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

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Six years ago, Amy Fish and I sat at a table in a hotel ballroom during the HippoCamp Writing Conference when she told me about her latest book idea. As soon as I heard about it, I said, go write that book. In this episode, we celebrate both the journey and the final version of her latest nonfiction book, One in Six Million. Join us as Amy shares how she maintained her motivation through a six-year writing process, how she kept track of her extensive research, how she found the right tone and voice for this book, and what she's currently trusting in. 

Episode Highlights

• 2:30: Finding the Right Voice for Your Book
• 2:54: Writing Someone Else’s Story
• 5:47: Managing Your Research
• 12:25: Maintaining Your Motivation Over the Long Haul
• 15:40: Nurturing Your Patience
• 20:07: Incorporating Multiple Facts Into the Same Sentence
• 23:24: Designing Your Book’s Cover
• 28:17: Trusting Yourself and the Process

Resources Mentioned During this Episode: 

• INTERVIEW: Amy Fish, Author of One In Six Million
• Honeymoon Sneakers by Amy Fish
• How to Navigate the Business of Writing and Publishing: Expert Advice from Jane Friedman 

Amy’s Bio: Amy Fish is the author of One in Six Million: The Baby by the Roadside and the Man Who Retraced a Holocaust Survivor's Lost Identity and I Wanted Fries with That: How to Ask for What You Want and Get What You Need. She specializes in humor writing and memoir and teaches writing workshops at the Quebec Writing Federation, Hippocamp Conference for Creative Non-Fiction and her local library.  Amy's work has been published in Writer's Digest, Canadian Traveler, haikuniverse micropoetry journal, among others.

Connect with Amy:  

• Website: www.amyfishwrites.com
• Social Media: @amyfishwrites
• Substack: https://persistenceforwriters.substack.com/

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When was the last time you examined your relationship to social media? During this week’s episode, I speak with Amelia Hruby, host of the Off the Grid podcast, a show that helps business owners and creatives leave social media without losing customers or readers. Discover what led her to leave Instagram, how her post-Instagram life has changed, and how tips from her Leaving Social Media Toolkit can enhance your author platform regardless of your relationship to social media. Plus, you’ll learn some easy, actionable SEO tips that will quickly make you more discoverable.  

Episode Highlights

• 3:13: Considering Your Relationship with Social Media
• 5:10: Tips for Getting Off Social Media
• 10:25: The Importance of Your Website’s SEO
• 16:11: Marketing as Worldbuilding and Understanding Your Reader
• 19:20: The Yin and Yang of Leaving Social Media
• 31:46: Visibility versus Being Seen 
• 40:00: Marketing a Book Without Social Media 

Resources Mentioned During this Episode: 

• Amelia’s Toolkit for Leaving Social Media 
• How Recovery Supports Memoir Writing and Book Marketing Tips with Laura Cathcart Robbins
• Glennon Doyle’s Social Media Plan with Amelia Hruby
• The Art of Thriving Online by Amelia Knott 
• How to Cultivate Creative Resilience with Pascale Coté 

Amelia’s Bio: Amelia Hruby is a feminist writer, podcaster and producer with a PhD in philosophy. She is the founder of Softer Sounds, a feminist podcast studio for entrepreneurs and creatives. And she’s the host of Off the Grid, a podcast about leaving social media without losing all your clients. On the show, she interviews business leaders and former influencers, and shares stories, strategies and experiments for growing your business with radical generosity and energetic sovereignty.

Connect with Amelia: 

• https://www.ameliahruby.com/
• https://offthegrid.fun/
• https://www.softersounds.studio/

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/

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In today’s episode, join me and Jennifer Selig as we explore how memoir writing can be a powerful tool for healing and self-discovery. Learn how Jennifer’s unique blend of depth psychology and storytelling offers a fresh perspective on the writing process, and find out how her alchemical stages of change and equations for transformation can help you navigate the emotional terrain of your memoir.  

Episode Highlights

• 4:30:  Depth Psychology and the Writing Cure
• 12:15:  Understanding Archetypes
• 17:28: The Three Stages of Transformation 
• 25:30 The Four Equations of Transformation 
• 29:00 The Issue of Catharsis 
• 34:00 The Power of Attention

Resources for this Episode:

• “'Nobody Sees a Flower, Really, It Is So Small': Extolling the Ethic of Attention” by Jennifer Leigh Selig 
• “A Question of Catharsis” by Debra Gwartney

Jennifer’s Bio: Jennifer Leigh Selig is an LBGTQ+ teacher, international speaker, book publisher, and author whose writing and teaching career spans four decades. She’s the author of dozens of newspaper articles, book reviews, essays, journal articles, short stories, screenplays, and books, including the Nautilus Gold award-winning book Deep Creativity: Seven Ways to Spark Your Creative Spirit, and her latest book, Deep Memoir: An Archetypal Approach to Deepen Your Story and Broaden Its Appeal.

