Lisa Cooper Ellison is an author, speaker, trauma-informed writing coach, and host of the Writing Your Resilience podcast. She works and writes at the intersection of storytelling and healing, and combines her personal experiences with suicide loss and CPTSD with her clinical training to help writers turn tough experiences into art. Her essays and stories have appeared on Risk! and in The New York Times, HuffPost, Hippocampus Literary Magazine, and Kenyon Review Online, among others.
In this episode:
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How Lisa became a trauma-informed writing coach after she dealt with a debilitating health issue [3:54]
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The emotional impacts of writing about tough topics [10:21]
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How the nervous system is impacted when writing about trauma [11:27]
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The meaning making process; owning our meltdowns and moments [12:13]
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Estelle’s experience with writing about her ectopic pregnancy and how it required emotional distance and time [12:47]
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How writers can protect themselves and practice self-care while writing difficult stories about themselves or loved ones [14:06]
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Lisa’s experience with writing her own memoir and being a volcano writer [20:34]
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Lisa’s article in HuffPost Personal on emotional flashbacks and defining them [21:00]
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How Lisa protects her own mental health through somatic processing [29:56]
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Why a beat sheet is your BFF for structuring your memoir, and understanding your book’s essential questions [37:59]
Connect with Lisa
Website: https://lisacooperellison.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisacooperellison/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-cooper-ellison-b5483840/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisacooperellison/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lisacooperellison
Lisa’s article on HuffPost Personal
Making the Smallest Little Mistake Filled Me With Terror: Then 2 Little Words Changed My Life
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/emotional-flashback-dread-doom-therapy_n_66cb7ae8e4b0f0ded8061ba6
Estelle’s episode Writing That Gets Noticed on Lisa’s podcast Writing Your Resilience
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU-Wpm27PhU
Connect with Estelle
FREE PITCHING GUIDE: Find out more about this episode at
https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast. You also get a free pitching guide if you sign up for her newsletter.
Sign up for Estelle’s Personal Essay Class for Writer’s Digest
https://www.writersonlineworkshops.com/courses/writing-the-personal-essay-101-fundamentals
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
Sign up for her Substack https://estelleserasmus.substack.com (with craft advice and writing opportunities). Paid subscribers receive opportunities for pitch reviews, plus bonus clips from Freelance Writing Direct guests
Follow Estelle:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/EstelleSErasmus
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@EstelleSErasmus
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EstelleSerasmus
People mentioned who had episodes on Estelle’s podcast
Linda Lowen, episode #31 Getting Your Writing Career in Gear When on a Tight Deadline
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/freelance-writing-direct-conversations-with-authors/id1647429472?i=1000610817037
Jane Friedman, episode #105 A Look Inside Publishing: Hybrid, Audiobooks, AI & More
https://estelleserasmus.com/105-a-look-inside-publishing-hybrid-audiobooks-ai-more-featuring-jane-friedman/
Minna Dubin, episode #61 All About Mom Rage
https://estelleserasmus.com/61-all-about-mom-rage-with-minna-dubin/
Estelle’s article in Brevity
Don’t Blow Up Your Life for a Byline
https://brevity.wordpress.com/2020/05/19/dont-blow-up-your-life-for-a-byline/
Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts. 
