PODCAST · education
Writing Your Resilience: Building Resilience, Embracing Trauma and Healing Through Writing
by Lisa Cooper Ellison
The Writing Your Resilience Podcast is for anyone who wants to use the writing process to flip the script on the stories they’ve been telling themselves, because when we tell better stories about ourselves, we live better lives. Every Thursday, host Lisa Cooper Ellison, an author, speaker, trauma-informed writing coach, and trauma survivor diagnosed with complex PTSD, interviews writers of tough, true stories, people who've developed incredible grit, and professionals in the field of psychology and healing who've studied resilience. Over the past 7 years Lisa has taught writers how to write their resilience. Each time her clients and students have confronted the stories that no longer serve them, they’ve felt a little safer, become a little braver, and revealed more of their true selves. Now, with this podcast, she is creating a space for you to do this work too. Equal parts instruction, motivation, and helpful guide, Writing Your
Episodes
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Summer Rewind: Deep Memoir Writing Strategies with Jennifer Selig
Send us Fan Mail About this episode: In this final summer rewind episode, I revisit my highly popular episode with writer, writing instructor, and publisher Jennifer Selig. In it, we discussed how memoir writing can be a powerful tool for healing and self-discovery. Learn how Jennifer’s unique...
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Summer Rewind: Writing Rituals: Staying Grounded While Being Vulnerable with Natalie Buster
Send us Fan Mail About this episode: In this summer rewind episode, I revisit my conversation with yoga therapist and certified death doula Natalie Buster as we grapple with this question: How do you write about really tough, or even traumatic, life events in a way that connects with your…
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Summer Rewind: Writing about Intergenerational Trauma with Margaret Lee
Send us Fan Mail About this episode: In this summer rewind episode, I revisit my conversation with Margaret Lee, author of the highly acclaimed memoir Starry Field. In it we explore the impacts of intergenerational trauma on our identity, the challenges of writing a researched memoir, staying...
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Summer Rewind: When Agents Say No with Jessica Yen
Send us Fan Mail About this episode: In this summer rewind episode, I revisit my conversation with Jessica Yen, an alumni of my Camp Structure program and now a coach about the challenges she faced while dealing with discouraging feedback from a literary agent. Join us as we explore how agents...
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Summer Rewind: Crafting Stories that Ignite the Soul with Sue William Silverman
Send us Fan Mail About this episode: In this summer rewind episode, I revisit my conversation with the amazing Sue William Silverman about her craft book Acetylene Torch Songs: Writing True Stories to Ignite the Soul. In it, we talk about the power of creative nonfiction, how to use metaphor,...
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Summer Rewind: The Art of Intimacy Summer Rewind: Crafting Connection in Memoir and Essay with Lilly Dancyger
Send us Fan Mail Join me and editor extraordinaire Lilly Dancyger for this summer rewind episode where we discuss her latest book, First Love, an intimate, electric collection of essays on friendship, identity, and what it means to grow into yourself in community. During our conversation, Lilly...
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Summer Rewind: How to Protect Your Writing Time, Energy, and Creative Worth with Carolyn Fallert
Send us Fan Mail About this Episode: Have you ever felt like your creativity isn’t enough or that your artistic endeavors are secondary to everything on your to-do list? Have you tried all the strategies only to find yourself struggling with this yet again? Join me and my client, Carolyn Fallert,...
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Summer Rewind: The Fawning Trauma Response: Ingrid Clayton on Healing People-Pleasing and Codependency
Send us Fan Mail Have you been told you’re a people pleaser or found yourself saying yes when you meant no, without even thinking about it? Have a friend who struggles to express their feelings or share their preferences? If so, you might have encountered the fawning trauma response. Join me and...
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Summer Rewind: Exploring The Loneliness Epidemic with Athena Dixon
Send us Fan Mail How do you define loneliness? How did the pandemic impact the way that you define and experienced it? What does success look like for you? What is one positive association you have with being alone? These are just a few of the questions Athena and I explore in this summer rewind...
