Listen:
What do you do when your son’s first birthday party becomes the same day you lose your mother?
In this episode, I discuss her new book with Jocelyn Jane Cox, author of Motion Dazzle, the award-winning memoir that follows a single day when celebration and grief collided. It’s a day that would forever contain both darkness and light, joy and devastating loss.
Here’s what makes this conversation essential for writers: Jocelyn shares the conscious craft choices behind weaving seemingly unrelated threads —competitive figure skating, caregiving, dating disasters, and new motherhood— into a cohesive narrative anchored by a powerful central metaphor. She waited seven years to write it. She revised it 14 times. She made the bold choice not to name her mother until the final pages. And when traditional publishing didn’t align, she pivoted to small presses and received two offers.
If you’re wrestling with how to structure a memoir, wondering when you’re ready to write about grief, or trying to figure out how to braid multiple timelines into one story, this episode offers a clear, honest look at how it can be done with intention.
In This Episode
- Why writing to her son (not to publishers) freed her to finish the first draft
- The craft decision to use a single-day structure (like in Mrs. Dalloway)
- How cutting 13,000 words strengthened her manuscript
- Why she queried exactly 25 agents before recognizing her book was meant for a small press
- The truth about writing essays to tighten your book (and build your platform)
- How she turned the metaphor of “motion dazzle”—a zebra’s survival mechanism—into the beating heart of her memoir
- What she learned working with Estelle on a pivotal essay
Watch on YouTube
About Jocelyn
Jocelyn Jane Cox is the author of Motion Dazzle: A Memoir of Motherhood, Loss, and Skating on Thin Ice (Vine Leaves Press, 2025), winner of the American Writing Awards in Best New Nonfiction. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing (fiction) from Sarah Lawrence College and has published in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Newsweek, Slate, Writers Digest, and numerous literary magazines. Her fiction and nonfiction have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She lives with her husband and son near Nyack, NY and works as a book coach, memoir teacher, and college essay coach.
Connect with Jocelyn
Motion Dazzle: A Memoir of Motherhood, Loss, and Skating on Thin Ice (on GoodReads)
Article Mentioned in the Episode: When Jocelyn and I worked together on her 2022 Olympic companion piece, which landed in Business Insider, we were thinking strategically about timely pegs and momentum. That piece helped refresh her bylines and expand her visibility during the Games, contributing to the momentum that ultimately led to her book deal. You can read that original piece here.
Learn with Estelle
NEW: Next Editor on Call Event
Our next free Editor on Call event at NYU is officially open for registration.
I’m delighted to be in conversation with Susan Dabbar, Publisher and Editor in Chief of PROVOKEDmagazine, the online magazine for midlife women with a point of view, about what makes a pitch stand out and how to position your work for publication there.
NEW WEBINAR
Upcoming Writer’s Digest Webinar
Amplifying the Echo Effect in Memoir and Essays
February 26
1:00–2:30 pm ET
This workshop will help you identify and excavate the echoes already hiding inside your draft—images, threads, and singular objects that can unify and elevate your book or essay. Without them, even strong writing can feel scattered. With them, your work gains cohesion and emotional power.
During the webinar, I’ll walk you through guided exercises so you leave with specific echoes surfaced and ready to strengthen your structure.
If you’re serious about shaping work that resonates and gets noticed, this is the time.
Private Small-Group Memoir Class
March session is sold out.
Next six-week session begins May 2026.
Email freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com to join the waiting list.
Read & Subscribe
New in Electric Literature
For Valentine’s Day, I curated 9 Memoirs About Dating, Desire, and Reclamation for Electric Literature.
Revisiting these books as I draft my own memoir reinforced how memoir becomes transformative not through romance alone, but through reckoning.
Read the full list here.
In Conversation with These Memoirists
I’ve also had the pleasure of speaking with several of these writers on Freelance Writing Direct, including Amanda McCracken, Sari Botton, and Christie Tate. If you’d like to hear them talk about craft, desire, and the making of their memoirs, you can listen to those episodes here:
• Amanda McCracken – #178
• Sari Botton – #156
• Christie Tate – #123
New Post on Substack
On Craft, Revision, and the Paragraph You Almost Cut
What writers risk losing when they revise too quickly, with details about an upcoming AMA for paid subscribers.
Read it here
Watch, Read & Listen
TEDx Talk
How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond
Book
Writing That Gets Noticed
Named a Poets & Writers “Best Book for Writers”
Audiobook available here
Podcast
Freelance Writing Direct
2025 Podcast of the Year, American Writing Awards
About Estelle
Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, TEDx speaker, and author of Writing That Gets Noticed. She is the host, founder, and executive producer of Freelance Writing Direct and an adjunct professor at NYU.
Her work has appeared in more than 150 publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine. She has served as editor-in-chief of five national magazines.
Follow Estelle
Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus
TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus
Twitter/X: @EstelleSErasmus
Bluesky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social