Connect with Jennifer: 

Website: www.jenniferleighselig.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.selig.1

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

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferleighselig/

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 happens when a story won’t stay linear—when your life fractures in ways that defy neat beginnings, middles, and ends?

In this episode of Writing Your Resilience, I sit down with essayist, professor, and former bookshop owner Kelly McMasters, author of The Leaving Season: A Memoir-in-Essays. From leaving marriages to landscapes, identities to illusions, Kelly’s memoir is a brilliant meditation on grief, desire, and the elastic form of the essay itself.

We talk about what it means to write honestly into complexity—how a false childhood memory cracked open the heart of a story, why the essay form became her truest vehicle, and the questions that shape her work long after the final line is written.

Episode Highlights

• 2:40: Essays versus Straight Forward Narratives
• 9:39: The Power of Three Scenes
• 16:45: Weaving Themes Into Your Essay Collection 
• 22:09: Navigating Flashbacks
• 27:13: Getting to the Truth 
• 36:00 Caring for Your Shame

Resources Mentioned During this Episode: 

• What Squirrels Taught Me About Life After Divorce
• In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
• Michael Foucault’s Theory of Heterotopia
• The Truth About Unringing Phones by Lara Lillibridge
• Turn Your Short Pieces Into a Finished Nonfiction Book by Lara Lillibridge
• The Biggest Memoir Mistake: When Too Much Backstory Derails Your Narrative

Kelly’s Bio: Kelly McMasters is an essayist, professor, mother, and former bookshop owner. She is the author of the The Leaving Season: A Memoir-in-Essays (WW Norton) and co-editor of the ABA national bestseller Wanting: Women Writing About Desire (Catapult). Her books have been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, award-winning podcasts including The Sh*t No One Tells You About Writing, and CSPAN’s Book TV in an episode on Myths of the American Dream

Her essays, reviews, and articles have appeared in The Atlantic, Literary Hub, The New York Times, Oprah Daily, The Rumpus, and Virginia Quarterly Review, among others. She currently runs The Magpie Substack and teaches at Hofstra University in New York.

Connect with Kelly: 

• Website: https://www.kellymcmasters.com/
• Instagram: @kelly_mc_masters
• Substack: https://kellymcmasters.substack.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:
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What makes you weird? Is it something that fills you with pride or something you try to hide, a secret you’re constantly working to cover up? In today’s episode, I’m beyond excited to sit down with the brilliant author, Allison Landa, whose memoir Bearded Lady takes us on a raw and transformative journey of self-acceptance, societal judgment, and the complex relationship we have with both our inner and outer weirdness. Whether you’re a writer or simply someone who wants to connect with a compelling story of resilience and identity, this conversation will inspire and resonate with you. 

Episode Highlights

• 1:00: The Challenges of Being Weird
• 3:17: How Weirdness Both Unites and Separates Us
• 5:11: Owning Your Story
• 9:36: Overworking Your Story Dough 
• 11:45: The Shame of Being Seen and Not Seen
• 17:50: Building Rounded Characters 
• 23:22: Navigating Time in Memoir
• 29:48: How Writing Changes Your Point of View 
• 32:50: Dealing with Reader Responses
• 38:58: Building Your Resilience 

Resources for this Episode: 

• Cold Crematorium: Reporting from the Land of Auschwitz by Deckle Edge
• The Fact of a Body by Alex Marzano Lesnevich 
• “The Biggest Memoir Mistake: When Too Much Backstory Derails Your Narrative” by Lisa Cooper Ellison
• “3 Ways to Experiment with Memoir Structure to Improve Your Narrative Arc” by Lisa Cooper Ellison

Allison’s Bio: Allison Landa is the author of Bearded Lady, an exploration of what makes you feel weird in the world. Her work has been featured in Business Insider, Parents Magazine, HuffPost, The Guardian US, and The Washington Post, among other venues. She has been awarded artist residencies at MacDowell, WordSpace, Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow. 

