Jun 11, 2026
What happens when you wake up one day dizzy and it never stops?
In this episode of Freelance Writing Direct, Estelle Erasmus talks with acclaimed author Rachel Weaver about her powerful new memoir, Dizzy. Rachel shares how she navigated nearly two decades of chronic illness before finding relief, and how she transformed that experience into a compelling braided memoir that weaves together her years working in the Alaskan wilderness, her medical journey, motherhood, marriage, and questions of power, resilience, and identity.
Rachel discusses:
• Why she chose to open Dizzy with the dramatic scene of falling through the ice in Alaska
• How nature became a source of metaphor throughout the memoir
• The surprising parallels between encounters with bears and encounters with doctors
• Writing through brain fog, screen sensitivity, and chronic illness
• How she developed the book's braided structure
• Avoiding repetition in an illness narrative
• Finding an ending for a memoir when the story is still unfolding
• The five-year process of writing and revising Dizzy
• Why writers should focus on process before product
• The path to publication for both Dizzy and her forthcoming novel, The Last Run
Watch on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU7-lLHkHEM
About Rachel Weaver
Rachel Weaver is the author of the memoir Dizzy and the novel Point of Direction, which was named a Top 10 Book to Pick Up Now by O, The Oprah Magazine and won the Willa Cather Award for Fiction. Her forthcoming novel, The Last Run, publishes in June 2026.
Before earning her MFA in Writing and Poetics from Naropa University, Rachel worked for the U.S. Forest Service in Alaska studying bears, raptors, and songbirds. She teaches at Wilkes University and Lighthouse Writers Workshop and holds a Certification of Professional Achievement in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University.
Learn more at:
Rachel Weaver's website
Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, TEDx speaker, and author of Writing That Gets Noticed. She is the host, founder, and executive producer of Freelance Writing Direct and an adjunct professor at NYU.
Her work has appeared in more than 150 publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine. She has served as editor-in-chief of five national magazines.
Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus
TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus
Twitter/X: @EstelleSErasmus
Bluesky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social
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