We periodically feature guest input from impactful authors we’ve worked with. Please enjoy this Q&A about the writing process with health policy and medical biography author Brian Klausner, M.D. As a medical doctor, he brings a unique perspective to the topic of homelessness in America.

SPIRITUS BOOKS: Tell us a little about your book, In the Gaps: Better Understanding the Expensive Human Suffering of Chronic Homelessness, and why you wrote it. How has it helped you personally or professionally?

Please enjoy this Q&A about the writing process with memoir author Cynthia Francois.

SPIRITUS BOOKS: Tell us a little about your book and why you wrote it.

At first, writing my story, Traveling through Grief: Life, Death, and Ten Months in a Tent, was just a way to process unbearable emotions and events surrounding my new husband’s sudden death. I felt like I could no longer hold onto the weight of it all, and as a professional marketing copywriter, I write and simplify to make sense of all things—whether it be the sudden death of my husband, or to promote an interactive flat panel display to educators in schools around the globe.

I wrote a blog in the aftermath of his death and continued to journal during a road trip through the U.S. national parks. I used those existing writings to outline and format my manuscript, which follows me through living on the road while in survival mode after I lost everything. Over time, I thought my story could help other young widows experiencing similar life changes.

SPIRITUS BOOKS: Tell us a little about your book, How to Win Friends and Manage Remotely, and why you wrote it.

MCKENNA SWEAZEY: I’d been batting around an idea of an empathy-based leadership book for a while, and when the pandemic hit, I suddenly had both some extra time to do it and a renewed focus on why empathy is really important in digital interactions. 

Please enjoy this Q&A about the book writing process with memoir author Beth Jones.

My book is Becoming an Empowered Survivor, You, Too, Can Heal from Trauma and Abuse, in which I share my story about my healing journey, told through my acronym for HEAL, which means to hope, evolve, and love. In the book, I share my experience with each of these actions. I wrote the book to crystallize my message to other survivors of trauma and abuse, following the subtitle of the book, that they, too, can heal.

Please enjoy this Q&A about the book writing process with addiction recovery memoir author Jorja Jamison, PhD, LP.

JORJA JAMISON, PHD, LP: When I was training in my doctoral program in psychology, I loved getting to present at conferences. But there were usually not a lot of people who attended conference sessions, even at very large conferences. My advisor once encouraged me to write, saying that I could reach a lot more people through my writing than my conference presentations. She was referring to publishing in academic journals. I never found that pathway fulfilling, but her words always stayed with me.