Writer Therapy - The Podcast

About Writer Therapy - The Podcast

Like Dear Abby, but for writers. Get warm, empathetic and sometimes hilarious writing advice every month from Sonal Champsee: a real writer, but not a real therapist. sonalchampsee.substack.com (https://sonalchampsee.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Sonal Champsee

Category

arts · fiction

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

2 Jan 2018

Latest episode

4 Dec 2025

Latest episodes

22 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   4 Dec 2025

   Success is a Letdown

   Writer Therapy: Like Dear Abby, but for writers. By Sonal Champsee (http://sonalchampsee.com/), a real writer, but not a real therapist. Want my advice on something? You can write to me anonymously here (https://gdnydbx9rr4.typeform.com/to/wZsJcqQ3). If you want to book one-on-one coaching with me, you can do that here: https://calendly.com/sonalchampsee/writertherapy (https://calendly.com/sonalchampsee/writertherapy) Links from today’s episode: A large excerpt from my essay on infertility (https://www.todaysparent.com/getting-pregnant/trying-to-conceive/i-knew-infertility-was-a-thing-i-just-never-imagined-it-would-be-my-thing/) The anthology, Through, Not Around: Stories of Infertility and Pregnancy Loss (https://www.dundurn.com/books_/t22117/a9781459742963-through--not-around), where the complete essay is published Jessica Westhead’s website (https://www.jessicawesthead.com/) A past Writer Therapy about dealing with envy (https://sonalchampsee.substack.com/p/dealing-with-envy) ~~~ Subscribe to the newsletter (https://sonalchampsee.substack.com/) (like the podcast, but written) to add your own comments and commentary, and also to let me know that people are still reading this, even if you prefer a podcast delivery. You can follow me on Instagram @sonalchampsee. (https://instagram.com/sonalchampsee) Music free for use under the Pixabay content license, created by UNIVERSFIELD This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sonalchampsee.substack.com (https://sonalchampsee.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

2. 

