes, and international retreats, and read the first five chapters of her memoir at www.lauradavis.net.

Connect with Laura

• Website: www.lauradavis.net 
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurasaridavis
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewritersjourney

Connect with your host, Lisa:

Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/

Website: https://lisacooperellison.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisacooperellison/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UColPDzpoQlVktIv7-f7ObRg

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisacooperellison/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-cooper-ellison-b5483840/ 

Produced by Espresso Podcast Production: https://www.espressopodcastproduction.com

Visit https://lisacooperellison.com/yourdesign/ and use promo code RESILIENCE to get 30% off your foundational report.

Visit https://lisacooperellison.com/yourdesign/ and use promo code RESILIENCE to get 30% off your foundational report.

Building Better Memoir Scenes: https://janefriedman.com/building-better-memoir-scenes-with-lisa-cooper-ellison/

Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/
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About this episode:I am currently on break so I can focus on my writing and some much-needed rest. Until I return with new episodes on September seventeenth, I’ve curated a summer rewind series of fan favorites. This week’s episode with Lynn Shattuck and Alyson Shelton was recorded in October 2024 Back then, the Loss of a Lifetime: Grieving Siblings Share Stories of Love, Loss, and Hope anthology was a dream they were working to fulfill. This month, the book celebrated its first birthday. The wisdom in this episode, which fueled the publication of this book, is as timely as ever. 

Resources Mentioned During This Episode:

• Buy The Loss of a Lifetime
• There’s No Escape by Alyson Shelton
• What I Want You to Say When I’m Grieving by Lynn Shattuck: 
• My 20-Year-Old Brother Died By Suicide. Here's Why I Almost Joined Him by Lisa Cooper Ellison
• Lynn’s Where I’m From Poem 
• Lisa’s Where I’m From Poem 
• Alyson’s Where I’m From Poem 
• Get Your Free Human Design Report 
• Ditch Your Inner Critic Now 

Episode Highlights:

• 3:23 Silent, Unacknowledged Grief
• 7:45: The Impact of the Hierarchy of Grief
• 12:23 The Benefits of Writing about Sibling Loss
• 18:31: Grieving and Writing in Community
• 23:49 Building the Sibling Loss Anthology
• 32:48 Getting to Know Alyson and Lynn
• 35:23 Lynn and Alyson’s Best Writing Advice

Alyson’s Bio: ALYSON SHELTON is an award winning screenwriter and essayist. Her writing is widely published at outlets including The New York Times, Ms. and The Rumpus. She’s deeply proud of her collaborations with other female creatives, most notably, the comic, Reburn  and the films, To Hold The Night and Eve of Understanding. She’s anthologized in Comics Lit Vol. 1 (Accomplishing Innovation Press), No Contact: Writers on Estrangement (Catapult), Root Cause: Stories of Health, Harm and Reclaiming Our Humanity (Editor: Jeannine Ouellette) and The Loss of a Lifetime: Grieving Siblings Share Stories of Love, Loss, and Hope (Contributor and Co-Editor). She’s best known for her Instagram Live series inspired by George Ella Lyon’s poem, Where I’m From which celebrated episode 200 in summer 2025 and its partner podcast, Where I'm From. The poem also provides the spine for her memoir in progress.

Lynn’s Bio: Lynn Shattuck writes on topics like grief, parenting, and mental health. She was a columnist at Elephant Journal for ten years, where several of her essays on the topic of grief and sibling loss, and parenting went viral.Lynn co-founded the website lossofalifetime.com, a hub of resources and community for those who’ve experienced sibling loss. She co-edited the essay collection, The Loss of a Lifetime: Grieving Siblings Share Stories of Love, Loss, and Hope, which was released in June 2025.

Connect with Lynn

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064888772287
• Substack: https://lynnshattuck.substack.com/

Connect with Alyson

• Website: www.alysonshelton.com
• Instagram: @byalysonshelton
• Where I’m From poem project: https://www.alysonshelton.com/where-im-from.html#/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Byalysonshelton

Connect with the Loss of a Lifetime Sibling Loss Group

• Website: https://www.lossofalifetime.com/
• Instagram: @lossofalifetime

Visit https://lisacooperellison.com/yourdesign/ and use promo code RESILIENCE to get 30% off your foundational report.