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Summer Rewind: The True Meaning of Success and The Multiple Paths to Publishing Your Book with Courtney Maum
Send us Fan Mail In this summer rewind episode, we revisit my conversation with Courtney Maum, author of Alan Opts Out, Before and After the Book Deal, and The Year of Horses. During our chat, we discuss writer mental health, the key ingredients in an author brand, what success really means and…
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Summer Rewind: Writing to Heal with Laura Davis
Send us Fan Mail In this summer rewind episode, we revisit my conversation with writing instructor and author of The Courage to Heal, Laura Davis. During this episode, Laura and I discuss the healing power of writing, the difference between writing to heal and writing for a public audience, and…
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Summer Rewind: The Loneliness of Sibling Loss with Alyson Shelton and Lynn Shattuck
Send us Fan Mail About this episode:I am currently on break so I can focus on my writing and some much-needed rest. Until I return with new episodes on September seventeenth, I’ve curated a summer rewind series of fan favorites. This week’s episode with Lynn Shattuck and Alyson Shelton was…
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Linger in the Uncertainty: Jill Christman on Writing Through Grief and Loss
Send us Fan Mail What do we carry with us from the people we love and lose, and how do we make a choice from the center of our grief? This week, I'm wrestling with these questions alongside memoirist Jill Christman, whose new book The Heart Folds Early is a fierce and tender exploration of the...
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Writing as the Language of Emotions: Lindz McLeod on Storytelling, Empathy, and Our Shared Humanity
Send us Fan Mail What if understanding your characters (and your readers) came down to something as simple as a cup of coffee? In this episode, I sit down with author, writing coach, and rule-breaking storyteller Lindz McLeod to explore writing voice, character motivation, and the iceberg…
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Are You Writing for Others or Yourself? How to Break Free From People-Pleasing as a Writer
Send us Fan Mail About this episode: Have you ever said yes to something that felt like destiny, only to realize later it took you further from your goals? In this episode, I share a personal story about a writing group experience that taught me one of the most important lessons of my creative...
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Writing, Healing, and Psychedelic Therapy: How Psilocybin, Set and Setting, and Integration Support Creative Resilience with Stacey Simmons
Send us Fan Mail About this episode: With a recent executive order expediting the review of psychedelic drugs like psilocybin, psychedelic therapy is moving from the fringes into the national conversation — and this week's episode couldn't be more timely. Whether you're curious about what...
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Author Platform Strategy: Why Less Effort Gets Better Results with Human Design
Send us Fan Mail Building an author platform can feel overwhelming, especially when you're doing it alone, on a budget, and wondering if any of it is actually working. In this episode, I sit down with author and adoptee advocate Patricia Knight Meyer to explore a Human Design approach to...
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Author Platform Myths Debunked: How to Reach Readers Without Burning Out | Writing Resilience
Send us Fan Mail Author platform doesn't have to mean performing for an algorithm or chasing followers who don't care about your work. In this episode, I break down what an author platform actually is, why the "magic formula" myth keeps so many writers stuck, and how to build a platform that…
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Building a Writing Career from Trauma: Book Launches, Platform Growth & Healing with Tia Levings
Send us Fan Mail What does it really take to build a writing career out of your hardest story and stay whole while doing it? In this episode, I sit down with author Tia Levings, whose memoir A Well-Trained Wife has become an increasingly timely reckoning with religious trauma, patriarchy, and...
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Why Writers Struggle to Find Flow — and the Simple Practices That Bring It Back
Send us Fan Mail What does it really take to get into a state of creative flow and what pulls us out of it? In this Editor's Round Table episode, I’m joined by fellow editors Sarah Chauncey and Lynn Shattuck to explore the Law of Increasing Flow: a framework built on presence, strategic rest, and...
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How to Stop Controlling Outcomes and Start Surrendering: Tools for Writers and Creatives
Send us Fan Mail About this episode: Have you ever come to a point in your life where giving up was the way forward? If so, how was that different from defeat? In this episode, I unpack what healthy surrender really means, how it can actually strengthen rather than diminish your sovereignty, and...
