Metaphors That Work: How to Make Your Writing More Vivid, Emotional, and True with Kristin Sancken and Lynn Shattuck

Writing Your Resilience: Building Resilience, Embracing Trauma and Healing Through Writing

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This week, we’re kicking off a new Editors’ Roundtable segment on the podcast, where I dig into key writing issues with the two trauma-informed editors I’m training—Kristin Sancken and Lynn Shattuck. In our first conversation, we explore metaphors—what they are, how to craft them, and how to recognize the ones that truly sing on the page. Let’s dive in.

Episode Highlights

• 5:23: What Is a Metaphor
• 7:15: Exercises For Creating Metaphors
• 9:40: Metaphors We Love (or Hate)
• 18:00: Our Writing Strategies
• 23:57: Discovering What Works
• 32:00 Navigating the Metaphor of Home

Resources for this Episode:

• Sanctuary of the Holy Others Substack by Kristin Sancken
• Oxygen: A Parlor Trick by Kristin Sancken (see page 19)
• Loss of a Lifetime: Grieving Siblings Share Stories of Love, Loss, and Hope edited by Lynn L. Shattuck and Alyson Shelton
• Why I Rang the Cancer Bell by Lynn Shattuck
• The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
• Group: How One Therapist and A Circle of Strangers Saved My Life by Christie Tate
• Our Double Time by Michael O’Siadhail
• Essay on Creating Hermit Crab Essays by Randon Billings Noble
• Ditch Your Inner Critic Now Masterclass

Kristin’s Bio: Kristin Thomas Sancken was born in Panama, raised in Mexico, and came of age in Minnesota before settling in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she lives with her husband, two children, and an exuberant Golden Retriever. Her writing has earned numerous awards and appeared in publications including The Guardian, HuffPost, and Columbia Journal. You can find more of her writing at her Substack, Sanctuary of the Holy Others.

Lynn’s Bio: Lynn Shattuck writes on topics like grief, parenting and mental health. She was a columnist at Elephant Journal for ten years, where several of her essays on the topic of grief and sibling loss and parenting went viral. Lynn co-founded the website lossofalifetime.com, a hub of resources and community for those who’ve experienced sibling loss. She co-edited the essay collection, The Loss of a Lifetime: Grieving Siblings Share Stories of Love, Loss, and Hope, which was released in June of 2025.

Connect with Kristin:

http://www.sancken.com/

Instagram: @ktsancken_writer

Threads: @ktsancken_writer

Connect with Lynn:

www.lossofalifetime.com

www.lynnlshattuck.com

Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/
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Produced by Espresso Podcast Production