Sometimes the world feels like too much. Our inboxes are overfilled. Our to-do lists never end. We are bombarded by too many choices, too much information, and an urgency that keeps our nervous systems jacked up to eleven. The desire to stick my head in the sand until the madness ends is palpable.
This sense of powerlessness and overwhelm can make your writing feel pointless. Why craft stories when everything is about to blow up?
I navigate these existential anxieties by writing about them. Peace blooms in my heart as I connect with my emotions and inner knowing. Even when it doesn’t eradicate my anxiety, it allows me to identify one thing I can do.
During the early weeks of the pandemic, my one thing was a mindful writing class that held space for writers as they supported their communities. When calamities occur, my one thing is donating to local aid organizations, like BeLoved Ashville, to ensure survivors’ needs are met. Recently, I participated in letter-writing campaigns, donated money, and voted. Over the weekend, I helped my father vote and assisted a struggling friend.
Each effort is a mere drop in the bucket of things that need to be done. But together, they form a puddle. As puddles connect, a stream forms. Eventually, those streams merge and create a mighty river of collective power.
When we’re part of that river, we bring that energy back to our writing lives. The courage we gain from knowing we did what we could helps us dig deeper, write truer, and courageously build the stories that serve our world.
As a trauma-informed writing coach, I bring you knowledge, tools, and inspiration that help you write stories that ring true. But the mighty river of knowledge we draw from is far bigger than you or me. That’s why I share my monthly roundup of essays I’ve encountered and celebrate the writers among us who are publishing their work and meeting the milestones that inspire us all to write on.
Warmly,
Lisa
Latest Writing Your Resilience Podcast Episode
Join sexual assault advocate Cheyenne Wilson and me as we have a candid conversation about the myths of sexual assault, the power of healing communities, and how to turn a devastating loss into a fire that fuels the writing that serves all of us.
My Work Out In the World
“How to Handle Memory Gaps In Your Memoir,” published in the Jane Friedman Blog
“Murmuration,” published in The Good Life Review
“Trad Wives, CPTSD, Chappell Roan & Emotional Flashbacks While Moving” by Tia Levings
“It's good to hear from you: Podcasts for writers” by Courtney Maum
ICYMI
October Writing Your Resilience Episodes
Estrangement, Dementia, and the Fractured Memoir with Lara Lillibridge
The Challenges of Being Vulnerable on the Page with Megan Williams
Self-Acceptance, Dating Disasters, and Life After Loss with Debbie Weiss
Writing About Absent Fathers and Attachment Styles with Acamea Deadwiler
Craft Articles:
“How to Write A Memoir? Read These Books.” by Marion Roach Smith
“On Making Fictions” by Alexander Chee
“Forget the First Line. Focus on First Pages.” by Tiffany Yates Martin
“5 Plot Hacks That Just Might Save Your Novel” by Susan DeFreitas
The Writing Life
“Creating When We Have Little Left” by Ronit Plank
“You Don't Have to Monetize Your Trauma” by Kate McKean
“3 Bad Ideas for More Creative Writing” by Jason Keath
The Biz
“The Secret to Earning Royalties” by Kate McKean
“The Most Important Part of Your Author Platform” by Dan Blank
“What I Say to Writers Who Pitch Me at Conferences” by Kate McKean
“How I Make Money” by Leigh Stein
Posts That Touched Me
“You are your knight in shining armor” by Carolyn Fallert
“I’m fat. Here’s why I’m not taking a weight loss drug.” by Rebecca Morrison
“Dear Son of a Disabled Woman” by Rebecca Taussig
“Why I Rang the Cancer Bell” by Lynn Shattuck
“The Body Remembers” by Rebecca Taussig
“In Praise of the Minivan” by Kristin Sancken
“When Faith Doesn't Feel Good” by Ariel Curry
Books on My NightStand
The Myth of Resilience by Soraya Chemaly: A groundbreaking, provocative, and thoughtful look into how we’ve approached resilience and what we’re getting wrong. Many thanks to community member Leanne Sowul for sharing this book on her newsletter. If you want to learn, have your assumptions challenged, and discover new pathways toward resilience, this book is for you.
Strip by Hannah Sward: An artful, raw memoir that riveted me from the first page. Hannah’s expert storytelling delves into the childhood moments that form our sense of self, the traumas that haunt our being and influence how we engage in or numb from life and how we can both embrace the darkness and find the light again.
Self-Care by Leigh Stein: A smart, funny novel about being a millennial girl boss in the information age. If you want to be entertained while learning about popular internet tropes, get thee to a bookstore now.
Red-Hot Writers
“Get Out of My Head, Stephen King!” by Katie Rouse
Sunbathers by Lindz McLeod
“Spring Training” by Deborah Heimann
“Open House” and “November Reckons” by Jane Mohler
“Where I’m From with Shoshana Koch” on Alyson Shelton’s Where I’m From Poem Project
“My (Imaginary) Baddass Bestie: The Black Widow” by Alyson Shelton was published in Comic Lit Volume I
“Nancy” by Leah Korican
“The Memorial” by Donna Moriarty
“Project 2025 Puts Religious Liberty and Families at Risk” by Doreen Frances Mirley
Milestone Makers
Lisha Zulkepli (Sha Ashra)
This month, I finished writing my first memoir and am now moving on to third-draft rewrites. I also reformatted my Substack, so I can focus on the the topics I rediscovered while writing my memoir.
Dawn Levitt
My October milestone is celebrating the six-year anniversary of my second heart transplant. The anniversary date is October 6. I've had this heart for six years. The first one lasted nearly thirteen years. I try not to engage in prediction by calculating that this heart is approaching the mid-point if it follows the same trajectory as my previous heart.
Franke James
Freeing Teresa: A True Story about My Sister and Me was a double-winner in the NYC Big Book Awards! The book won the Social/Political change award, and the audiobook, with a full cast of thirteen actors—including two cast members with Down syndrome—won for Audiobook Nonfiction.
If you’ve read this far, thank you so much for your valuable time and attention! I’m so grateful to have played a role in your writing journey. You can support this work and yourself even more by becoming a paid subscriber. Benefits include quarterly ask me anything sessions. The first one is scheduled for Wednesday December 11, 2024.
Many thanks to Ronit Plank, Kate McKean, Jason Keath, Tiffany Yates Martin, Susan DeFreitas, Alexander Chee, Marion Roach Smith, Dan Blank, Leigh Stein, Carolyn Fallert, Rebecca Morrison, Rebecca Tausig, Lynn Shattuck, Kristin Sancken, and Ariel Curry for writing posts that teach and inspire us all.