The Author’s Mic™: Marilyn Burnette on Naming and Releasing Emotional Pain
Emotional pain does not always announce itself clearly. Sometimes it shows up as a reaction that feels bigger than the moment, a pattern we keep repeating, or a feeling we cannot explain.
In this episode of The Author’s Mic™, I sat down with author and personal power coach Marilyn Burnette to talk about her book, Defy the Power of Emotional Pain, and the work she has built around helping people recognize the emotional pain they may still be carrying.
Marilyn did not begin her career expecting to write about healing. She spent decades working as a programmer and business systems analyst. Her professional life trained her to look beneath the surface and ask a practical question: What is actually running this system?
Eventually, she began asking that same question about emotional pain.
Watch the full episode:
From Information Technology to Writing About Emotional Pain
Marilyn spent years producing technical documents, analytical reports, and business materials. Writing was not new to her, but writing from the heart was.
She originally thought she might write a book called Data Management on a Budget. It was practical, logical, and connected to the work she already knew. But another subject kept pulling at her: emotional pain and the hidden patterns it can create.
Marilyn had been learning about emotional pain for nearly 20 years while also doing her own personal work. She explored what helped, what did not, and what she believed people needed to understand about the pain they carry.
She tried to put the idea aside, but it would not stay on the back burner. Eventually, Defy the Power of Emotional Pain became the book she felt she had to write.
The book was published in February 2025. After its release, readers began sharing how deeply they connected with the material and how the book helped them examine their own experiences.
For Marilyn, those responses confirmed that the work needed to continue.
Writing From Lived Experience
One of the things that stood out during our conversation was Marilyn’s insistence that this work did not come from theory alone.
She lived it.
Her unfinished memoir addresses one of the hardest struggles of her life. She also has a collection of approximately 60 poems waiting for her attention. The business she is building has taken much of her time, but the writing is still there.
Marilyn did not initially want to make something so personal public. Writing about emotional pain meant admitting that she had experienced it. It also meant being honest about what it took for her to move through the most difficult parts.
That honesty matters because readers can tell when someone is speaking from a distance and when someone has actually lived through the subject they are discussing.
Marilyn’s book became a starting point, but it did not remain a stand-alone product. She expanded the material into a course designed to help people understand the mechanics of hidden emotional pain and begin recognizing what may be happening inside them.
When a Book Becomes the Beginning of Something Larger
During the episode, Marilyn shared the story of a reader who bought her book and later returned with questions.
Many of the answers he needed were already part of the course she was developing, so she directed him toward it. As he moved through the modules and did the work, Marilyn noticed changes in how he looked, what he discussed, and where he placed his attention.
That experience showed her how a book could open the door, while a course or coaching relationship could allow someone to explore the material more deeply.
Marilyn now works as a personal power coach through her brand, Logical Too. Her approach combines practical explanations with spiritual exploration. She wants the information to be accessible to people who may come to the subject from different perspectives.
Her book, course, and coaching are connected, but each serves a different purpose. The book introduces the work. The course allows people to engage with it in greater depth. Coaching provides space for individual questions and further conversation.
This is something authors should pay attention to. A book can be a complete work and still become the foundation for something larger.
What Does It Mean to Name Emotional Pain?
Near the end of our conversation, I asked Marilyn for one thing a person struggling with emotional pain could do immediately.
Her answer was to begin by recognizing and naming the emotional pattern.
Marilyn describes “pain bodies” as emotional pain connected to earlier experiences that can resurface when something in the present feels similar. A person may have a reaction that seems out of proportion to what is happening without understanding what the reaction is connected to.
According to Marilyn, hidden emotional pain gains power by remaining unrecognized. Naming the pattern does not complete the healing process, and she was clear that additional work may still be needed. But recognition can become an important first step.
It creates a pause between the emotional reaction and the person experiencing it.
Instead of simply being swept into the same response again, the person can begin asking where the feeling came from and why it continues to return.
Marilyn’s message is not that emotional healing happens instantly. Her own work developed across many years. Her point is that awareness gives us somewhere to begin.
Guest Links
Website:
Book — Defy the Power of Emotional Pain:
https://www.amazon.com/Defy-Power-Emotional-Pain-Spiritually/dp/B0DWLWRSVD
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/msburnette25
Facebook Community:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/729954209831808
Key Takeaways
Marilyn Burnette moved from decades of technical and analytical writing into work grounded in her own experience with emotional pain.
Defy the Power of Emotional Pain became the foundation for a course, coaching, and a larger body of work.
Marilyn believes emotional patterns can continue influencing reactions when their source remains unrecognized.
Naming an emotional pattern does not complete the healing process, but it can begin taking away some of its power.
A book can stand on its own while also creating a path toward education, coaching, community, or other forms of support.
Publishing With Bright Headed Publishing
A book can become the foundation for an entire body of work, but that does not happen through publication alone. The book has to be produced professionally and positioned with a clear understanding of what it is meant to do.
Bright Headed Publishing provides hands-on publishing support for selected authors. Depending on the project, that work may include manuscript preparation, interior formatting, cover coordination, ISBN assignment under the Bright Headed Publishing imprint, distribution setup, companion resources, and author-platform support.
This is not a quick-upload service or a one-size-fits-all publishing package. We work with authors who are serious about producing a professional book and building the infrastructure that book needs beyond publication day.
If you have a completed or nearly completed manuscript and are looking for publishing support, contact Bright Headed Publishing:
https://brightheadedpublishing.com
Finley’s Journey Spotlight
A finished book can create opportunities beyond the book itself. Finley’s Journey by Jeff Hepner is one example of how Bright Headed Publishing develops both the publication and the resources around it.
Published under the Bright Headed Publishing imprint, Finley’s Journey is part of The Classroom Creatures Chronicles™. The story follows Finley’s journey from a classroom tank toward open water and connects that experience to trout life cycles, watersheds, river stewardship, and classroom learning.
The project also includes the Finley’s Journey Student Workbook, a printable companion that gives students and educators another way to explore the subjects introduced through the story.
The book, workbook, educational positioning, distribution, and supporting media materials work together. That is what it looks like when publishing is treated as the beginning of a book’s reach—not the end of the process.
Explore Finley’s Journey and The Classroom Creatures Chronicles™:
https://brightheadedpublishing.com/new-releases
The Author’s Mic™ — Be a Guest
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The Indie Author Toolkit
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Free Guide: So You Wanna Write a Book
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Watch, Comment, and Stay Connected
Watch the full conversation with Marilyn Burnette and share this blog with someone who is working through emotional pain or trying to understand why certain emotional patterns continue to return.
What is one emotional pattern you have learned to recognize before it takes over your response? Share your experience in the comments.
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