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:

How Lisa became a trauma-informed writing coach after she dealt with a debilitating health issue [3:54]
The emotional impacts of writing about tough topics [10:21]
How the nervous system is impacted when writing about trauma [11:27]
The meaning making process; owning our meltdowns and moments [12:13]
Estelle’s experience with writing about her ectopic pregnancy and how it required emotional distance and time [12:47]
How writers can protect themselves and practice self-care while writing difficult stories about themselves or loved ones [14:06]
Lisa’s experience with writing her own memoir and being a volcano writer [20:34]
Lisa’s article in HuffPost Personal on emotional flashbacks and defining them [21:00]
How Lisa protects her own mental health through somatic processing [29:56]
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.

https://www.writersonlineworkshops.com/courses/writing-the-personal-essay-101-fundamentals

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/

The Honeymoon That Never Ends