Writing Your Resilience: Building Resilience, Embracing Trauma and Healing Through Writing
The Writing Your Resilience Podcast is for anyone who wants to use the writing process to flip the script on the stories they’ve been telling themselves, because when we tell better stories about ourselves, we live better lives.
Every Thursday, host Lisa Cooper Ellison, an author, speaker, trauma-informed writing coach, and trauma survivor diagnosed with complex PTSD, interviews writers of tough, true stories, people who've developed incredible grit, and professionals in the field of psychology and healing who've studied resilience.
Over the past 7 years Lisa has taught writers how to write their resilience. Each time her clients and students have confronted the stories that no longer serve them, they’ve felt a little safer, become a little braver, and revealed more of their true selves. Now, with this podcast, she is creating a space for you to do this work too.
Equal parts instruction, motivation, and helpful guide, Writing Your Resilience is an opportunity for you to join a community of writers and professionals doing the work that helps us cultivate our authenticity and creativity.
More about Lisa Cooper Ellison: https://lisacooperellison.com
Get Your Free Ditch Your Inner Critic masterclass—your shortcut to a confident, S.H.I.F.T.ed mindset: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/
Writing Your Resilience: Building Resilience, Embracing Trauma and Healing Through Writing
The Art of Intimacy Summer Rewind: Crafting Connection in Memoir and Essay with Lilly Dancyger
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Join me and editor extraordinaire Lilly Dancyger for this summer rewind episode where 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
- Sign up for Find and Sharpen Your Memoir’s Voice
- Get Your Free Human Design Report
- Ditch Your Inner Critic Now
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
Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Write More, Fret Less: https://lisacooperellison.com/newsletter-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
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
