Podcast Notes
Persistence U with Lizbeth Podcast
Podcast episodes are posted Wednesdays and include stories by and for survivors and strivers, all threaded together with a dose of persistence.
And Contentment for All/Reflections from a Protest-Weary Woman
I surprised myself by getting a little protective of my estranged mother at a book event recently as I answered readers questions. While my mother made a complicated and fascinating character in my memoir as she did in life, I know it wasn’t only her children she...
Reviewing Old Resolutions/Aiming High and Accepting Low
Happy New Year! Just before the holidays, I spent some time discarding and donating stuff I no longer wanted when I came across this tattered list. It is an outline of wishes and goals I hoped for in my 39th year. It was just the distraction I needed to stop...
The Collateral Beauty of This Christmas Season
It’s deep December, and I’m a bit late in checking in. Then again, I’m also late on Christmas shopping and cards and decorating and the like. But I’ve found my Christmas cheer and am enjoying myself silly instead of feeling engulfed in guilt about my failings....
Channeling Gratitude
I really have to work hard this time of year at being grateful . It's bitter cold outside here in Alaska at the moment. My lips are cracked and bleeding, my refrigerator is empty since it's too frigid to shop, and I find the constant darkness to be oppressive. Add...
The Benefits of a Writer’s Retreat/#swpretreat2016
I recently returned from a few days in Scottsdale, Arizona at the She Writes Press (SWP)Author Retreat 2016 at The Boulders Spa. I love writers conferences, but found this retreat, similar to the Wild Mountain Memoir Retreat I attended in Washington almost four years...
After the Release/Balancing Expectations with Reality after Publishing My Memoir
In life, I like to keep my expectations low. It may sound negative, but I learned a long time ago that if did, I would rarely be disappointed. Instead, I’m often happily surprised when things turn out better than I could have expected. I didn’t know what to expect...
The Amazing Role of a Domestic Violence Advocate/Interview with Nicole Stanish
"I don't understand how you can do that work. It must be so depressing." You get used to hearing that sort of comment when working in the trenches of domestic violence (DV). I used to hear it a lot 20 years ago when I was a DV advocate, but now the...
A Very Big Dream for a Very Small Life/ Book Buzz for Pieces of Me: Rescuing My Kidnapped Daughters
It’s the end of September, and the beginning of my dream. Pieces of Me:Rescuing My Kidnapped Daughters has found itself a home with some readers around the globe already. Thank you so much for that, and thank you also to those of who’ve reviewed it on Amazon or...
Why Now? When is the Right Time to Publish a Memoir?
Why Now? It’s a natural question. My memoir Pieces of Me: Rescuing My Kidnapped Daughters will be officially released on September 20, 2016-- nearly four months after the anniversary of the event it’s based on. The twentieth anniversary. The why now question comes up...
Five Easy Ways to Help Launch My Book/Pieces of Me: Rescuing My Kidnapped Daughters
I’m thrilled to announce that Pieces of Me: Rescuing My Kidnapped Daughters was released a little early! In fact, today some of the pre-orders were filled, and I was so touched to see the Facebook posts about it. It's equal parts exciting and terrifying. Below is a...
Four Thank You’s and An Apology/Publishing My Memoir
Next month, my memoir will be published, and just after that, I’ll have my book launch. It may not seem like much, writing 80,000 words (give or take) and getting them published, but for me, it’s been monumental. And while I went to great effort to thank people in...
Memoirist Ann Anderson Evans on Writing About Others
When a sixty year-old, twice-divorced woman starts to date again, she's not pinning her hopes on an invitation to the prom. She is financially stable and professionally credentialed. She is a matriarch, a pillar of her church, a member of a choir. She has children and...
The Beauty of Balance in Memoir
It’s hard to explain in a sentence why I was so hurt. My bedroom was a crime scene. Pinky, my 49 year-old stuffed rabbit, had been taken from her shelf of honor by my cat, her throat ruthlessly slashed, and her innards splayed all over my bedroom floor. I was crushed....
The Space Between/Author Interview with Dr. Virginia Simpson
I'm fortunate to have Dr. Virginia Simpson as my guest author this week. Her book, The Space Between: A Memoir of Mother-Daughter Love at the End of Life is now available at bookstores and on Amazon, and I loved reading it. Thank you for being my guest, Dr. Simpson....