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How to Discover Your True Writing Voice with Jeannine Ouellette
Send us Fan Mail About this episode: This week, I’m joined by Jeannine Ouellette, author of The Part that Burns and a writing instructor whose deepest passion is using writing to connect us with our humanity. She sees the craft of writing as so much more than the words on the page, and I couldn’t...
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Silenced No More: How to Write the Story You've Been Afraid to Tell with Meagan Justus
Send us Fan Mail In this Ask Me Anything session, writer and advocate Meagan Justus brings two questions that so many writers are quietly wrestling with. 1st: when you keep circling the core of your story without being able to reach it, do you shape what you have or keep writing until you get...
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Healing Your Ancestral Trauma: How Family Constellations Work Can Free You from Stories That Aren't Yours with Tania Gonzalez-Ortega
Send us Fan Mail What if the stories we tell about ourselves aren't really ours, and what if we could finally trace them back to where they began? This is something I’ve been asking myself for years, and today I’m excited to share a few ways you can answer those questions for yourself through...
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Human Design for Writers: How Understanding Your Design Unlocks Resilience, Creativity, and Deeper Healing with with Jessica Eure
Send us Fan Mail What if the key to unlocking your creativity wasn't about doing more but about finally understanding who you are? In this episode, trauma therapist Jessica Eure and I explore how Human Design is transforming the way we work, create, and heal. From decoding your body graph to...
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Find Your Life's Purpose One Feeling at a Time: A Human Design Approach to Alignment
Send us Fan Mail Resources for this Episode: Get Your Free Human Design Report Ditch Your Inner Critic Now Do you feel aligned, or are you burning out? It’s a question we must ask ourselves repeatedly during the year of the fire horse. In today’s episode I share the simple Human Design tool you...
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How I Escaped Iran & Wrote My Way to Freedom | My Name Means Fire Author Atash Yaghmaian
Send us Fan Mail What if the condition that made your life unmanageable was also the source of your greatest gifts? In this episode, I sit down with Atash Yaghmaian, a therapist, activist, and author of My Name Means Fire, to explore how writing became the bridge between her many parts, her…
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Creative Intuition: The Skill That Makes Life and Work Easier
Send us Fan Mail Would you like to know when to say yes or no, how to tell which piece of feedback is right for you or your book, or how to proceed with greater ease? If you’re working on a book, would you like to spend more time having your characters tell you what to write and less time trying…
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How Writers Keep Going When They’re Exhausted, Overwhelmed, and Doubting Themselves
Send us Fan Mail How do you keep the faith when your nervous system is fried, your heart is tired, and the world feels like too much? In this editors’ roundtable episode, I’m joined by Kristin Sancken and Lynn Shattuck for an honest conversation about what actually helps when times are tough....
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How to Write a Memoir When You Don’t Remember Everything (Memory, Trauma & Emotional Truth) with Sue William Silverman
Send us Fan Mail What do you do when the memory you need most for your memoir is the one you can’t quite reach? You listen to this week’s guest, Sue William Silverman. Sue is the award-winning author of nine works of nonfiction and poetry and co-chair of the MFA in Writing program at Vermont...
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Can You Trust Your Memories? What Neuroscience Reveals About Trauma, Story, and Healing with Stacey Simmons
Send us Fan Mail Listeners, do you ever wonder if your memories are real? Are you writing a memoir and struggling to remember something—or worrying that what you’re sharing might not be “the truth”? Today on Writing Your Resilience, I’m joined by psychotherapist and neuroscience nerd Stacy…
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How to Write About Trauma Without Traumatizing Your Reader with Melissa Fraterrigo
Send us Fan Mail Writers, are you writing about trauma and wondering how detailed to get or how to connect the dots when your story feels scattered? The solution might be a memoir in essays that allows you to write about powerful discreet moments that are loosely connected by associations. If...
