A Conversation with Author Elizabeth Rosner

It’s been hard to find time to write recently. My mornings have been given over to my baby boy who has new-day demands and wishes. Sometimes I think I’ve trained him to wake at the smell of coffee because it seems that no matter what early hour of darkness I rise in, sometime between boiling water and me taking a sip, he stirs.

In this moment of new parenthood, this is my greatest challenge. I have spent much of my adult life traveling—living in other people’s homes or en route from one corner of this little planet to another. And the years of stillness have mostly been lived alone (or as of late with another quiet adult). My morning routine in these versions of life have saved me. Writing is a purge. It’s when I create and make sense of all the madness that has come before me and that will continue long after I’m gone. Losing this time has been hard and scary as my sanity (and my living) is embedded in the written word.

But luckily there are friends who remind me that even when my pen doesn’t touch the page, I am still in fact writing. And my friend, author Elizabeth Rosner, might be the best at that. While catching up recently, she comforted my anxiety about the words being stored in my body. I left our conversation with the thought swirling that holding my son and introducing him to a new day is writing. Watching him explore his toys and laughing as he tries to wear a cardboard box for a hat is writing. Looking out the window at the squirrels with the dog by our side is writing. Everything we do, day in and day out, is writing. It’s all a story that will be handed to him. From my generation to his—the next.

As a writer herself, Elizabeth has spent her career making sense of the past. In my humble opinion, her book, Survivor Café: The Legacy of Trauma and Labyrinth of Memory, is the most powerful and poetic book out there about intergenerational trauma. It’s a call to memory. She reminds us that we don’t just inherit stories, we embody them and we age with them.

Elizabeth joined me on Along The Seam in 2022 and I want to re-share that conversation with you today. You can listen to the episode (#12) wherever you get your podcasts by searching ALONG THE SEAM, or right here. The transcript for our conversation is below. Please note: these transcripts are edited for brevity and clarity, and for paid subscribers. But podcast episodes are always free for all. You can find a full archive of episodes at www.alongtheseam.com.

And if you are a writer yourself and would like to spend time with Elizabeth’s words, you can find writing prompts here. And you can also follow her Substack: Listening Inside and Out.