Join us for a discussion with Jocelyn Jane Cox, Melissa Fraterrigo, and Anna Rollins, three memoirists who write about perfectionism and perception. Though performance anxiety has the potential to be crippling, these three authors argue that, with the right mindset, it can be channeled into fuel to help writers put forth their best work on the page, energizing the writing and publishing process.
Books, once published, are relinquished to the world, out of an author’s hands and into the hands of others. Despite our neuroticism, we cannot control the landing, the handling, and the reception of our words. In this panel, we will engage with questions such as, how do recovering perfectionists handle the chaos involved in publishing the personal for a broad audience? What sort of mantras do we tell ourselves? What underlying beliefs have we worked to unpack? How can we care for ourselves in this vulnerable process while also discovering our strengths? We will share what we’ve learned in the process of publishing memoir so that others may have the courage to brave the mess involved in “putting yourself out there.” Jocelyn Jane Cox holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. Her memoir, Motion Dazzle (Vine Leaves Press 9/30/25) follows the day of her son’s first birthday, when she was hosting a zebra-themed party. This is also the day she lost her beloved mother to dementia and other ailments. Through that difficult time, she drew on strengths she developed during her years as a competitive figure skater. She competed in the United States Figure Skating Championships four times. Among other publications, her work has appeared in The New York Times, Slate, Newsweek, Good Men Project, WIRED, Belladonna Comedy, The Offing, HAD, Cleaver, Litro Magazine, Milk Journal, Literal Latte, and Colorado Review. Her fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She lives with her son and husband in the Hudson Valley of New York. Follow her on instagram at @jocelynjanecoxwriter or visit her website at www.jocelynjanecox.com.
Anna Rollins is the author of Famished: On Food, Sex, and Growing Up as a Good Girl (out December 9, 2025 from Eerdmans). Her groundbreaking debut memoir examines the rhyming scripts of diet culture and evangelical purity culture, both of which direct women to fear their own bodies and appetites. Her writing has appeared in outlets like The New York Times, Slate, Electric Literature, Salon, Joyland, and more. She’s also written scholarly articles about composition and writing center studies. She’s an award-winning instructor who taught English in higher education for nearly 15 years. She is a 2025 Tamarack Foundation for the Arts Literary Arts Fellow. A lifelong Appalachian, she lives with her husband in West Virginia where they’re raising their three children. Follow her on Instagram and Substack @annajrollins or at http://annajrollins.com
Melissa Fraterrigo’s forthcoming memoir, The Perils of Girlhood will be published by the University of Nebraska Press on September 1, 2025. She is also the author of the novel Glory Days (University of Nebraska Press, 2017), as well as the short story collection The Longest Pregnancy (Livingston Press, 2006). Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies from storySouth and Shenandoah to Notre Dame Review, The Offing and The Millions. She teaches creative writing at Purdue University, in the Butler University MFA in Creative Writing Program, and is also the founder and executive director of the Lafayette Writers’ Studio in Lafayette, Indiana, where she offers classes on the art and craft of writing. She lives with her husband and two daughters in West Lafayette, Indiana. Follow her on Instagram @melissafraterrigo or visit her website www.melissafraterrigo.com.
