Let’s Talk Memoir

• 210. Why It’s Never Too Late to Move Forward featuring Anne Abel

  Anne Abel joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about her experiences winning the Moth StorySLAM, what she learned from the storytelling community, the lifelong toll of her parents’ abuse and her chronic, recurrent depression, overcoming self-loathing, how Bruce Springsteen changed her life, following a hunch, overcoming writers block, why it’s better to overwrite than underwrite, her giant following on TikTok and Instagram, why it’s never too late to move forward, taking a leap and landing on our feet, allowing ourselves to persevere and dream, and her new memoir High Hopes.   Also in this episode: -capturing story -leaning into dialogue -why it’s never too late to move forward Books mentioned in this episode:  -Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy -Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen -Educated by Tara Westover -Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-Jobs   Anne Abel is an author, storyteller, and influencer with over 700 thousand followers. Her first memoir, Mattie, Milo, and Me, (2024), about unwittingly rescuing an aggressive dog, was inspired by her Moth StorySLAM win in New York City. Her second memoir, High Hopes, was inspired by her Moth StorySLAM win in Chicago. It will be published September, 23, 2025. In January, 2025 she was featured in Newsweek, “Boomer’s Story About How She Met Her Husband of 45 Years Captivates Internet.” She holds an MFA from The New School for Social Research, an MBA from the University of Chicago, and a BS in chemical engineering from Tufts University. She has freelanced for multiple outlets over the course of her career.   Anne lives in New York City with her husband, Andy, and their cavapoo puppy, Wendell. You can follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok: @annesimaabel Connect with Anne: Instagram, TikTok, FB @annesimaabel Website: www.anneabelauthor.com High Hopes: A Memoir: https://a.co/d/88HiMkb Mattie, Milo, and Me: A Memoir: https://a.co/d/aiDwCqw – Ronit’s writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit’s Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers

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• 209. Reclaiming Identity and Trusting Our Own Process featuring Heather Sweeney

  Heather Sweeney joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about her quest to find out who she was apart from her life as a military wife, mining 20 years worth of journals, uncovering internal dynamics through writing, knowing where to begin a memoir, managing multiple settings with a chronological timeline, cutting redundancies, retitling a memoir late in the game, killing our darlings, writing about exes, coping strategies, reclaiming identity, being true to our own writing process, and her new memoir Camouflage: How I Emerged from the Shadows of a Military Marriage.   Also in this episode: -writing when you can -the e-structure -brainstorming for titles Books mentioned in this episode: -Seven Drafts Allison K. Williams -Wild by Cheryl Strayed -On Writing by Stephen King -Bird by Bird by Anne Lammott -Big Magic by Elizabeth GIlbert -Before and After the Book Deal by Courtney Maum -The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr -The Book Bible by Sue Shapiro -A Thousand Words by Jamie Attenberg   Heather Sweeney is the author of the memoir Camouflage: How I Emerged from the Shadows of a Military Marriage. She writes about divorce, life as a military spouse, parenting, and women’s health, and her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, HuffPost, TODAY.com, Newsweek, Business Insider, Good Housekeeping, Healthline, Grown and Flown, Military.com, and many others. She lives in Virginia with her boyfriend, two college-aged kids, and their geriatric Labrador retriever. Connect with Heather: Website: https://www.heatherlsweeney.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/writersweeney  Threads: https://www.threads.net/@writersweeney  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@heathersweeneywrites  Substack: https://heathersweeney.substack.com/  Amazon: http://posthill.to/B0F316HJTD Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/camouflage-heather-sweeney/1147211233 Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/p/books/camouflage-how-i-emerged-from-the-shadows-of-a-military-marriage-heather-sweeney/22522585 Target: https://www.target.com/p/camouflage-by-heather-sweeney-paperback/-/A-1003183204   – Ronit’s writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit’s Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank   Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers

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• 208. Leaning into and Trusting the Particularity of Our Story featuring Kelly Foster Lundquist

  Kelly Foster Lundquist joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about falling in love with creative nonfiction, believing our story is worth sharing, contemplating how to tell it without hurting someone else, shifting from writing academically to personally, taking 20 years to complete a memoir, leaning into and trusting the particularity of our story, learning to stop explaining in our manuscripts, trying different structural approaches, the pattern hungry brain, incorporating culture, history, and research, when writing feels redemptive, liberating, and affirming, and her new memoir Beard: A Memoir of a Marriage.   Also in this episode: -gratitude -conversion therapy -when a story feels too sacred   Books mentioned in this episode: -The Argonauts by Maggie Nelston -The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr -Seven Drafts: Self-Edit Like a Pro from Blank Page to Books by Allison K. Williams -Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping by Matthew Salessas   Kelly Foster Lundquist teaches writing at North Hennepin Community College in Brooklyn Park, MN. Originally from Mississippi, Lundquist has taught writing all over the United States (Boston, Chicago, Mississippi, Seattle, California, etc), as well as in Slovakia and Scotland. Her poetry and nonfiction can be seen in many places, including Villain Era Lit, Last Syllable Lit, Whale Road Review, and Image Journal. Her work has been nominated for a 2024 Best of the Net Award as well as a Pushcart Prize. She is the recipient of grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board as well as the Central Minnesota Arts Board. Her book Beard: A Memoir of a Marriage (Eerdmans) will debut in October 2025. She lives in a little red house in Minnesota with her spouse and daughter.  Connect with Kelly: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kellyfosterlundquist Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1EgWxeL94v/?mibextid=wwXIfr Website: https://www.kellyfosterlundquist.com/ Book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/beard-a-memoir-of-a-marriage-kelly-foster-lundquist/22424165?ean=9780802884732&next=t   – Ronit’s writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit’s Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank   Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers

