Send us Fan Mail

What does it really take to build a writing career out of your hardest story and stay whole while doing it? In this episode, I sit down with author Tia Levings, whose memoir A Well-Trained Wife has become an increasingly timely reckoning with religious trauma, patriarchy, and survival. With her second book I Belong to Me just hitting shelves, Tia pulls back the curtain on navigating back-to-back book launches, genre-hopping with intention, and growing a 110,000-follower platform without burning out or exploiting your own pain. If you've ever wondered how to turn a cooked story into a sustainable career, this conversation is for you.

Episode Highlights:

• 05:23 When Your Story Becomes the Work
• 13:11 The Cost of Visibility and Finding Regulation
• 24:25 Where Memoir and Self-Help Meet
• 35:12 Doing the Work Without Getting Stuck in It

Resources for this Episode:

• Order I Belong To Me
• Get Your Free Human Design Report
• Register for Build an Author Platform that Aligns with Your Design and Nervous System
• Ditch Your Inner Critic Now

Tia’s Bio: Tia Levings is The New York Times Bestselling author of A Well-Trained Wife, her memoir of escape from Christian Patriarchy. She writes about the realities of religious trauma, evangelical patriarchy, and the Trad wife life, decoding the fundamentalist influences in our news and culture. Her work and quotes have appeared in Teen Vogue, Salon, Newsweek, and the HuffingtonPost. She also appeared in the hit Amazon docu-series, Shiny Happy People. Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, she is mom to four incredible adults and likes to travel, hike, paint, and daydream. Find her on social media @TiaLevingsWriter. Her second book, I Belong to Me, releases May 5, 2026.

Connect with Tia:

• Read Tia Levings, Writer on Substack]
• Instagram: ⁠@tialevingswriter⁠⁠⁠
• TikTok: @tialevingswriter⁠⁠

Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/
Website | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook | LinkedIn

Produced by Espresso Podcast Production

Send us Fan Mail

What does it really take to get into a state of creative flow and what pulls us out of it? In this Editor's Round Table episode, I’m joined by fellow editors Sarah Chauncey and Lynn Shattuck to explore the Law of Increasing Flow: a framework built on presence, strategic rest, and stopping before you hit empty. Together we dig into the problem of tech distraction, the power of the subconscious mind, and why percolation–not pushing–is where so much of the real writing happens. If you've ever wondered why flow feels so elusive, this episode will leave you with both the insight and the practical tools to invite more of it into your life.

Resources for this Episode:

• “The Critic, Cookies and a (Cautionary) Colonoscopy” by Lynn Shattuck
• “To Write More, Better and Faster, Do This One Thing” by Sarah Chauncey
• Creative Intuition: The Skill That Makes Life and Work Easier
• It’s not Your Money by Tosha Silver
• The Walk for Peace
• Get Your Free Human Design Report
• Ditch Your Inner Critic Now

Episode Highlights

• 4:54 Constricted Writing Stories
• 6:19 Law Of Increasing Flow
• 8:46 Productivity Versus Creativity
• 23:35 Nervous System Practices

Connect with Lynn:

• Website: www.lossofalifetime.com
• Website: www.lynnlshattuck.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064888772287
• Instagram: @lynn_shattuck

Connect with Sarah:

• Substack: https://sarahchauncey.substack.com/
• Counterintuitive Guide: https://counterintuitiveguide.substack.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahkchauncey/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarah.k.chauncey

Lynn Shattuck writes on topics like grief, parenting, and mental health. She was a columnist at Elephant Journal for ten years, where several of her essays on the topic of grief and sibling loss, and parenting went viral. Lynn co-founded the website lossofalifetime.com, a hub of resources and community for those who’ve experienced sibling loss. She co-edited the essay collection, The Loss of a Lifetime: Grieving Siblings Share Stories of Love, Loss, and Hope, which was released in June 2025.

Sarah Chauncey is a nonfiction writer, developmental editor, and writing coach. Over her decades of experience, she’s written more than 100 articles for a variety of outlets, including Writer's Digest, Jane Friedman, Tiny Buddha, Lion’s Roar, and Modern Loss. Sarah is the author of P.S. I Love You More Than Tuna, the first gift book for adults grieving the loss of a pet. She also writes the Substacks “Resona

Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/
Website | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook | LinkedIn

Produced by Espresso Podcast Production

Send us Fan Mail

About this episode: Have you ever come to a point in your life where giving up was the way forward? If so, how was that different from defeat? In this episode, I unpack what healthy surrender really means, how it can actually strengthen rather than diminish your sovereignty, and how to practice it in both the big and small moments of your life. If the word "surrender" has ever felt triggering or like defeat, this episode will change the way you see it.

Resources for this Episode:

• Healing Ancestral Trauma: How Family Constellations Free You from Inherited Stories
• Get Your Free Human Design Report
• Register for Find and Refine Your Memoir’s Narrative Arc
• Ditch Your Inner Critic Now

Episode Highlights

• 00:00 Surrender Is Not Giving Up
• 01:58 What It Really Means to Surrender
• 17:10 A Daily Practice of Letting Go
• 23:46 Holding Boundaries with Compassion

Lisa’s Bio: Lisa Cooper Ellison is an author, speaker, trauma-informed writing coach, and host of the Writing Your Resilience podcast. Working at the powerful intersection of storytelling and healing, she blends her writing expertise, clinical training, and soul-centered practices—including Akashic Records work and Human Design—to help writers turn their hardest experiences into art. Her essays—on sibling loss, grief, trauma healing, and the craft of writing—have appeared in The New York Times, HuffPost, and The Loss of a Lifetime: Grieving Siblings Share Stories of Love, Loss, and Hope, among others.

Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/
Website | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook | LinkedIn

Produced by Espresso Podcast Production

Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/
Website | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook | LinkedIn

Produced by Espresso Podcast Production