   6 Oct 2025

   Extras: News and Stories

   This is a long-overdue Extras column. I have a bunch of news to cover, a little bit of preachy writing to explain my absence earlier this year, and some fun stories about my writing life. News * If you’re in Toronto on October 7th, I’ll be joining Jill Yonit Goldberg as her guest at Queen Books in Leslieville (https://www.instagram.com/p/DO_v01bEr_I/), for the launch of her novel, After We Drowned. * I’m opening up some time towards one-on-one coaching (https://calendly.com/sonalchampsee/writertherapy). Book an hour with me, and tell me about your writing problems, whether it’s related to process, publishing or craft. * The big news: My novel, Everyone Can’t Be Wrong, is being published by Inanna Publications—due out in Fall 2026. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve heard this already, but scroll down to read more about this novel’s long path to publication…. everything that could go wrong happened. The Preachy Bit (short, I promise) I was going to write this Extras column about the unexpected break I took earlier this year (I hope some of you noticed!) because I spent the time volunteering for grassroots political efforts here in Ontario. Much like writing the draft of a novel, it was a long effort that was unlikely to succeed, but we did it anyway. We got the results we expected, not the ones we wanted, and yet, there were still some surprising successes along the way. All in all, more fun than fuming about the state of things. I’m pretty new to any kind of political activism, but given these politically shitty times, I feel a lot better if I’m able to do something. As I’ve been telling everyone, I’d rather go down fighting. But I wanted to take this space to encourage people to get involved politically. Granted, it’s not always safe for everyone to do so—particularly if you are in the USA. But I know that there are more people who could get involved. As shitty and sometimes rigged as our political system is, as much as it is slow and messy and full of often stupid and terrible compromises, as much as we end up fighting for the loss of someone we don’t want as opposed to being inspired by someone we truly do want… this is where the decisions get made. Maybe that’s at a very local level. Maybe it’s just for an hour here and there. But if you can make space for it—and I know it’s hard enough to make space for writing, let alone politics—do more than just vote in elections. Do more than sign petitions. Get out and stump for a candidate, even if they aren’t your favourite but are preferable to the alternative. Volunteer to help other people vote. Get involved in the local issues that result in dumb decisions because there are five terrible people who showed up at the public meeting to complain about s**t. Be the sixth person, and stand up and explain why the complainers are wrong. Change happens between elections too. This often requires sustained effort over a long period of time, but fortunately, that can be spread out over many people. You don’t have to be Erin Brockovich (either the movie one played by Julia Roberts, or the real life one) and devote your entire existence to a cause; there are lots of ways you can help with far less of a time commitment. I know many people who use the idea of bearing witness to terrible things as a way of feeling like they are doing something. I’m not sure that this is particularly helpful. Finding out what is happening is no longer difficult; it’s now too easy, and that quickly turns into overwhelm, and then nothing changes. There are other ways to do something. Okay, preachy bit over. Fun Stories about my Writing Life First, if you didn’t hear the news earlier because you don’t follow me on instagram, you really should check out my insta. It’s a lot like this newsletter if you took out the warm fuzzy bits and made things visual. My upcoming novel, Everyone Can’t Be Wrong, had a long journey. It began as a short story that I wrote in 2011 or so, that I never quite knew what to do with. It’s been through a lot, so much so that it’s publishing journey could be called: Everything That Could Go Wrong Where the novel started * Around 2014 or so, a friend from my MFA suggested the original short story really wanted to be a novel. And so I signed up for a novel writing workshop with Gail Anderson-Dargatz (https://www.gailanderson-dargatz.ca/), thinking I could get a draft done and really be in good shape for my upcoming MFA thesis. * Gail quickly pointed out that the idea I had, actually had no plot. * Together we worked through some scenes and came up with an outline that made a lot of sense on paper. I signed up for NaNoWriMo that year to help push through the novel, and it was right around the big final climax when I realized that this very sensible outline didn’t work. I mean, it worked but my characters had been fighting me on it the whole way through, and in the middle of the climax it was very clear that nope, this was all wrong. Still finished it because, it was nearly done anyway. * Started working on a whole new draft to submit as the first draft of my thesis. In the midst of this, we were going through infertility treatments, my cat died, we were renovating the house while living in it, I was teaching writing in addition to completing my MFA, and also my mother-in-law’s aggressive cancer came back, and she later died. I put off completing the first draft. * Eventually, I got back to the draft, sent it to my thesis advisor, late, and received comments back. By this point, I was pregnant and the need to finish renovating the house was dialled up to 11 because we had literal holes and rusty wires poking out of the walls, and also no complete bathrooms. Could I write while pregnant? Not really. * Didn’t finish the next draft until after my son was born, and more importantly, after we managed sleep training. As soon as my son was down for the night I would go straight to my desk to write. This was not so much dedication as it was terror at becoming one of those women who seemed to have a lot of potential but then became a mother and never did anything else. * Received comments on draft two (during the thesis process, these are less substantive comments) and then sent in draft three, which was the final draft for thesis purposes. Was entirely convinced by this point that I had completely missed the mark on what I had set out to write. Wrote my thesis advisor, Nancy Lee (https://www.nancyleeauthor.com), a long email about how I was going to toss out this novel, it was clearly flawed from the start, but it’s okay, it can be the novel that taught me about writing novels. * Nancy kindly wrote me that she didn’t think I should throw it out, that there was a lot of good writing in it, but I was unconvinced. She had to encourage me, right? Then I got notes from the second reader, Kevin Chong (https://thatkevinchong.com), for my thesis. His comments about the book showed me that somehow, despite all the changes and rewrites, I’d accidentally written the book that I’d intended to write. Sending it out the first time * Full of confidence, I rewrote the novel with some not-very-substantive edits and sent it out to agents. In my heart of hearts, I knew the novel was not ready, but I also wanted it published ASAP and hoped no one would notice. * Several agents later, it was very clear that I had fooled no one except possibly myself: the novel was not ready. I’d heavily leaned on referrals to reach agents, so I had a lot of positive feedback, but ultimately, more people wanted to look at my next novel than this one * I began working with a story editor to try and fix the novel, and while I had a smart sounding plan to fix everything, I kept getting stuck. I just couldn’t finish it. Giving up * I decided to give up on the novel. Possibly not permanently, but also, I needed to allow it to be permanent. I was pregnant with my second child at the time, and part of me worried that after this baby was born, I would never go back to it, nor would I write anything else. But realistically, I wasn’t writing anything anyway. * Then my dad died, and a few months later my daughter was born, and who had time? * Then it was March 2020, and I was home with an infant and a 3 year old. There was no more time anymore. There was no childcare, no playdates, no playgrounds. There was cleaning, anxiety, meals to make and endless identical days. I regretted all the time I’d spent not being braver with the novel, all the time I’d had to write another draft that I’d wasted. * Once school and childcare resumed, I rewrote the novel again, and then talked through the structure with some other writers, and then re-wrote the novel again, and then rewrote the structure from a different character’s point of view and rewrote it again. * I’d finished that draft just before the deadline for the Harper Collins/UBC prize for Best New Fiction, so I sent it in for kicks, and took a break and started revising the novel again. Success * A few months later, I found out I was a finalist. * One of Canada’s top agents commented on my instagram about being a finalist. Thought to myself, there is no way this is a casual comment. Got in touch; they really wanted to see the book. * I didn’t win, but one of my awards from being a finalist was an editorial session with Harper Collins. Told the agent that I wanted to incorporate the feedback first and really make the book the best it could be before sending it. They were happy to wait until I was ready. * The editorial session was great. The editors really got the book, some of their comments reflected what I was working on anyway, other comments pointed out places where I could go a bit deeper, and overall, I felt pretty good about things. * Finished the rewrite—which I wrote by hand—transcribed everything, and send it off to the agent, began fantasizing about my new life as a Big Deal * Followed up with the agent, and set up a meeting, but they had to cancel at the last second due to a family emergency. After much persistence and back and forth with them, we set a meeting. The agent told me they’d had positive reviews from their readers, but wanted to read it personally before we met. And failure * The agent cancels the meeting at the last minute. They had read the book, loved the writing, but didn’t really get it, and therefore didn’t think they could represent it. They clearly felt bad about it, especially after so much build-up and back and forth, but still, s**t. * Because I’d sent an earlier draft around to other agents, I didn’t think I could send them the same novel again unless they’d asked to look at a rewrite. Sure, the novel had changed a fair bit, but it was not an entirely new novel. I still sent it out to another couple of agents, but it was the same issue. They didn’t quite get it, and therefore couldn’t represent it. * The bizarre part was that the type of issues the agents would bring up, were not things that had come up during the editorial session with Harper Collins. Clearly, there was some kind of a disconnect here between what agents look at and what editors look at. Success again * I began sending it out to small press, which still holds a significant place within Canadian publishing, and more importantly, does not require an agent. * A friend of mine (https://www.jessicawesthead.com) helped refer me directly to editors, thus avoiding the slush pile entirely, one of which was a Big 5 editor. That editor somehow knew who I was and was really looking forward to reading the novel. Big Deal fantasy revived! Who needs an agent? * Some rejections came in, including some with feedback and one with willingness to look at it after a revision. I wasn’t sure if I had it in me to revise again on my own at that point, but the suggestion was helpful, and more to the point, that editor clearly understood what I was doing. * Followed up with the Big 5 editor. No reply. No worries, they are clearly still considering things. * Received more rejections, sent out more submissions. Standard stuff. And failure again * Followed up again with the Big 5 editor. Did you ever have that paranoid thought that if you checked in on a submission, you’d just remind them to reject you? It happened to me. Apparently, when I checked in before, there was a mix-up between editors over who was going to reply to me and so when they received this, it literally reminded them to make sure someone rejected me. * That said, the Big 5 editor clearly felt very bad about the whole thing, and it was one of those really nice rejections. My interpretation is that they liked the book, but couldn’t sell it internally. Success for real * Kept sending it out to small press. Noticed that Inanna had opened to publication, and so per their instructions, I sent them a partial manuscript. * About a week later, Inanna asked for a full manuscript, and a few months later offered a publication contract. They seem genuinely excited by the book, and despite all the ups and downs of the process, my book is in the hands of people who want good things for it. And so that is the story of how my book came to be. So far. One thing that this has taught me is that there is no career path, no trajectory in all of this. There is just event after event, and neither prior success nor prior failure necessarily means anything. Here’s hoping the path from here on goes smoothly. Writers, hope this inside view into the what went into this novel was helpful. Feel free to comment or ask me any questions. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sonalchampsee.substack.com (https://sonalchampsee.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

