Emotional Expression Is as Scary and Important as You Think It Is

Write-minded: Weekly Inspiration for Writers is currently in its fourth year. We are a weekly podcast for writers craving a unique blend of inspiration and real talk about the ups and downs of the writing life. Hosted by Brooke Warner of She Writes and Grant Faulkner of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), each theme-focused episode of Write-minded features an interview with a writer, author, or publishing industry professional.

This week Write-minded revisits two powerful interviews in which guests Erica Jong and Lilly Dancyger shared with us about the power of emotion on the page. Erica Jong’s work has often centered fear and desire while Lilly Dancyger’s work has circled anger. Both women share the power of unlocking emotion on the page, and touch upon the ways in which women are expected to be more confined in their emotional expression. This is exactly why it’s so important to feel those emotions and express them on the page, and these two authors give the absolute permission to do so, and model how in their wonderful works of fiction and nonfiction.

Subscribe and download the episode, wherever you get your podcasts. 

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Erica Jong is a poet, novelist, and essayist whose works have been influential all over the world. Her first novel, Fear of Flying, never out of print, has sold at least 27 million copies—and always counting. Erica is a feminist legend and author of 27 books. Fear of Flying will celebrate its 50th Anniversary in 2023.

Lilly Dancyger is the author of First Love, an essay collection about the power and complexity of female friendship; and Negative Space, a reported and illustrated memoir; and the editor of Burn It Down, a critically acclaimed anthology of essays on women’s anger. Lilly’s writing has been published by Guernica, Literary Hub, The Rumpus, Longreads, The Washington Post, Playboy, Rolling Stone, and elsewhere.