Visit https://lisacooperellison.com/yourdesign/ and use promo code RESILIENCE to get 30% off your foundational report.

Building Better Memoir Scenes: https://janefriedman.com/building-better-memoir-scenes-with-lisa-cooper-ellison/

Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/
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What do we carry with us from the people we love and lose, and how do we make a choice from the center of our grief? This week, I'm wrestling with these questions alongside memoirist Jill Christman, whose new book The Heart Folds Early is a fierce and tender exploration of the decision to end a pregnancy after a devastating diagnosis. Jill and I talk about how grief from an earlier loss shaped her path toward this choice, the craft of handling time and signposting in memoir, and why she believes memoir is an act of extraction, not accumulation.

Episode Highlights

• 05:31 Serial Memoir Method
• 14:32 Writing To Many Audiences
• 28:10 Making The Hard Decision
• 33:49 Opposite World Exercise
• 34:43 Disrupting Dark Spirals
• 35:38 Finding Levity in Pain

Resources for this Episode: 

• Falling by Jill Christman
• Beautiful Things on Riverteeth Magazine
• Get Your Free Human Design Report 
• Register for Build Better Memoir Scenes
• Ditch Your Inner Critic Now 

Jill’s Bio: Jill Christman is the author of The Heart Folds Early: A Memoir (released March 2026 from the University of Nebraska Press). Christman’s other books include If This Were Fiction: A Love Story in Essays (2023 Foreword INDIES Silver Winner), Darkroom: A Family Exposure (winner of AWP Prize for CNF), and Borrowed Babies: Apprenticing for Motherhood. Her essays have appeared in many anthologies and in magazines such as Brevity, Creative Nonfiction, Fourth Genre, Iron Horse Literary Review, Longreads, and O, The Oprah Magazine. A 2020 NEA Literature Fellow, she teaches at Ball State University and serves as co-editor of River Teeth: A Journal of Nonfiction Narrative and Beautiful Things (a weekly online magazine of micro nonfiction). Visit her at jillchristman.com.

Connect with Jill

• Website: Jillchristman.com
• Bluesky: @jillchristman.bsky.social
• Instagram: @Jillchristmanwriter 

Connect with your host, Lisa:

Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/

Website: https://lisacooperellison.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisacooperellison/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UColPDzpoQlVktIv7-f7ObRg

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisacooperellison/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-cooper-ellison-b5483840/ 

Produced by Espresso Podcast Production: https://www.espressopodcastproduction.com

Visit https://lisacooperellison.com/yourdesign/ and use promo code RESILIENCE to get 30% off your foundational report.

Visit https://lisacooperellison.com/yourdesign/ and use promo code RESILIENCE to get 30% off your foundational report.

Building Better Memoir Scenes: https://janefriedman.com/building-better-memoir-scenes-with-lisa-cooper-ellison/

Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/
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What if understanding your characters (and your readers) came down to something as simple as a cup of coffee? In this episode, I sit down with author, writing coach, and rule-breaking storyteller Lindz McLeod to explore writing voice, character motivation, and the iceberg principle that makes stories hauntingly unforgettable. Lindz shares the simple but revelatory "coffee question" that unlocks who your characters really are, why the stories that move us most are the ones brave enough to leave things unsaid, and how writing — no matter the genre — is ultimately the language of emotions that connects us to our shared humanity. 

Episode Highlights

• 07:04 Romance, Motivation, and Self Love
• 16:27 Voice Icebergs and Craft Ambition
• 31:39 Building a Craft Anthology
• 34:22 Icarus on a Farm
• 41:28 Collaboration and Closing Advice

Resources for this Episode: 

• Practicing Radical Acceptance with Zebib Abraham
• Cinema Worms: Hokum and Michael
• Finding Your Voice and Crafting Stories that Ignite the Soul with Sue William Silverman
• Get Your Free Human Design Report 
• Ditch Your Inner Critic Now 

