Episode Title: Hard Choices: How I Decided to Publish Another Book and Risk Losing my Family.
Episode Description: In this deeply personal episode, acclaimed author and writing teacher Laura Davis shares the essay she published in Publishers Weekly about her wrenching decision to publish her award-winning memoir, The Burning Light of Two Stars, nineteen years after publishing her last book. Laura takes listeners inside the private calculus every memoirist faces: What happens when telling the truth might cost you the people you love? And as an exclusive for her Substack readers, she shares the actual letter she wrote to her family before the book came out — a document of rare candor and courage.
What Laura Covers in This Episode
The unexpected aftermath of publishing The Courage to Heal (co-authored with Ellen Bass in 1988) — and the family fracture it caused
How Laura spent two decades as a writing teacher, keeping her own most urgent stories unpublished
The moment she realized she had a new book growing inside her — and why she kept telling herself she'd never publish it
The line she had to cross before she could seriously consider putting The Burning Light of Two Stars into the world
How she weighed her obligations to her family against her identity as a writer and storyteller
What actually happened when she told her family the book was coming — and the range of responses she received
The exclusive family letter she wrote before publication — shared here for the first time
Episode Highlights
The First Reckoning — Laura traces the seismic family rupture that followed the publication of The Courage to Heal, and how she and her mother spent years finding their way back to each other.
The Silent Bargain — For two decades, Laura kept the peace by keeping her most personal stories out of print. She reflects on what that cost her as a writer — and why it couldn't last.
Writing in Secret — Scrawling dialogue on scraps of paper in hospital rooms and doctor's offices, Laura describes writing the book she told herself she'd never publish.
The Weight of the Question — Laura unpacks the central dilemma facing any memoirist writing about family: How do you honor your truth without destroying the relationships you've rebuilt?
The Decision — After years of deliberation, Laura chose to become an author again — and what she did the day she signed the contract is something every memoir writer should hear.
The Family Responses — From silence to direct confrontation, Laura shares what happened when her extended family found out the book was real.
Joy Tempered — Laura reflects on what the lead-up to a book launch actually feels like when the stakes are this personal — and why she wouldn't make a different choice.
The Letter — Exclusive to Substack readers: the full text of the letter Laura sent to her family before The Burning Light of Two Stars was published — an intimate, generous act of courage rarely seen in the memoir world.
About Host Laura Davis
Laura Davis is an acclaimed author and writing teacher with more than 35 years of experience helping writers find and tell their most important stories. She is the author of seven books, including The Burning Light of Two Stars, winner of the 2021 BookLife Prize, and co-author of The Courage to Heal with Ellen Bass — a landmark work that helped launch the incest survivor empowerment movement.
Laura teaches all forms of writing through weekly online Zoom classes, writing retreats at Villa Maria del Mar in Santa Cruz, and international programs including her Creative Camino pilgrimage in Spain. She publishes The Writer's Journey on Substack and hosts two podcast series: her main writing-focused show and Midweek Pause for Peace, which pairs poetry with peaceful imagery. Her teaching is known for its warmth, rigor, and deep belief that every writer's story matters.
Resources Laura Mentions
The Burning Light of Two Stars by Laura Davis — her award-winning 2021 memoir (BookLife Prize Winner) https://lauradavis.net/the-burning-light-of-two-stars/
The Courage to Heal by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis — the landmark 1988 book on healing from childhood sexual abuse
Soapbox, Publishers Weekly — where "Hard Choices" was originally published (August 9, 2021)
Free Two-Hour Writing Workshop: Flourishing as We Age — Laura's upcoming online preview event. You can register here: https://lauradavis.net/flourishing/#online
Laura's Substack, The Writer's Journey: https://laurasaridavis.substack.com/
Laura's website: https://lauradavis.net/
Key Takeaways from This Episode
The "safe container" is a legitimate writing strategy. Telling yourself "I'm just writing this for myself" isn't self-deception — it's a way to protect the process while the work finds its form. Many writers need this permission to begin.
Publishing a memoir about family is rarely a one-time reckoning. Laura's story shows that the consequences of writing your truth can span decades — and that rebuilding relationships is possible, even after rupture.
The decision to publish belongs to the writer. Waiting for everyone's blessing may mean waiting forever. Laura's path forward required accepting that she could not control how others received her truth — only how carefully and lovingly she communicated it.
Writing a letter to your family before publication is worth serious consideration. Laura's approach — informing, acknowledging, and apologizing in advance — models one way to hold both creative integrity and human care at the same time.
Joy and grief can coexist at a book launch. The lead-up to publication isn't always pure celebration. Laura's honesty about the emotional complexity of that time is a gift to any writer preparing to put a personal book into the world.
Episode Call-to-Action
If this episode stirred something in you — whether you're wrestling with your own "hard choice" about what to write, or sitting with a story you haven't dared to tell yet — Laura invites you to bring it to the page. Consider:
Join Laura's free two-hour writing workshop —Flourishing as We Age: https://lauradavis.net/flourishing/#online
Order The Burning Light of Two Stars — read the memoir at the center of this story. https://lauradavis.net/the-burning-light-of-two-stars/
Subscribe to The Writer's Journey on Substack to receive Laura's essays, poems, and writing guidance directly in your inbox. https://laurasaridavis.substack.com/
Share this episode with a writer in your life who's facing their own hard choice.
Connect with Laura Davis
Substack: https://laurasaridavis.substack.com/
Website & Weekly WritingClasses: https://lauradavis.net/
Writing Retreats — https://lauradavis.net/writing-retreats-2/
International Programs — Creative Camino pilgrimage, Spain
The Writer's Journey with Laura Davis is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support her work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. You'll receive regular posts like these, as well as beautifully curated poems and nature photos, essays on life and the craft of writing, and more.
You can subscribe here: https://laurasaridavis.substack.com/
Learn about Laura's writing classes, books, workshops, and international retreats at: https://lauradavis.net/