3. 

   4 Sept 2025

   Writing and Depression

   Writing and Depression When depression steals from your writing and writing adds to your depression. Follow Matthew J. Trafford on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/matthewjtrafford/), you can also check out his YouTube Channel, Fairy Godfather knits (https://www.youtube.com/@fairygodfatherknits) Previous posts referenced in this episode include one on writing routines (https://sonalchampsee.substack.com/p/on-writing-routines), one on writing with a chronic illness (https://sonalchampsee.substack.com/p/writing-after-illness), and also I snuck one in about not being a story factory (https://sonalchampsee.substack.com/p/you-are-not-a-story-factory). If you’re unfamiliar with the expression “don’t have the spoons (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon_theory)” you can read up on it on Wikipedia. It’s very handy. Writer Therapy: Like Dear Abby, but for writers. By Sonal Champsee (http://sonalchampsee.com/), a real writer, but not a real therapist. Want my advice on something? You can write to me anonymously here (https://gdnydbx9rr4.typeform.com/to/wZsJcqQ3). Subscribe to the newsletter (https://sonalchampsee.substack.com/) (like the podcast, but written) to add your own comments and commentary, and also to let me know that people are still reading this, even if you prefer a podcast delivery. You can follow me on Instagram @sonalchampsee. (https://instagram.com/sonalchampsee) Music free for use under the Pixabay content license, created by UNIVERSFIELD This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sonalchampsee.substack.com (https://sonalchampsee.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

Podcast Authority Score: 12 / 100

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Quality

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Social presence

91

YouTube

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