Lindz’s Bio: Lindz McLeod (she/they) is a queer Scottish writer whose short work has been published by Apex, Catapult, DIVA, Nightmare, and many more. Her longer work includes the award-winning short story collection TURDUCKEN, as well as books including THE UNLIKELY PURSUIT OF MARY BENNET, THE MISEDUCATION OF CAROLINE BINGLEY, and craft anthology AN HONOUR AND A PRIVILEGE. Her work has been taught in schools and universities, turned into avant-garde opera and animation, and optioned for television. She is currently in her final year of a PhD in Creative Writing. You can find Lindz waxing lyrical about books, cats, and her film podcast, Cinema Worms, on Bluesky at @lindzmcleod, Instagram @lindz.mcleod, and examples of her work can be found on www.lindzmcleod.co.uk

Connect with Lindz: 

• Website: https://lindzmcleod.co.uk/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindz.mcleod/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lindsey.mcleod.90

Connect with your host, Lisa:

Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/

Website: https://lisacooperellison.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisacooperellison/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UColPDzpoQlVktIv7-f7ObRg

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisacooperellison/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-cooper-ellison-b5483840/ 

Produced by Espresso Podcast Production: https://www.espressopodcastproduction.com

Visit https://lisacooperellison.com/yourdesign/ and use promo code RESILIENCE to get 30% off your foundational report.

Visit https://lisacooperellison.com/yourdesign/ and use promo code RESILIENCE to get 30% off your foundational report.

Building Better Memoir Scenes: https://janefriedman.com/building-better-memoir-scenes-with-lisa-cooper-ellison/

Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/
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About this episode: Have you ever said yes to something that felt like destiny, only to realize later it took you further from your goals? In this episode, I share a personal story about a writing group experience that taught me one of the most important lessons of my creative life: the difference between people-pleasing and truly following your gut. I break down what people-pleasing actually is, why we do it, and how it shows up in our writing and our lives in ways we don't always recognize, including through the fawning trauma response. Plus, I share the Achilles’ heel question that gets writers into more trouble than almost anything else. If you've ever said yes to something that felt like destiny only to find it took you further from your goals, this episode is for you.

Resources for this Episode: 

• The Fawning Trauma Response with Ingrid Clayton
• Fawning by Ingrid Clayton
• The Gifts of Adversity by Norman Rosenthal
• Get Your Free Human Design Report 
• Register for Build Better Memoir Scenes
• Ditch Your Inner Critic Now 

Episode Highlights

• 03:19 Defining People Pleasing
• 06:46 Fawning Trauma Response
• 12:34 How It Shows Up Writing
• 15:58 Get Clear What You Want
• 18:52 You Should Write Book Trap
• 27:30 Wrap Up And Journal Prompt

Lisa’s Bio: Lisa Cooper Ellison is an author, speaker, trauma-informed writing coach, and host of the Writing Your Resilience podcast. Working at the powerful intersection of storytelling and healing, she blends her writing expertise, clinical training, and soul-centered practices—including Akashic Records work and Human Design—to help writers turn their hardest experiences into art. Her essays—on sibling loss, grief, trauma healing, and the craft of writing—have appeared in The New York Times, HuffPost, and The Loss of a Lifetime: Grieving Siblings Share Stories of Love, Loss, and Hope, among others. 

Visit https://lisacooperellison.com/yourdesign/ and use promo code RESILIENCE to get 30% off your foundational report.

Visit https://lisacooperellison.com/yourdesign/ and use promo code RESILIENCE to get 30% off your foundational report.

Building Better Memoir Scenes: https://janefriedman.com/building-better-memoir-scenes-with-lisa-cooper-ellison/

Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/
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Produced by Espresso Podcast Production

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About this episode: 

With a recent executive order expediting the review of psychedelic drugs like psilocybin, psychedelic therapy is moving from the fringes into the national conversation — and this week's episode couldn't be more timely. Whether you're curious about what psychedelic therapy is, how it works, or whether it's right for you, licensed marriage and family therapist, and certified psychedelic therapist Stacey Simmons is here to answer those questions and more. Even if you never plan to partake, you won't want to miss the practical takeaways Stacey shares that anyone can apply to their own healing journey.

