Claim OwnershipWriting Your Resilience: Building Resilience, Embracing Trauma and Healing Through Writing
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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
Sign Up For My Writing Your Resilience Newsletter and Get Your Free Copy of Write More, Fret Less: Five Brain Hacks that Will Supercharge Your Productivity, Creativity, and Confidence: https://lisacooperellison.com/newsletter-subscribe/
87 Episodes
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Send us a text If you’re writing about a medical drama or other high-intensity journey involving another person, how do you write about these events without swallowing your story of transformation? What would you do if your agent’s feedback to you was “more chicken?” That’s exactly what parent advocate Kristin Jarvis Adams’s agent said after reading a draft of her memoir, The Chicken Who Saved Us. Join us as we explore the challenges of turning an animal into a primary character in your memoi...
Send us a text November is Worldwide Bereaved Siblings Month, yet most siblings grieve alone. They’re told to be strong for their parents, or they get subtle, and, sometimes not so subtle, cues to move on. Yet the loss of a sibling is the loss of a lifetime, because it’s a relationship we expect we’ll have for most of our lives. Join me, Alyson Shelton, and Lynn Shattuck as we remember our brothers and talk about sibling loss, the challenges of living with disenfranchised grief, and how...
Send us a text Many survivors of sexual abuse and assault silently carry questions about what happened to them. Am I truly a victim? Should I report what happened? If so, what are the steps? How do I disclose this to family members? Join me and Cheyenne Wilson, sexual assault advocate and author of We Are the Evidence, as we explore the power of breaking the silence around your experience, the importance of healing in community, and how to find the resources that are right for you. Plu...
Send us a text Join me and Pushcart Nominee, TedX Speaker, and multi-passionate creative, Acamea Deadwiler, as we talk about normalized violence, how our attachment styles can influence the way we approach our memoirs, and the importance of connecting with your inner compass. During our conversation, you’ll also learn what transcendental meditation is and how Acamea used her TM practice while writing her memoir, Daddy’s Little Stranger, Acamea’s bio: Acamea Deadwiler is a Pushcart Prize nom...
Send us a text Join me and Debbie Weiss, author of the memoir Available As Is, as we discuss how multiple major losses impact the way we see ourselves and the world, the challenges of dating when you’re over fifty, and the most important thing new writers should consider when starting a book. Debbie’s Bio: Debbie Weiss is the author of the award-winning memoir “Available As Is: A Midlife Widow’s Search for Love” about creating a new life after the loss of her husband and high scho...
Send us a text 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 of One Bad Mother as we explore the challenges of being vulnerable on the page, the realities of modern motherhood no one wants to talk about, and a key book-launch lesson every author needs to know. Resources Mentioned During This...
Send us a text 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 Girlish, Mama, Mama, Only Mama, and The Truth of Unringing Phones, as we explore the impact of estrangement on the memoir writing process, how to protect your heart as you write about painful experiences, the power of publishing your story, as wel...
Send us a text 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 Kirby Moore as we explore how the nervous system works and how to care for it and your writing life. Plus Kirby will teach you a powerful tool you can use right now to calm your nervous system. While you can listen to this on any platform,...
Send us a text 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 of the memoir Starry Field, Margaret Juhae Lee, as we explore the impacts of intergenerational trauma on our identity, the challenges of writing a researched memoir, staying motivated over the long haul, and the problem of getting an age...
Send us a text 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 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. Courtney’s Bio: Courtney is the author of five books, including the groundbreaking pu...
Send us a text TW: Mention of Sexual Assault In 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 hard memories.Three reasons why we struggle to write about feelings The impact trauma has on our memories and emotions Writing speculative scenes Writing around your toughest experiences The benefit of studying other writers Resources A...
Send us a text 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 story really begin and how do I gracefully insert my wisdom into scenes that involve very young narrators? Episode Highlights 2:25 Exploring the Scope of Your Book3:15 Feedback on the Childhood Voice5:43 Are You Starting in the Right Place7...
Send us a text Sue William Silverman joins the Writing Your Resilience Podcast to talk about the power of creative nonfiction, how to use metaphor, masks, and language to harness its power, and how this work can lead to personal growth. As you listen along, here are a few questions to ponder: Which of your stories yearn to be told? How do you uncover their many emotional truths? What do those truths look like on the page and sound like when you read them out loud? Sue’s Bio: ...
Send us a text Ingrid Clayton joins the Writing Your Resilience podcast to talk about Complex PTSD, how narcissistic abuse leads to self-gaslighting, its impact on the writing process, and how Ingrid confronted these experiences while writing her memoir Believing Me. Here’s a list of questions to ponder as you follow along: Have you ever doubted your own experiences? Have you ever felt like if you just did the right thing, you’d be good enough and the problems in your relationships woul...
Send us a text Welcome to season two of the Writing Your Resilience Podcast! After celebrating season one’s fantastic interviews, I decided to kick things off right by having a fireside-style chat with you about a topic that keeps coming up: Forgiveness. Whether we’re on a healing journey or writing the tough stuff, forgiveness can be a complicated thing to grasp and work through. In this episode, I talk about what forgiveness is, what the process looks like, and how it’s related ...
Send us a text Welcome to the last episode of Season 1! This season has been amazing, and I am so grateful for all the listeners who return week after week to learn from my featured guests. After weeks of asking other writers questions, I decided to invite some of the writers I work with onto the podcast to ask me questions! In this episode, you’ll first meet Sara Pam Neufeld, a yoga teacher and former journalist who’s working to complete the first full draft of her memoir about her que...
Send us a text Tia Levings joins the Writing Your Resilience Podcast to discuss her experience as a debut author, writing to heal without retraumatizing yourself, the gaslighting that happens in religion, and getting things off your chest and onto the page to educate others with your writing. As you listen to this episode, consider the following questions: What would you need to do to claim your story? What would tell you it has legs? What would you need to do to see it fro...
Send us a text Brett Will Taylor joins the Writing Your Resilience Podcast to discuss vulnerability, family stories, shamanism, and the importance of leaning into the mystery. As you listen to this episode, consider the following questions: What are the family stories that you are living from? Who are your people and who or what do you consider to be your guides? How do you grapple with the things that no longer serve you? How does this work and the work of being present in life help yo...
Send us a text Katie Rose Guest Pryal joins the Writing Your Resilience Podcast to take a deep dive into what neurodiversity is and how it impacts writers. Here are a few questions to ponder as you listen to this episode: What do you know about neurodiversity? Do you consider yourself to be neurodivergent? If you are, how does that impact the way you set up your writing life, what you write about, and how you see the world? Katie Rose Guest Pryal, J.D., Ph.D., is a bipolar-autistic author, ke...
Send us a text Athena Dixon joins the Writing Your Resilience Podcast to discuss the multiple facets of loneliness, how to decide what is for you and what is for the public, and how to create your own definition of success. Here are a few questions to ponder as you listen to this episode: How do you define loneliness? How did the pandemic impact the way that you define and experienced it? What does success look like for you? What is one positive association you have with being alone? Bo...
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