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What happens when you wake up one day dizzy and it never stops?
In this episode of Freelance Writing Direct, Estelle Erasmus talks with acclaimed author Rachel Weaver about her powerful new memoir, Dizzy. Rachel shares how she navigated nearly two decades of chronic illness before finding relief, and how she transformed that experience into a compelling braided memoir that weaves together her years working in the Alaskan wilderness, her medical journey, motherhood, marriage, and questions of power, resilience, and identity.
Rachel discusses:
• Why she chose to open Dizzy with the dramatic scene of falling through the ice in Alaska
• How nature became a source of metaphor throughout the memoir
• The surprising parallels between encounters with bears and encounters with doctors
• Writing through brain fog, screen sensitivity, and chronic illness
• How she developed the book’s braided structure
• Avoiding repetition in an illness narrative
• Finding an ending for a memoir when the story is still unfolding
• The five-year process of writing and revising Dizzy
• Why writers should focus on process before product
• The path to publication for both Dizzy and her forthcoming novel, The Last Run
Rachel also reads a moving excerpt from the memoir and shares insights into the craft decisions that shaped the book.
Watch on YouTube
About Rachel Weaver
Rachel Weaver’s novel Point of Direction was named a Top Ten Book To Pick Up Now by Oprah Magazine and won the Willa Cather Award for Fiction. Rachel’s newest book, Dizzy, an “arresting new memoir” according to Maureen Corrigan on NPR’s Fresh Air, published in February of 2026. Her second novel The Last Run, is forthcoming in June 2026 with Lake Union Publishing. Prior to earning her MFA in Writing and Poetics at Naropa University, Rachel worked for the Forest Service in Alaska studying bears, raptors and songbirds. She teaches at Wilkes University and Lighthouse Writers Workshop and holds a CPA in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University.
Learn more at:
Rachel Weaver’s website
Links
Don’t Forget to watch episode #194 Why Wade Rouse Finally Wrote the Book He Was Meant to Write
Get More From Estelle Erasmus
- Check out My Latest Substack Post: Step Into My Time Capsule: Back When Print Magazines Ruled
- Estelle on My First Byline (a walk down memory lane as a former beauty editor at Woman’s World) https://yourfirstbyline.substack.com/p/my-first-byline-estelle-erasmus
- Private Small-Group Memoir/Essay Class
My Next 6-week session that begins September 2026 has one more spot left.
Email freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com for details. - Read & Subscribe
Substack: NEW post: A Recap of the Editor-on-Call Event with Susan Dabbar of PROVOKEDmagazine. My next Editor-on-Call event is September 16. Sign up for my substack to get notified early. - Watch
Estelle’s TEDx Talk: How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond - Book
Writing That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers “Best Book for Writers.” - Listen/Watch
Freelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2026 Podcast of the Year, Business (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.
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