Resources for this Episode: 

• Can You Trust Your Memories with Stacey Simmons
• What If You’re Not Meant to Be the Hero with Stacey Simmons
• The Queen’s Path by Stacey Simmons
• Mushroom Pharmacy: A Practical Guide to Psychedelic Mushrooms by Stacey Simmons
• What Is Holotropic Breathwork
• Serotonin Syndrome 
• The Billionaire, The Psychedelics, and the Best-Selling Memoir 
• Get Your Free Human Design Report 
• Register for Build Better Memoir Scenes
• Ditch Your Inner Critic Now 

Episode Highlights

• 03:08 Mushroom Pharmacy Origins
• 07:41 Psilocybin Set and Setting
• 29:46 Integration That Sticks
• 36:12 Who Should Avoid Psychedelics
• 41:46 Memory Truth And Closing

Stacey’s Bio: Stacey Simmons is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Certified Psychedelic Therapist. She is a clinical supervisor at Hope Therapy Center in Burbank, California. Her practice focuses on creative professionals, where she works primarily with writers, directors, actors, and musicians. Her research focuses on creativity, archetypes, psychedelic psychotherapy, neuroscience and consciousness research. She is a volunteer researcher with the Semel Institute of Neuroscience at UCLA, as well as a researcher with the Trance Science Research Institute in Paris, France. She holds a PhD from the University of New Orleans, and a Masters degree from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, California.

Connect with Stacey:  

• Website: https://staceysimmonsphd.com/
• Facebook: @staceysimmonsphd
• Instagram: @staceysimmonsphd
• TikTok: @staceysimmonsphd

Visit https://lisacooperellison.com/yourdesign/ and use promo code RESILIENCE to get 30% off your foundational report.

Visit https://lisacooperellison.com/yourdesign/ and use promo code RESILIENCE to get 30% off your foundational report.

Building Better Memoir Scenes: https://janefriedman.com/building-better-memoir-scenes-with-lisa-cooper-ellison/

Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/
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Building an author platform can feel overwhelming, especially when you're doing it alone, on a budget, and wondering if any of it is actually working. In this episode, I sit down with author and adoptee advocate Patricia Knight Meyer to explore a Human Design approach to platform-building that’s rooted in intuition, authentic connection, and knowing where to focus your energy. If you've ever felt like you're grinding away at your platform with nothing to show for it, this one's for you.

Episode Highlights

• 05:42 The Hidden Reality of Being an Adoptee
• 15:54 The Pressure to Build a Platform (and What It Cost Her)
• 21:16 The Human Design Reading Neither of Us Expected
• 30:55 Saying Yes Before Feeling Ready
• 41:03 Why Forcing Visibility Was Never the Answer

Resources for this Episode: 

• Build an Author Platform that Aligns with Your Design and Nervous System
• Get Your Free Human Design Report 
• Register for Building Better Memoir Scenes
• Ditch Your Inner Critic Now 

Patricia’s Bio: Patricia Knight Meyer is a journalist, adoption reform advocate, and Baby Scoop Era adoptee. Born in 1970 and trafficked on the black market via a shady attorney who later extorted her parents with the threat of taking her back, she obtained her first legal birth certificate at age 47—a journey she chronicles in her memoir WONDERLAND: Memoir of a Black-Market Baby (Unsolicited Press, November 2026). She founded the adoption blog My Adopted Life and YAYDNA Genetic Greeting Cards, serves on the board of the National Association of Adoptees and Parents (NAAP), hosts the 3rd Friday NAAP Happy Hour, is a sought-after speaker on adoption reform and adoptee rights, and leads memoir writing workshops.

Connect with Patricia:  

• Instagram: @somebodys_baby and @patriciaknightmeyer
• Facebook: @patriciaknightmeyer and @wonderlandthememoir
• TikTok: @myadoptedlife
• BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/myadoptedlife.bsky.social
• Substack: https://substack.com/@myadoptedlife
• Medium: https://medium.com/@myadoptedlife

Visit https://lisacooperellison.com/yourdesign/ and use promo code RESILIENCE to get 30% off your foundational report.

Visit https://lisacooperellison.com/yourdesign/ and use promo code RESILIENCE to get 30% off your foundational report.

Building Better Memoir Scenes: https://janefriedman.com/building-better-memoir-scenes-with-lisa-cooper-ellison/

Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/
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Author platform doesn't have to mean performing for an algorithm or chasing followers who don't care about your work. In this episode, I break down what an author platform actually is, why the "magic formula" myth keeps so many writers stuck, and how to build a platform that grows alongside your nervous system–not against it. If you've ever felt like the standard advice just isn't made for you, I want you to know — you're right. There is a way that’s better for you. 

