103: Liz Holtzinger on Writing in Public — How a Substack With One Subscriber Became a Book
There's a particular kind of ache that doesn't show up on the outside. You're doing everything right, checking all the boxes with a solid career and a great-looking life. But under the surface, something is off. It’s like your current life no longer fits.
That's the ache Liz Holtzinger shares with readers in her book Lead Yourself First. Liz spent over two decades teaching rhetoric and composition at Penn State when, on her 50th birthday, she woke up with COVID. She ended up spending this milestone birthday snuggledup alone, under a blanket, and asking herself the big questions she'd been avoiding. What came out of that year was a Substack, started for just one paying subscriber, which eventually became her book.
In this conversation, we talk about the chapter she struggled with most. The chapter asked her to look at her past and name something as abuse for the first time. We talk about writing in public before you know what you're building, which I know is what so many writers are bravely doing. We also talk about her Leadership Compass framework, built on clarity, alignment, presence, and truth — the same four words she used to teach her students and used to find her own way back to herself.
If you've built something that looks right and feels off, this one's for you.
In this episode:
The 50th birthday that cracked everything open and sparked what would become her first book
Why Liz wrote the book as a Substack first — for an audience of one
The chapter she almost couldn't write
Her Leadership Compass framework: clarity, alignment, presence, truth
Why she believes most of us aren't lost — just disconnected from our own judgment
The one chapter she wants you to read if you only have time for one
Meet Liz
Liz Holtzinger is a writer, professor, entrepreneur, and author of Lead Yourself First. Her work explores what happens when the life you've built no longer fits—and how to find your way back to yourself without blowing everything up and starting over.
Drawing on more than two decades of teaching, leadership experience, and her own journey through burnout, self-neglect, and personal transition, Liz challenges the idea that people need constant reinvention. Instead, she believes most of us are searching for something we've lost: trust in our own judgment, values, and inner voice.
Liz speaks on self-leadership, identity, burnout, communication, and the pressure to perform in modern life. Her approach is grounded, honest, and practical, helping people move from exhaustion and uncertainty toward greater clarity and alignment.
Connect with Liz Holzinger:
Liz's website: https://lizholtzinger.com/
Liz’s book on Amazon: Lead Yourself First: Return to Yourself and Lead from Alignment, Presence, and Truth
Connect with Jacqueline Fisch:
Timestamps:
00:00 Meet Liz Holzinger
01:35 Books and Childhood Reading
03:13 Early Writing Confidence
05:02 Publishing Dreams and Rejection
06:00 Accidental Path to Teaching
09:30 Penn State Breakthrough
11:00 Lead Yourself First Spark
14:04 Writing in Public on Substack
17:51 Hardest Chapter to Write
22:37 Identity and Chapter Five
26:36 New Projects and Poetry
28:24 Writing Drinks and Journaling
30:56 Substack Bonus and Farewell