Connect

• Facebook: @matzohbrei
• Instagram: @adlanda
• Threads: @ adlanda
• Website: www.allisonlanda.com 
• Personal Blog: www.allisonlanda.blogspot.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:
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How do you tell a story of resistance that invites others in? Through the power of your metaphors—something today’s guest, Eiren Caffall has truly mastered. During today’s conversation, we explore how chronic illness and a love for nature shaped Eiren’s memoir The Mourner’s Bestiary, what it means two books in tandem (and release them just months apart), and how crafting metaphor-rich, layered narratives can become both an act of resistance and devotion. It’s time to grab your pen, open your heart, and get ready to learn how collaboration can enhance your writing and how a single essay can become the hinge that holds an entire book together.

Episode Highlights

• 4:45: The Power of Juxtaposition 
• 7:50:  Metaphor as a Vehicle for Change 
• 15:30: Structuring a Circular Story 
• 20:33: Writing as a Collaborative Process
• 24:08: Teaching Patience
• 30:07 Red Tides and Amazing Editors 

Resources for this Episode: 

• Short Film: Becoming Ocean
• “Red Tides” by Eiren Caffall
• Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative by Jane Allison 
• Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
• 3 Ways to Experiment with Memoir Structure to Improve Your Narrative Arc by Lisa Cooper Ellison
• INTERVIEW: Eiren Caffall, Author of The Mourner’s Bestiary by Amy Eaton

Eiren’s Bio: EIREN CAFFALL is a writer and musician. Her work on loss, oceans, and extinction has appeared in Orion, Writer’s Digest, Guernica, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Literary Hub, Al Jazeera, The Rumpus, and the anthology Elementals: Volume IV. Fire, (The Center for Humans and Nature, 2024). She received a 2023 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant, a Social Justice News Nexus fellowship, and residencies at the Banff Centre, Millay Colony, Hedgebrook, and Ragdale. Her books include her memoir The Mourner’s Bestiary (Row House Publishing, 2024) and her novel All the Water in the World (St. Martin’s Press, 2025).

Connect with Eiren

• Website: www.eirencaffall.com
• Instagram: @eirencaffall 
• Blue Sky: @eirencaffall.bsky.social

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:
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Have you ever felt like your creativity isn’t enough or that your artistic endeavors are secondary to everything on your to-do list? Have you tried all the strategies only to find yourself struggling with this yet again? Join me and my client, Carolyn Fallert, as we explore the impact of familial and cultural socializations and how strategies aren’t enough. You need to understand yourself. Get ready to discover the importance of understanding your unique operating system and how it should determine the strategies you use.  

Episode Highlights

• 1:40 The Number One Trick for Getting Unstuck
• 6:40 Protecting Time and Your Creative Energy 
• 7:31 Understanding Your Nature 
• 17:20 Overcoming Your Conditioning
• 22:50 Identifying Your Why

Resources for this Episode: 

• We Need Your Art by Amie McNee
• What is Human Design? 
• What are the nine Enneagram types?
• The True Meaning of Success and the Multiple Paths to Publishing Your Book with Courtney Maum
• The Art of Intimacy: Crafting Connections in Memoir and Essay with Lilly Dancyger

Carolyn’s Bio: Carolyn Fallert is a writer with over four years of dedicated study and practice in creative nonfiction. In 2024, Kenyon Review selected Carolyn for their Residential Writers' Workshop. Her first published essay in Spank the Carp received the highest reader vote for its issue. Before her writing career, Carolyn consulted for Fortune 500 companies and the Gates Foundation. She has an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MPA-ID (Master of Public Administration in International Development) from Harvard Kennedy School. Carolyn is writing a memoir about learning self-defense as a survivor of sexual assault.

Connect with Carolyn

• Instagram: @carolynfallert
• Substack: https://yourpowers.substack.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.

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 Writers, if you've ever wondered how to navigate the ever-changing world of writing and publishing, then you are in for a treat. Jane Friedman, who has spent nearly 25 years in the book publishing industry is here today to talk about the second edition of her groundbreaking book, “The Business of Being a Writer.” Join us as we explore the most important part of the business of being a writer: the mindset writers need to cultivate to build a viable writing career. Get ready to learn the secrets to handling rejection, thinking not just about a book, but about your writing career, and Jane's number one tool for creating sustainability over the long haul.