Episode Highlights:

• 06:03 The Biggest Author Platform Myths
• 10:03 What Does “Enough” Actually Look Like?
• 13:01 Why Engagement Matters More Than Followers
• 25:26 The Truth About Going Viral
• 30:36 Building an Author Platform Without Burning Out

Resources for this Episode: 

• My Brother Had Mental Health Issues and Committed an Awful Crime. But I Love Him. 
• Building a Writing Career from Trauma with Tia Levings
• How Recovery Supports Memoir Writing and Book Marketing Tips with Laura Cathcart Robbins
• Building A Writing Career without Social Media with Amelia Hruby
• Build an Author Platform that Aligns with Your Design and Nervous System
• Get Your Free Human Design Report 
• Ditch Your Inner Critic Now 

Lisa’s Bio: Lisa Cooper Ellison is an author, speaker, trauma-informed writing coach, and host of the Writing Your Resilience podcast. Working at the powerful intersection of storytelling and healing, she blends her writing expertise, clinical training, and soul-centered practices—including Akashic Records work and Human Design—to help writers turn their hardest experiences into art. Her essays—on sibling loss, grief, trauma healing, and the craft of writing—have appeared in The New York Times, HuffPost, and The Loss of a Lifetime: Grieving Siblings Share Stories of Love, Loss, and Hope, among others.

Connect with your host, Lisa:

Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/

Website: https://lisacooperellison.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisacooperellison/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UColPDzpoQlVktIv7-f7ObRg

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisacooperellison/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-cooper-ellison-b5483840/ 

Produced by Espresso Podcast Production: https://www.espressopodcastproduction.com

Visit https://lisacooperellison.com/yourdesign/ and use promo code RESILIENCE to get 30% off your foundational report.

Visit https://lisacooperellison.com/yourdesign/ and use promo code RESILIENCE to get 30% off your foundational report.

Building Better Memoir Scenes: https://janefriedman.com/building-better-memoir-scenes-with-lisa-cooper-ellison/

Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/
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What does it really take to build a writing career out of your hardest story and stay whole while doing it? In this episode, I sit down with author Tia Levings, whose memoir A Well-Trained Wife has become an increasingly timely reckoning with religious trauma, patriarchy, and survival. With her second book I Belong to Me just hitting shelves, Tia pulls back the curtain on navigating back-to-back book launches, genre-hopping with intention, and growing a 110,000-follower platform without burning out or exploiting your own pain. If you've ever wondered how to turn a cooked story into a sustainable career, this conversation is for you.

Episode Highlights:

• 05:23 When Your Story Becomes the Work
• 13:11 The Cost of Visibility and Finding Regulation
• 24:25 Where Memoir and Self-Help Meet
• 35:12 Doing the Work Without Getting Stuck in It

Resources for this Episode: 

• Order I Belong To Me
• Get Your Free Human Design Report 
• Register for Build an Author Platform that Aligns with Your Design and Nervous System
• Ditch Your Inner Critic Now 

Tia’s Bio: Tia Levings is The New York Times Bestselling author of A Well-Trained Wife, her memoir of escape from Christian Patriarchy. She writes about the realities of religious trauma, evangelical patriarchy, and the Trad wife life, decoding the fundamentalist influences in our news and culture. Her work and quotes have appeared in Teen Vogue, Salon, Newsweek, and the HuffingtonPost. She also appeared in the hit Amazon docu-series, Shiny Happy People. Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, she is mom to four incredible adults and likes to travel, hike, paint, and daydream. Find her on social media @TiaLevingsWriter. Her second book, I Belong to Me, releases May 5, 2026.

Connect with Tia: 

• Read Tia Levings, Writer on Substack]
• Instagram: ⁠@tialevingswriter⁠⁠⁠
• TikTok: @tialevingswriter⁠⁠

Visit https://lisacooperellison.com/yourdesign/ and use promo code RESILIENCE to get 30% off your foundational report.

Visit https://lisacooperellison.com/yourdesign/ and use promo code RESILIENCE to get 30% off your foundational report.

Building Better Memoir Scenes: https://janefriedman.com/building-better-memoir-scenes-with-lisa-cooper-ellison/

Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/
Website | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook | LinkedIn

Produced by Espresso Podcast Production