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Memoir Writing Mistakes: Why “This Happened, Then This Happened” Isn’t a Memoir with Wendy Dale
Send us Fan Mail This week, I’m joined by Wendy Dale, the author of The Memoir Engineering System, for a conversation that will change the way you think about structure, scenes, and what actually makes a memoir work. We talk about why “this happened, then this happened” isn’t a story, how…
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Entering the Fire Horse Year: The 3 Things Writers Must Do to Reclaim Momentum
Send us Fan Mail As we step into 2026, many writers feel ready to begin—yet remain stalled or exhausted from the year before. In this episode, I show you how to reclaim momentum through creative alignment and the one thing you must do to harness your success. We explore the three essential things...
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Encore Episode: Breaking the Silence with Melanie Brooks
Send us Fan Mail In this encore conversation, author and teacher Melanie Brooks and I explore the lifelong impact of silence—within our families, our communities, and our writing lives. Drawing from her memoir, A Hard Silence, Melanie shares how unspoken truths shaped her understanding of grief,...
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Encore Episode: Writing about Absent Fathers and Attachment Styles with Acamea Deadwiler
Send us Fan Mail Join me and Pushcart Nominee, TedX Speaker, and multi-passionate creative, Acamea Deadwiler for this encore episode where we talk about normalized violence, how our attachment styles can influence the way we approach our memoirs, and the importance of connecting with your inner...
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Encore Episode: Crafting the Personal Essay and Resilient Editing Tips with Andrea Firth
Send us Fan Mail Join me and Andrea Firth for this encore episode of the writing your resilience podcast where we explore what personal essays are, how writers can uncover their essay’s aboutness, and how to develop resilient editing practices. As an added bonus, learn the inside scoop on how to...
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Encore Episode: Writing Through Shame: Hannah Sward on Memoir, Resilience, and Being Present
Send us Fan Mail Join me and Hannah Sward, author of Strip: A Memoir, for an encore episode where we go behind the scenes of her writing process—how she wrote her first draft by hand, in one long, unfiltered sentence; how she found the courage to put her full truth on the page; and how she...
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100 Episodes Later: 10 Lessons Every Writer Needs
Send us Fan Mail What happens when you commit to showing up—again and again—for your writing life? In this special bonus recording in celebration of my 100th episode,, I reflect on ten years of creative work and the ten lessons I learned about growth, resilience, rest, and trusting your own...
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What If You're Not Meant to be the Hero of Your Memoir: How Writers Reclaim Their Sovereignty with Stacy Simmons
Send us Fan Mail Have you been trying to fit your life story into the hero’s journey and find it’s just not working? What if it doesn’t fit the mold because you were never meant to be the hero, but rather you were meant to be the queen? In this 100th episode of Writing Your Resilience, I’m joined...
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Stop Forcing the Silver Lining: Why Writers Need Real Emotional Truth with Dr. Risa Ryger
Send us Fan Mail What if the pressure to “find the silver lining” is actually keeping you from healing? In this episode, Dr. Risa Riger and I unpack the subtle—and sometimes harmful—ways toxic optimism, avoidance, and “bouncing back” culture disconnect us from our own truth. Together, we explore...
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Your Memoir Isn’t Too Weird: How to Write the Mystical with Confidence with Linda McKittrick
Send us Fan Mail Many writers find themselves wrestling with experiences that fall outside linear time, logic, or the way stories are “supposed” to unfold. In this final Ask Me Anything episode of 2025, I sit down with my student Linda to talk about how to weave the spiritual, the uncanny, and…
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Gratitude, Grief, and Growth: What Frida Kahlo Taught Me About Resilience
Send us Fan Mail Holidays can bring out the best—and the hardest—parts of being human. In this special Thanksgiving episode of Writing Your Resilience, I share stories from joyful celebrations and heartbreakingly difficult years to remind you that whatever you’re feeling today—gratitude, grief…
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When Every Submission Feels Like a No: Reclaiming Your Writing Confidence
Send us Fan Mail Listeners, have you been struggling to pick yourself up after experiencing one—or maybe many—rejections of your work? It’s an experience that can make you feel so alone, but I want to be the first to say that we’ve all experienced the self-doubts and even shame a big rejection…
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You Don’t Suck at Meditation: Busting 5 Myths That Keep You From Feeling Calm
Send us Fan Mail If you’ve ever sat down to meditate—especially at a writing retreat—and thought, “I suck at this,” this episode is for you. In this solo conversation, I unpack five common myths about meditation that leave writers feeling frustrated, ashamed, or “bad” at being still. From the...
