Writing The Hard Stuff: Turning Difficult Subjects Into Meaningful Prose With Nicole Walker

Writing The Hard Stuff: Turning Difficult Subjects Into Meaningful Prose With Nicole Walker

June 29, 2026 · 56 min

About this episode

Joanna Penn interviews Nicole Walker about writing difficult subjects and using creative techniques to process trauma.

How do you write about the most painful experiences of your life without being overwhelmed by them? How can timed writing and a braided story help you untangle your hardest stories? With Nicole Walker. In the intro, Self-Publishing Pop Up Books [ Self-Publishing with ALLi ]; New in KU [ BookBub ]; The solar sail theory of indie publishing [ ProductiveIndieFictionWriter ]; Bones of the Deep ; Selfie Awards Shortlist 2026 . This episode is sponsored by  Publisher Rocket , which will help you get your book in front of more Amazon readers so you can spend less time marketing and more time writing. I use Publisher Rocket for researching book titles, categories, and keywords — for new books and for updating my backlist. Check it out at  www.PublisherRocket.com This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at  Patreon.com/thecreativepenn   Nicole Walker is a nonfiction author, essayist, poet, and editor, as well as a creative writing teacher. Her latest book is Writing the Hard Stuff: Turning Difficult Subjects into Meaningful Prose . You can listen above or on  your favorite podcast app  or read the notes and links below. Here are the…

People in this episode

Host: Joanna Penn

Guest: Nicole Walker

Topics covered

Keywords

Sponsors

Publisher Rocket

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Self-Publishing with ALLi, BookBub, ProductiveIndieFictionWriter

Products: Publisher Rocket

Books & works: Writing the Hard Stuff: Turning Difficult Subjects into Meaningful Prose, Bones of the Deep

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