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/
Episodes
141 episodes
The Challenges of Being Vulnerable On the Page with Megan Williams
What would you do if an experience you’d long dreamed of was not only not what it’s cracked up to be, but at times miserable? Would you own up to the challenges or pretend it’s as great as you imagined Join me and Megan Williams, author o...
Estrangement, Dementia, and the Fractured Memoir with Lara Lillibridge
If you have a complicated relationship with someone, how do you write about them? Should you craft a linear memoir that reads more like a journey or write something that mirrors your experience? Join me and Lara Lillibridge, author of Girli...
Caring for Your Nervous System and Creativity with Somatic Experiencing Practitioner Kirby Moore
Writing can be a powerful tool for healing, but when writing the tough stuff, it’s easy to get triggered and relive the experiences you’re writing about. If you’re wondering what to do about this, join me and somatic experiencing practitioner K...
Writing about Intergenerational Trauma with with Margaret Juhae Lee
Like it or not, our family history shapes who we are. What if lost portions of your history are holding you back? What lengths would you go to recover this history, understand it, and then turn your discoveries into a memoir? Join me and author...
The True Meaning of Success and The Multiple Paths to Publishing Your Book with Courtney Maum
What does it take to become a professional writer with a published book? More importantly, what does it take to become a happy writer? Join multi-genre writer and book coach Courtney Maum and me as we discuss writer mental health, the key ingre...
Is It Self-Protection or Self-Sabotage: Why Tough Stories Cause Writer's Block
Have you ever worked on a tough story only to hear a voice in your head say maybe you’re not good enough, or maybe this isn't the project for you? How do you know if it’s self-sabotage or a wise part of you that’s trying to get your attention? ...
Strategies for Navigating Traumatic Memories In Your Memoir
TW: Mention of Sexual AssaultIn this episode, you’ll hear from Deborah Svec-Carstens, a writer working on a memoir that details her journey of healing after trauma.In this episode:Writing about trauma and recounting ha...
The Challenges of Writing Coming-of-Age Memoirs
This week, you'll hear from Laila Rall, a writer working on a memoir about her chaotic, bicultural childhood with an unstable mother. We will explore two of the biggest challenges writers of coming-of-age memories grapple with: when does my sto...
The Dark Side of Publishing: Why It's So Hard for Trauma Survivors
This week, you will hear from Laurie Riedman, a memoirist who wrote Diamonds in the Dirt: Stories from a Junkyard Girl, a collection of short pieces that mirror the fractured memories she built while growing up in a world filled with d...
Does What I Am Writing Really Matter?
This week, you'll hear from Amanda Creasey, an outdoors writer and novelist, as we explore the age-old existential question: does what we are working on matter? In this episode, you will hear Amanda vulnerably share the frustration and di...
How to Tell My Story Without Sounding Like I’m Playing the Victim
This week, you will hear from Wendy Hawkes, an emerging writer working on a coming-of-middle-age memoir about how she survived category 5 Hurricane Dorian, a storm whose intensity was due to climate change, and how this experience taught her to...
How Can I Braid My Life Story With My Deceased Partner’s?
This week, you’ll hear from Meredith Master, a writer working on her memoir who is deciding on its structure. In this episode, we discuss writing a braided memoir, writing with a disability, telling the story of someone who has passed away, and...
Should I Honor Their Privacy or Break the Silence by Publishing My Memoir?
Have you ever felt the need to write your story and share it with others? What if you believed breaking the silence would heal you, but family members want you to keep certain stories private? Could you find a way to respect their wishes while ...
Is My Book Ready for Beta Readers?
Before you send your book to beta readers, listen to this episode!In it, you’ll meet Melissa Macomber, another Camp Structure alumni who’s working on her memoir. During this episode, we explore how to know when your book is ready for bet...
How to Return to Your Memoir After Loss and How to Navigate Your Author Platform as a Trauma Survivor
This week, you’ll hear from Camp Structure alumni Shoshana Koch, a writer and speaker who’s working on a coming-of-age memoir. During this episode, we explore the challenges trauma survivors face when building an author platform, how to deal ...
Writing that Gets Noticed with Estelle Erasmus
Welcome to season three of the Writing Your Resilience podcast! During seasons one and two, I interviewed experts and published authors who generously shared their wisdom on writing and healing. We’ll get back to that in season four. But someti...
"How Do You Know When Your Story Is “Finished?” Ask Me Anything with Lisa Cooper Ellison
Welcome to the last episode of Season 2! This second season has been amazing, and I am so grateful for all of the featured guests and all of you listeners. Just as I did last season, I decided to sit behind the microphone and open myself up to ...
It’s Not You: Identifying and Healing from Narcissistic People with Dr. Ramani Durvasula
Dr. Ramani Durvasula, author of It’s Not You: Identifying and Healing from Narcissistic People, shares her insights into narcissism, how narcissistic abuse survivors can heal and get support, and how to care for yourself when writing a...
Addiction, Recovery, and Confronting the Good Mother Myth with Ann Batchelder
Author Ann Batchelder talks about her daughter’s struggle with addiction, their recovery journeys, the myths she had to confront, her struggle with perfectionism, and the writing tips she learned as she was writing her memoir, Craving Sprin...
Writing about Chronic Illness and Crafting the Hybrid Memoir with Jennifer Lunden
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 cu...
How Recovery Supports Memoir Writing and Book Marketing Tips with Laura Cathcart Robbins
Author Laura Cathcart Robbins shares book marketing tips she learned while promoting her memoir Stash: My Life in Hiding, and how recovery helped her cultivate the honesty needed to write her memoir. Laura’s Bio: Laura Cathcart Robb...
Crafting the Personal Essay and Resilient Editing Tips with Andrea Firth
Andrea Firth joins the Writing Your Resilience podcast to talk about what personal essays are, how writers can uncover their essay’s aboutness, and how to develop resilient editing practices. As an added bonus, she also offers writers the...
Heeding Your Inner Voice and Navigating Your Memoir's Dark Night of the Soul with Suzette Mullen
Author and writing coach, Suzette Mullen shares tips for structuring your memoir, navigating the dark night of the soul, living with integrity, and learning to listen to your inner voice. Suzette’s Bio: Suzette Mullen (she/her) is a...
Surviving a Social Media Witch Hunt and Threading a Theme Through Your Memoir with Natalie MacLean
Natalie MacLean joins the Writing Your Resilience podcast to talk about surviving a social media witch hunt, how it impacted her relationship with alcohol, threading a theme through her memoir and marketing your book like a pro. Nat...
Making Meaning and Writing Toward Posttraumatic Growth with Lennie Echterling
Lennie Echterling joins the Writing Your Resilience podcast to talk about the lessons he learned from landmine survivors, the difference between empathy and toxic positivity, the importance of fostering your posttraumatic growth, and how to use...