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Writing Through the Body: What Our Scars, Stretch Marks, and Memories Teach Us with Nina Lichtenstein
Send us Fan Mail Listeners, what role does the body play in your book? Is it something you use to show the story—or is it the portal to the story itself? In this episode, I talk with Nina Lichtenstein, author of Body, My Life in Parts, a memoir in essays that uses the body as both structure and...
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Selected Misdemeanors: Crafting Meaning in Flash Nonfiction with Sue William Silverman
Send us Fan Mail Have you ever wondered how a single moment—a glance, a mistake, a shimmering flash of memory—can hold the power of an entire story? Or how the smallest details of an ordinary life can reveal something vast about who we are and what we long for? In this episode, I talk with...
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When Your Best Writing Feels Terrible: Understanding Shame, Vulnerability, and the Creative Process
Send us Fan Mail Today, we’re diving into a topic that trips up so many writers—vulnerability. How much should you share? When does honest writing become oversharing? And why does your most powerful work sometimes feel like it completely sucks? If you’ve ever been told your story isn’t raw...
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Metaphors That Work: How to Make Your Writing More Vivid, Emotional, and True with Kristin Sancken and Lynn Shattuck
Send us Fan Mail 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…
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Showing, Telling, and the Shimmer: Finding the Scenes That Bring Your Memoir to Life with Marianna Marlowe
Send us Fan Mail Which memories shimmer inside you? Which ones refuse to let you go? Those luminous, haunting moments are often the raw ingredients of the story you’re truly meant to tell. In this episode of Writing Your Resilience, I sit down with newsletter follower and memoirist Marianna...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The Writing Your Resilience Podcast is for anyone who wants to use the writing process to flip the script on the stories they’ve been telling themselves, because when we tell better stories about ourselves, we live better lives.
Every Thursday, host Lisa Cooper Ellison, an author, speaker, trauma-informed writing coach, and trauma survivor diagnosed with complex PTSD, interviews writers of tough, true stories, people who've developed incredible grit, and professionals in the field of psychology and healing who've studied resilience.
Over the past 7 years Lisa has taught writers how to write their resilience. Each time her clients and students have confronted the stories that no longer serve them, they’ve felt a little safer, become a little braver, and revealed more of their true selves. Now, with this podcast, she is creating a space for you to do this work too.
Equal parts instruction, motivation, and helpful guide, Writing Your
HOSTED BY
Lisa Cooper Ellison
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Writing Your Resilience: Building Resilience, Embracing Trauma and Healing Through Writing have?
Writing Your Resilience: Building Resilience, Embracing Trauma and Healing Through Writing currently has 141 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Writing Your Resilience: Building Resilience, Embracing Trauma and Healing Through Writing about?
The Writing Your Resilience Podcast is for anyone who wants to use the writing process to flip the script on the stories they’ve been telling themselves, because when we tell better stories about ourselves, we live better lives. Every Thursday, host Lisa Cooper Ellison, an author, speaker,...
How often does Writing Your Resilience: Building Resilience, Embracing Trauma and Healing Through Writing release new episodes?
Writing Your Resilience: Building Resilience, Embracing Trauma and Healing Through Writing publishes regularly with 141 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Writing Your Resilience: Building Resilience, Embracing Trauma and Healing Through Writing?
You can listen to Writing Your Resilience: Building Resilience, Embracing Trauma and Healing Through Writing on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Writing Your Resilience: Building Resilience, Embracing Trauma and Healing Through Writing?
Writing Your Resilience: Building Resilience, Embracing Trauma and Healing Through Writing is created and hosted by Lisa Cooper Ellison.
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