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• 207. Growing as a Person and as a Writer featuring Shigeko Ito

  Shigeko Ito joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about the lasting impact of childhood emotional neglect, how invisible trauma can manifest in adult life, fragmented memories, facing a fierce inner critic, accepting limits, growing as a person and as a writer, when the back story feels as important and relevant as the front story, the often chaotic experience of managing lots of material, becoming more compassionate, the healing power of storytelling, the generational trauma we inherit, using our experience to help others, and her new memoir The Pond Beyond the Forest: Reflections on Childhood Trauma and Motherhood.   Also in this episode: -not giving up -our authentic selves -viewing our work from a larger picture   Books mentioned in this episode: -Writing Without a Parachute:The Art of Freefall by Barbara Turner-Vesselago  -Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg -The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr -Old Friend from Far Away by Natalie Goldberg -Your Life as Story by Tristine Rainer -Immersion and Emotion: The Two Pillars of Storytelling by Michelle Barker   Shigeko Ito is an author, educator, and mental health advocate in Seattle who  grew up in Japan and immigrated to the United States in her early twenties to pursue higher education. She holds an MEd in early childhood education with an integrated Montessori teaching credential from the College of Notre Dame in Belmont, California, and a PhD in Education from Stanford University.  Her articles have appeared on the CPTSD Foundation's blog and on the ADAA (Anxiety and Depression Association of America) website. She has spent many years teaching at a Montessori preschool in Seattle, where she lives with her husband of thirty years.  Her new memoir is The Pond Beyond the Forest: Reflections on Childhood Trauma and Motherhood.   Connect with Shigeko: Website: shigekoito.com Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/shigekoitomemoir Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/shigekochakoito LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shigekoito-memoir Twitter/X: x.com/ShigekoChakoIto Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/shigekoito.bsky.social The Pond Beyond the Forest: Reflections on Childhood Trauma and Motherhood is available at major retailers such as Amazon, Barnes &; Noble, and Apple Books. However, the official purchase link is: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Pond-Beyond-the-Forest/Shigeko-Ito/9781647429805   – Ronit’s writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit’s Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank   Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers

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• 206. Changing the Culture of Abuse and Family Dysfunction Through Memoir featuring Leslie Johansen Nack

  Leslie Johansen Nack joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about growing up with parents who struggled with mental illness and substance abuse, surviving an inappropriate and domineering father, getting tools to heal, making ourselves safe, knowing as a child you will write your story, becoming sober, portraying difficult and abusive people as whole human beings, writing a memoir like a novel, when family members disavow our memoirs, excavating the divided self on the page, grappling with feeling exposed, telling the truth to help move the cultural needle, and her new memoir Nineteen: A Daughter’s Memoir of Reckoning and Recovery.   *Seattle area listeners, Leslie and Ronit will be in conversation at Third Place Books Ravenna on Tuesday, October 28th 2025 at 7:00. Reserve your spot here: https://www.thirdplacebooks.com/event/leslie-johansen-nack Also in this episode: -overcoming past trauma -writing a memoir sequel -when siblings respond to our memoir differently   Book mentioned in this episode: Liars Club by Mary Karr The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls Wild by Cheryl Strayed American Daughter by Stephanie Thornton Plymale How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair Unearthed: On Race and Roots, and How the Soil Taught Me I Belong by Claire Ratinon Leslie Johansen Nack is the author of two award-winning books: her debut memoir, Fourteen, and her historical novel, The Blue Butterfly. Hersequel, Nineteen: A Daughter’s Memoir of Reckoning and Recovery, a Zibby most anticipated book for 2025, concludes her raw and deeply personal story, chronicling her path to sobriety and a renewed sense of hope. Nack graduated from UCLA with a degree in English literature and overcame past traumas to raise two children in a healthy, loving home. She is a member of NAMW, the Historical Novel Society, and the PNWA. She lives outside Seattle with her husband.    Connect with Leslie: Website: www.lesliejohansennack.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lesliejohansennack/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Leslie.johansen.nack/ YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqImTCBk_TIKCpA7NSWHbbQ Get the book: https://www.simonandschuster.com/search/books/_/N-/Ntt-Leslie+Johansen+Nack   – Ronit’s writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit’s Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers

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