Episode Highlights:

• 2:20: The Benefits of Seeing Writing as a Business
• 4:30: Writing a Second Edition
• 6:50: Writing with Foresight
• 11:54: Jane’s Evolving Mindset
• 16:20: Mindset Considerations
• 24:36: Navigating Setbacks
• 30:15 The Power of Boundaries 

Resources Mentioned During this Episode: 

• Write is a Verb by Bill O’Hanlon
• The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander
• My Latest Rejection Story by Jane Friedman
• The Attention Economy Substack
• Writing with Hunger: Mindset, Goals, and The Publishing Shift

Jane’s Bio: Jane Friedman has spent nearly 25 years working in the book publishing industry, with a focus on author education and trend reporting. Her latest book is THE BUSINESS OF BEING A WRITER, SECOND EDITION (The University of Chicago Press), which received a starred review from Library Journal. In addition to serving on grant panels for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Creative Work Fund, she works with organizations such as The Authors Guild to bring transparency to the business of publishing.

Connect with Jane: 

• https://janefriedman.com
• https://youtube.com/@janefriedman
• https://linkedin.com/in/janefriedman

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:
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Join me and editor extraordinaire Lilly Dancyger as we discuss her latest book, First Love, an intimate, electric collection of essays on friendship, identity, and what it means to grow into yourself in community. During our conversation, Lilly shares her sharp insights on the craft of memoir, why she bristles at the idea of writing as catharsis, and how she pushes back against the dead girl trope by keeping her cousin Sabina fully alive on the page. If you’ve ever wondered how to turn memory into art without falling into the trap of polishing your pain, this one’s for you.

Episode Highlights

• 3:36: The Problem of Connecting Memoir with Catharsis
• 10:12: Essays as a Space for Play and Variation
• 13:04: Showing Intimacy on the Page
• 21:12: Zooming In and Zooming Out
• 27:00: Pushing Against the Dead Girl Trope
• 33:44: Strategies for Cleansing Your Creative Palette 

Resources for this Episode: 

• Canceling My Book Deal Was the Best Career Move I’ve Ever Made” by Lilly Dancyger
• “Why Your Memoir Won’t Sell” by Jane Friedman
• More Than True Crime with Sarah Perry 

Lilly’s Bio: Lilly Dancyger is the author of First Love: Essays on Friendship, and Negative Space. Her work has been published by The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Playboy, and Rolling Stone, among others, and she writes the Substack newsletter The Word Cave. Dancyger lives in New York City, and teaches creative nonfiction in the MFA programs at Columbia University and Randolph College.

Connect with Lilly: 

• Website: https://www.lillydancyger.com/
• Substack: https://substack.com/@lillydancyger
• Blue Sky: @lillydancyger.bsky.social
• Instagram: @lillydancyger on Instagram

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:
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Whether we like it or not, writers are content creators. And one of the biggest struggles I watch writers face is understanding their audience—what they want, what they need, and how to authentically engage with them. In this episode, podcast coach, content strategist, and host of the award-winning The Proffitt Podcast, Krystal Proffitt shares valuable insights on how writers can navigate this challenge and build meaningful relationships with their readers. If you're a writer looking to expand your platform and reach, this episode is for you. Let’s dive in!

Episode Highlights

• 2:22: Maintaining An Attitude of Gratitude During Busy Seasons 
• 4:08: Building Authentic Audience Engagement 
• 6:32: Humor Is Your Secret Weapon 
• 8:05: Tailoring Your Content to Your Platform
• 13:32: The Magic of Taking Readers Behind the Scenes
• 15:09 The Power of Audience Surveys
• 20:32: How Asking Closed Questions Gets Better Results
• 27:35: Building Your Launch Squad

Resources Mentioned During this Episode: 

• 
  Start a Binge Worthy Podcast: A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating a Podcast Your Audience Craves by Krystal Proffitt
• How to Survey Your Audience for Feedback Content Ideas
• Audience Engagement and Feedback on Your Content
• Podcasters Connect
• Embracing the Full Catastrophe: Writing About Loss and Finding Belonging with Casey Mulligan Walsh
• The Caregiver Cup with Cathy VandenHuevel

Krystal’s Bio: Krystal Proffitt is a Podcast Coach, Content Strategist, and host of the award-winning show The Proffitt Podcast. She specializes in helping content creators create with confidence. Having published over 1,450 podcast episodes, she knows what it takes to keep creating year after year.

Krystal teaches content strategy, repurposing, branding, and marketing through her podcast, digital courses, and YouTube channel dedicated to content creation. She has also appeared as a Content Expert for brands like Podcast Movement, Buzzsprout, Ramsey Solutions, Amy Porterfield, and Streamyard.

Connect with Krystal: 

• Website: https://krystalproffitt.com/
• Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/krystalproffitttx/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@KrystalProffitt/

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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