Thank you Lucy-Furr, Jo Ollila, and many others for tuning into my live video with Chris B. Writes! Here are a few takeaways from our chat, along with links to the people and resources mentioned.
Writing as Emotional Release
Writing gives form to emotions that feel too chaotic to express any other way. Chris described reaching for journaling at 3am in the hospital because it was the one thing that helped him vocalize what he couldn’t otherwise say.
Revisiting difficult experiences through writing helps you understand them more fully, often revealing things you didn’t know you were carrying. Chris discovered the depth of his PTSD only after writing about it.
Living Life Twice
The Anaïs Nin quote that opened the session frames the whole conversation: writers return to experience through the page and find meaning they couldn’t access in the moment.
Circling the same experience across different forms, poems, then prose, then again, is not repetition but deepening.
Poetry vs. Prose
Poetry compresses; prose expands. Chris found that writing in longer form allowed him to be more descriptive and to trace the full arc of Brayden’s story in a way his poems couldn’t.
The two forms feed each other. The poems were the raw material; the memoir piece was the synthesis.
Authenticity Over Audience
Write for an audience of one first. Metrics and readership are secondary to honesty on the page.
Discomfort is a signal, not a stop sign. If it makes you uncomfortable to share, that is usually where the real material is.
Permission to Feel
Caregivers and writers often mistake perfectionism for strength. Giving yourself permission to break down is not a weakness. It is what allows you to come back.
“Don’t mistake our strength for obligation.” Stepping in isn’t the same as wanting to.
Craft Tips
Read your work aloud once right after writing, then again a few days later. If it still hits, you have got something.
You don’t have to publish everything you write. The emotional release has value in itself.
Dig until you hit bone. You’ll know when you’re there.
The Underrepresented Caregiver Voice
Caregiving is largely absent from literary writing, in part because caregivers are too overwhelmed to write. That is exactly why those who can should.
The sandwich generation, people caring for both children and aging parents, is a vast and underserved readership hungry to feel seen.
On Community and Publication
Writing needs a reader to complete its purpose. Live sessions and Substack help close that loop.
Collaboration across forms, poems turned to songs, prose turned to community conversation, extends the reach and life of the work.
Resources
People and Publications
Jeannie Ewing — I Grow Strong Again on Substack
Becca Roth — singer-songwriter on Substack who turned Chris’s poem “604 Daydreams” into an original song
Hi-Fi Amateur — Substacker who set Chris’s poem “Alpenglow” to music
Zoe (I Grow) — creates art poems where the words are shaped visually
The Alchemist’s Cabin — Substack publication accepting Chris’s three-poem pack for publication at the end of July/early August
Events
Write Doe Bay — writing retreat that Michelle and Joe attended together
Chris’s Work
There is Grace in the Breaking — guest essay published on I Grow Strong Again
Last Rites — poem read during the session
Above Water — poem read during the session, accepted for publication
Find Chris and Michelle
Chris’s Substack: Chris B. Writes
States of Matter — Michelle’s Substack
Michelle’s memoir Lessons Unplanned — releasing September 2026
Thank you for listening, reading, and being with us!
All the best,
Michelle and Chris