The Inner Critic Antidote
“You’re so stupid. You’ll never succeed. I can’t believe you thought anyone would be interested in what you have to say.” When you hear these words, you know what they are, right? Emotional abuse. Plain and simple. I know all about emotional abuse. My one and only...
Interview with Iris Waichler, Author of Role Reversal, How to Take Care of Yourself and Your Aging Parents
Chances are if that if you have aging parents, you'll need to learn how to best care for them as their age increases and their needs change. With the increasing number of adults living beyond their 70's, their middle-aged adult children are often left to navigate the...
A Different Kind of Same/Author Interview with Kelley Clink
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and I'm pleased to have mental health advocate and author Kelley Clink as my guest. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), 1 in 5 Americans will be affected by a mental health condition in their lifetime. In...
A Discarded Piece from PIECES of ME
What do you call the stuff an editor cuts from your book? Lost footage or wordage? Outtakes? I was knee deep in the most recent edits when I realized one of the main characters was all but stripped away. A darling that author Anne Lamott would describe as being killed...
Plans and Projects in Spring
Spring is the time of plans and projects. -Leo Tolstoy Just a super-quick update on what’s got my time and attention these days. I’ve been working on a last round of edits for my manuscript and writing a series of essays for publication before and just after my...
The Process of Publishing Pieces of Me: Naked and Afraid but Not Alone
A tidal wave of emotions has swept me away regarding publishing my memoir, Pieces of Me. First, it started with a simple post. Last month I went on my author fan page on Facebook and mentioned my book’s publication date (September 20, 2016!) next to its cover image....
Author Interview with Gemma Thompson/Girls’ Guide to Travelling Alone
Despite my whining about social media recently, there are many upsides to Facebook and Twitter and the like. For me, entering a simple contest on Facebook hosted by United Kingdom author Gemma Thompson was one of those upsides. Being a part of A Girls Guide to...
Five Things I’m Grateful for in 2015
Today is winter solstice, the longest and darkest day of the year. Nowhere is it felt more powerfully than here in Alaska, near the top of the world. I’ve spent years loathing this time of year, which regrettably falls right on the holidays. This has been an...
The Journey of Turning my Manuscript into a Book, part 1
I've wondered if it would be hard to be self-promote(y) before my memoir is published. It turns out-- and this may be a sad fact for you to hear-- it’s astonishingly easy! Because lately, my book is all I think about. I fall asleep thinking of details, and I wake up...
My Favorite Distractions/Memoirs I Love
I cannot tell a lie. I've been a slug lately in regards to writing. Ever since I committed to publishing my memoir, I feel frozen. While I should be working on getting updated pictures for my book cover, or writing the information that will appear on the back of my...
When Push Comes to Shove/How to Help When Someone You Love is Being Abused is on sale
Just over one in three women worldwide have experienced physical and sexual intimate partner violence, according to the World Health Organization. The chances that you won't know one of them are close to zero. What you do and don't say can make all the...
Domestic Violence, Our Civil War
It's the end of October, Domestic Violence Awareness Month. I scooted back home from Australia just in time to have the honor of being interviewed by Tom Randell at KSRM Radio about my upcoming e-book, When Push Comes to Shove. How to Help When Someone You Love is...
The Highs and Lows of Solo Travel/Australia
Why do I always forget how lonely and vulnerable I feel when I travel alone? I've long endorsed that solo budget travel is a good thing, even for older single women like myself. That it can be affordable. That travel isn't just for the rich and the coupled. And it can...
What’s New With Me/ Do You Have a Title Suggestion?
Greetings, I've just finished implementing more than 6,000 line edits on my memoir, so forgive me for being brief. I'm spent. Before I leave to meet up with various friends I've made traveling, I thought I'd add my new prologue. I'll be off the grid for a few weeks,...
How STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON Helped This Alaskan Woman Writer Clarify her Truth
As the deadline looms to get my memoir on the catalogue for 2016-17 release, I’m flooded with doubt. What should I omit for the sake of not offending people? Who have I inadvertently omitted? How will I drum up an email base of potential readers in the next may many...