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Have you ever dismissed your feelings, discounted your writing wins, or told yourself you should feel differently about your writing projects? If so, you might be gaslighting writing practice. Join me as I discuss what gaslighting is, how it shows up in our writing lives, and most importantly, how you can stop doing it.

Episode Highlights:

• 2:12: Defining Gaslighting
• 5:42: Reasons Writers Gaslight Their Writing Practice
• 10:05: Ways We Discount Our Creative Intuition
• 14:46 The Impact of Change on Our Writing Practice
• 23:50: Tools to Gaslight-Proof Your Writing Practice
• 31:37: The Poison of Comparison

Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

• It’s Not You: Identifying and Healing from Narcissistic People with Dr. Ramani Durvasula
• “What Is the Fawning Trauma Response” by Ingrid Clayton, Ph.D
• Get your copy of Write More Fretless: A Toolkit for Gaslight-Proofing Your Writing Practice

Lisa’s Bio: Lisa Cooper Ellison is a writer and trauma-informed writing coach who hosts Writing Your Resilience, a podcast at the intersection of storytelling and healing where she interviews bestselling authors and experts in psychology and mental health. In addition to her storytelling expertise, Lisa has an Ed.S in clinical mental health counseling and a background in mindfulness. Clients have been published with small presses and Big-Five houses, including several who’ve become New York Times instant bestsellers. Her essays and stories have appeared on Risk! and in The New York Times, HuffPost, and Kenyon Review Online, among others.

Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Write More, Fret Less
Website | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook | LinkedIn

Produced by Espresso Podcast Production

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When you get negative feedback from an agent on your writing you can do two things: adapt and improve your writing, or quit. In this episode, I am speaking with Jessica Yen, a Camp Structure graduate, about the recent challenges she faced while dealing with discouraging feedback from a literary agent. Join us as we explore how agents think, what the market may–or may not–be looking for, and how to regain your power when difficult feedback knocks you down.

Episode Highlights

• 5:41: The Agent Mindset
• 10:55: Are We Ready for COVID Stories?
• 13:12: The Demand for Parenting Books
• 15:10: Finding Your Book’s Essential Question
• 24:10: Taking Your Power Back
• 27:15: A New Take on Writer’s Block

Resources for this Episode:

• Categorically So by Jessica Yen
• Beauty by Jessica Yen (nominated for a Pushcart Prize)
• How I Went From “Big 5 or Die!” to Ecstatic Self-Published Author by Denise Massar
• Ninety-Nine Fire Hoops by Allison Hong-Merrill
• What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• The True Meaning of Success and The Multiple Paths to Publish Your Book with Courtney Maum
• Recovering from Cults and Religious Trauma Through Writing with Tia Levings
• How to Stop Gaslighting Yourself with Ingrid Clayton

Jessica’s Bio: Jessica Yen is a Chinese American author who explores the intersection of memory, family, culture, language, identity, and history. Her work has been supported by an Oregon Literary Fellowship, Regional Arts and Culture Council, Caldera Arts, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, and Voices of Our Nations Arts. She is a twice-Pushcart Prize nominated essayist whose work has appeared or is forthcoming in Fourth Genre, The Masters Review, Oregon Humanities, and Best American Travel Writing, among others. She is currently working on a memoir. By day, she writes grants and edits academic manuscripts for non-profits, university departments and scholars, and clinics who seek to address health inequities. You can find her online at www.jessicayen.com.

Connect with Jessica:
Website: www.jessicayen.com

Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Write More, Fret Less
Website | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook | LinkedIn

Produced by Espresso Podcast Production

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What’s holding you hostage or keeping you stuck? In Jessica Buchanan’s case, it initially seemed like the Somali pirates who held her hostage for ninety-three were her biggest problem. But as she completed a powerful exercise during her captivity, she realized the issues she faced were far deeper and ultimately more common than the kidnapping she endured. Join me and author, TedX speaker, book coach, and founder of Soul Speak Press, Jessica Buchanan, as we discuss the ways we dismiss our inner knowing, how to reclaim your voice, and how to write your truth as you discover the mountaintops in your emotional deserts.

Episode Highlights

• 6:00: Finding Words for What Lives Inside Us
• 11:50: Mining Your Resilience
• 14:42: The Ways We Discount Our Voices
• 23:34: An Exercise to Reconcile Your Experiences
• 30:00: The Power of Supporting Other Writers
• 38:59: Deserts to Mountaintops Volume 3
• 42:39: Jessica’s Best Writing Advice

Resources for this Episode:

• Jessica’s TEDx Talk
• Making Even The Smallest Mistake Filled Me With Terror. Then 2 Little Words Changed My Life
• Porches Retreat

Jessica’s Bio: In her NYT Bestselling memoir Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six, Jessica details her experience as she was abducted at gunpoint and held for ransom by a group of Somali pirates for 93 days. Jessica is now a highly sought-after inspirational speaker, TEDx Speaker, and the founder of Soul Speak Press. Her upcoming book is an anthology titled Deserts to Mountaintops: The Pilgrimage of Motherhood.

Connect with Jessica
Website: https://www.jessbuchanan.com/
Publishing Website: https://www.soulspeakpress.com/
In Her Words Collection: https://www.soulspeakpress.com/powerwithin
Deserts to Mountaintops: https://www.desertstomountaintops.com/
To Learn More About Her Anthologies, Email: info@soulspeakpress.com

Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Write More, Fret Less
Website | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook | LinkedIn

Produced by Espresso Podcast Production