London Writers' Salon

#162: Natalie Lue — Publishing Mini-Memoirs, Writing Difficult Truths, Choosing Indie Publishing

Episode Summary

Natalie Lue, bestselling author and writer (Baggage Reclaim) shares how she she shaped her mini-memoirs Let Go (Family & Friction) with The Pound Project, why intention is your best editor, and the inner tools that helped her write through grief, illness, and complicated family ties — without turning her life into content.

Episode Notes

Natalie Lue, bestselling author and writer (Baggage Reclaim) shares how she shaped her mini-memoirs Let Go (Family & Friction) with The Pound Project, why intention is your best editor, and the inner tools that helped her write through grief, illness, and complicated family ties — without turning her life into content.

You’ll learn

• How to decide if you’re writing from the scar or the wound.
• Practical ways to protect yourself on the page: boundaries, pauses, and purpose.
• A simple test for what stays in your memoir and what gets cut.
• Why journaling and “scrap-paper noodling” reveal patterns you can’t see in real time.
• How a small, focused publisher like The Pound Project co-builds a project — and what they look for in pitches.
• The mindset shift of “hold it lightly” when outcomes are uncertain.
• Gratitude for your past self as a creative survival skill.

Natalie’s reflection prompts:

• What am I pretending not to already know?
• What am I clinging to — and what would it mean to let it go?
• Who will I become if I let go? Who will I keep being if I don’t?
• What pattern keeps replaying in my journals — and what’s it trying to teach me?
• What do I need to feel safe enough to tell the truth?

Resources and Links:

• 📑Interview Transcript
• The Baggage Reclaim Sessions
• The Pound Project
• Email for The Pound Project - editor@poundproject.co.uk
• Let Go by Natalie Lue

About Natalie Lue:

Natalie is a writer, speaker, and host of The Baggage Reclaim Sessions, a podcast with 3M+ downloads across 140+ countries. Her books include The Joy of Saying No (Harper Horizon) and self-published titles such as Mr Unavailable and the Fallback Girl. In Let Go (The Pound Project), she explores a decade marked by estrangement, loss, illness, and publishing, showing how releasing what no longer serves can restore creative power and clarity.