Meet Louise Nayer

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Louise Nayer. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Louise below.

Louise, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

When I dedicated myself to writing (first poetry and later prose) I found my purpose and also my strength in life. My parents had been severely burned in a gas explosion when I was four. When they returned, my mother was disfigured facially and my father was depressed, sitting in a rocking chair for hours bemoaning his fate. My parents, particularly my mother, mirrored enormous strength in reconstructing our family. But that strength left little room for emotions. As a young adult trying to be on my own, the trauma from the past–a nine month separation from my parents and the horror of the burns–caused me to feel anxious. At times, the anxiety overwhelmed me and led to panic attacks.

Writing saved me. Pouring my thoughts and feelings into poetry and honing my style as I always loved words–gave me strength and resilience. Later, I wrote a memoir called Burned and put my story out into the world. I became a teacher and helped countless others tell their stories. The desire to write down your story and to put your story out into the world and expose your flaws is strength. Becoming a better writer also gave me strength. Eventually six books of mine were published.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am a writer and also a creative writing teacher. I am also a member of The Writer’s Grotto in San Francisco. Occasionally I work with individual students, helping them with their memoirs. I also teach through OLLI (Osher Life Long Institute) at UC Berkeley. I also teach one small critique class. Recently, I began revising a novel that I began many years ago. Though I am retired from full-time teaching, I still continue to teach and write!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I learned very early, as many of us do, not to share difficult feelings. Part of my journey, and I’ve had tremendous help along the way with close friends, my family, therapists, a hypnotist and others–is to help me understand and express my feelings. Life is about both joy and pain and I don’t run away from pain. Opening up to all the parts of myself, helped me become a better writer.

As a “wordster”–I love the taste and feel of words. There were times when I even read the dictionary, always looking for new ways to write. When I teach, I talk about “sensory detail”–what do you hear, taste, see when you walk into a room. Over many years, I’ve worked on my writing, of course inspired by others who came before me.

I always wanted to share my writing and my knowledge with others. Teaching has been a major part of my journey. I love my students and impart my knowledge of the writing journey to them and also listen to them and learn from them. If you are early in your journey and even later, learn as much as you can from others but also listen to yourself and don’t try and change who you are to fit a mold.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

Over the years, I’ve been using apps like “calm” and also “leaves on a stream”–a technique for putting your worries on a leaf (or leaves) and watching them go down the stream–so you can deal with them some other time. In my book about retirement, I also found a “dresser drawer technique” for worries. In your mind, open a drawer, put in a worry (like money, or your job) then close the drawer and deal with it another time or in the morning! These ways of dealing with anxiety have helped me immeasurably.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.louisenayer.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lnayer50/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LouiseNayerAuthor/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louise-nayer-774b5b110/