#133 Writing the Book You Need to Read When You're Always Happy to Help Featuring Amy Wilson

AMY WILSON is a writer, podcaster, and performer. She is the author of the memoir When Did I Get Like This? and her latest book Happy to Help. Amy is also the co-host of the Webby-honored parenting podcast What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood. She and co-host Margaret Ables have racked up over 11 million lifetime downloads and 800 episodes since the podcast's launch in 2016, and regularly perform live shows for audiences around the country.

As an actor, Amy appeared on Broadway as "Sunny Freitag" in the Tony Award-winning play The Last Night of Ballyhoo. She was a series regular on the sitcoms Norm (ABC) and Daddio (NBC). Other TV guest appearances include Veep, Felicity, Blue Bloods, Unforgettable, Ed, Law and Order: CI, and Deadline. She wrote and performed sketch comedy for NBC's Live on Tape, which filed in Saturday Night Live's famed Studio 8H. Amy is also the creator of Mother Load, a one-woman show which she toured to 16 cities after its hit off-Broadway run. Amy's writing has also appeared in The New York Times, Redbook, CNN.com, NPR Books, Parenting, Parents, Baby Talk and Big Apple Parent. Amy graduated from Yale University with a dual degree in English and Theater Studies. She lives with her family in New York City.

In this episode:

• The way Estelle and Amy first connected through Listen to Your Mother [1:32]

• How Amy's book Happy to Help: Adventures of a People Pleaser manifested [6:43]

• The formative experience in Catholic school that shaped Amy's overachiever mindset [9:19]

• The way Amy used adage to structure her book, and how that happened [10:57]

• Why Amy included research in her essays and how she seamlessly weaved it into narrative [13:33]

• The real reason many women take on too much, and why that's not a personal flaw [17:03]

• How perfectionism and people-pleasing show up differently at home vs. in the workplace [24:46]

• Her creative process, perfectionism, and letting go of "doing it all" [31:55]

• The early impact of magazines on Amy — and women [33:10]

• Advice for women feeling overwhelmed: It's not you—it's the system. [38:07]

• Sitting in the silence of not knowing [39:54]

Connect with Amy Wilson:

Website: https://amywilson.com

Podcast https://whatfreshhellpodcast.com

TikTok https://tiktok.com/@amywilsonauthor

Buy Happy to Help on Estelle's Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/p/books/happy-to-help-adventures-of-a-people-pleaser-amy-wilson/cd2aa83f8af88dfc?ean=9781958506783&next=t&aid=98827&listref=authors-who-have-appeared-on-freelance-writing-direct

Estelle's Listen to Your Mother episode (Amy Wilson as director)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmV4abTKy8Q&list=PL1159293EC380EFD1&index=5

Estelle Erasmus: an award-winning journalist, is the author of WRITING THAT GETS NOTICED (named a "Best Book for Writers" by Poets & Writers Magazine), a Contributing Editor for Writer's Digest, and host of the podcast Freelance Writing Direct. She is an adjunct instructor for NYU's School of Professional Studies/Center for Publishing and Applied Liberal Arts, has written for over 150 publications, including The New York Times, Next Avenue/PBS, WIRED, The Independent,The Washington Post, and AARP: The Magazine, and was the editor-in-chief of five national publications. Find out more at estelleserasmus.com

Sign up for her Substack (with craft advice and writing opportunities). Paid subscribers receive opportunities for pitch reviews, plus bonus clips from Freelance Writing Direct guests https://estelleserasmus.substack.com

Mentioned in the episode: Estelle's substack post Why Taping My Podcast Reminds Me of Working in Magazines

https://estelleserasmus.substack.com/p/why-taping-my-podcast-reminds-me

Read Estelle's latest post on Substack (and an editing offer for paid subscribers): 5 Hard Truths about Essay Writing

https://estelleserasmus.substack.com/p/5-hard-truths-about-essay-writing

Apply to be on Freelance Writing Direct in a coaching episode: email freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com and state three of the issues you are dealing with that you would like Estelle's help with.

Sign up for Estelle's NYU Classes

https://www.sps.nyu.edu/professional-pathways/faculty/e/1068-estelle-erasmus.html

Get Her Book

Writing That Gets Noticed: Find Your Voice, Become a Better Storyteller, Get Published: https://rb.gy/5ihwp0

Order Her Audiobook:

https://shorturl.at/4uG2P

Follow Estelle:

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

TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@EstelleSErasmus

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EstelleSerasmus

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/estelleserasmus.bsky.social

Freelance Writing Direct has been named a 2025 Podcast of the Year Winner in the Education category by the American Writing Awards. For a list of winners go here https://americanwritingawards.com/