Crafting the Personal Essay and Resilient Editing Tips with Andrea Firth

Writing Your Resilience: Building Resilience, Embracing Trauma and Healing Through Writing

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Andrea Firth joins the Writing Your Resilience podcast to talk about what personal essays are, how writers can uncover their essay’s aboutness, and how to develop resilient editing practices. As an added bonus, she also offers writers the inside scoop on how to get published on the Brevity Blog.
Andrea’s Bio: Andrea A. Firth is a writer, editor and educator living in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is an Editor at Brevity Blog and cofounder of Diablo Writers’ Workshop where she teaches creative writing and provides developmental editing. Andrea has an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Saint Mary’s College of California. She was a finalist for The Missouri Review's 2021 Perkoff Prize in nonfiction, and her work has appeared in Dorothy Parker’s Ashes, Allium, The Coachella Review among others. Learn more about her and read her recent work at www.andreaafirth.com.

Resources Mentioned During This Episode:

The Beauty of a Busted Fruit by Natalie Diaz

Secret Words by Andrea Firth

Broken Glass by Andrea Firth

Old John by Andrea Firth

Brevity Blog Submission Guidelines

Snot-Bubble-Cry Dance Parties that Boost Your Creativity by Lisa Cooper Ellison

Looking at an Eclipse: A Braided Essay About Braided Essays by Lilly Dancyger

Official Transcript

Episode Highlights

4:00 The Difference Between Memoir and Personal Essay

7:00 Exploring the Inciting Incident for Your Essays

14:00 Common Struggles Essayists Have: Aboutness

21:00 The Power of the Braided Essay

25:00 Resilient Editing and Workshopping

34:00 Submitting to the Brevity Blog

Connect with Andrea:

Website: https://www.diablowriters.org/andrea-a-firth/

Writing Workshops:

Connect with your host, Lisa:

Get Your Free Copy of Write More, Fret Less: https://lisacooperellison.com/newsletter-subscribe/

Website: https://lisacooperellison.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisacooperellison/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UColPDzpoQlVktIv7-f7ObRg

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisacooperellison/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-cooper-ellison-b5483840/

Sign up for Psychology of Character Development for Memoirists: https://janefriedman.com/the-psychology-of-character-development-for-memoirists-with-lisa-cooper-ellison/

Produced by Espresso Podcast Production: https://www.espressopodcastproduction.com

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