This is beautiful. There is so much freedom in these words. I adore the idea of turning this season into anything we wish it to be. Never stop writing. Your words inspire me to be a better human.
I made a profile to respond to this because it rang something so soundly in me. I have been going through the motions to arrive at this understanding you describe, and just recently taken on the mantra of "The time will pass anyways, why not try now?".
Thank you for your work and sharing this. This hopeful perspective is what I was reaching for. Thank you!!
I feel the exact same way about September! And I think it's because I loved school and that sense of possibility. I still get excited for September for that reason.
Gah! I love all of those words. And feel the very same... so much possibility and newness every autumn. I am absolutely stealing your strategy of making Sept/Oct/Nov Q1! Brilliant. Feels very expansive.
I've been listening to the Write Now podcast for a while and thoroughly enjoy your work! You have been so encouraging and helpful to this creative who lost her creative way for a couple of decades (eek!) being in survival mode. Closing in on 54, finding my way back to myself... and your work is a wonderfully supportive guide on my journey.
I remember Girl in space I listen to it last year and got confused by the story. I got lost. I was listening to it while I wrote my own novel. I could only write quitly for so long.. I actually joined a creative writing group nearby. Are you going to make/produce/write another audio drama? I been listening to a few of those every once in a while. Can you recommend a few please.
I am! I'm working on Season 2 of Girl In Space now and I am also planning on writing and producing a sort of cozy horror series. As far as audio drama recommendations, I love SPINES, Midnight Burger, Badlands Cola, Unwell, Marsfall, Wolf 359... let me know if you need more recommendations!
I just listened to the podcast about believing in your dreams. You mention about how you wrote before and after work. In the morning before work you mentioned you were ghost writing for people. Do you still ghostwrite?
💕 You wrote what was in my heart! I LOVE the fall time of year so much, and it makes me happy that there are other people who see beginnings in this time of year, since my name is Autumn, and I was born in October. A few years ago, my puppy died in the beginning of September, so that time is often a melancholy time for me. But further into the month I start to feel like a renewed person, no longer held down by the heaviness of summer, which I usually trudge through just barely hanging on, looking forward to when I see the first crisp, yellow leaves falling to the ground. You have no idea how high the cloud I'm floating on is right now, since the days are finally starting to cool off, and rainy gray days are becoming more frequent. They help me write, help me feel inspired, and I think it's because on days when clouds cover the sky, I feel safe in a little cocoon. For months I've been stuck on a part of my novels, and every time I even looked at the screen it felt like my brain was being torn apart from the inside. But I took the month of August off, and September hit, and I just felt something inside me unlocking, the fall breeze carrying the answer to me.
This time of year also reminds me of school in a nostalgic way. My parents just recently decided my brother and I are going to be homeschooled from now on, because my dad's job forces us to move from Illinois to Georgia every year (which your writing traveling episodes helped me through this last time. The time before was when I found your podcast). This means we miss half the school year. It's just too difficult now, and I understand it, but this year I would have started high school, and I can't help wondering what I'm going to miss. However, I know it also gives me an opportunity to spend most of my time writing, and for that I know I will be endlessly thankful. I'm younger than most authors, I often feel hindered by that, like something is wrong with me. But your words inspire me--beginning when it feels right. To me, there's nothing I want to do right now (or should I say Write Now? 😏) than write. Thank you for writing this. I love your newsletter, adore the Girl in Space audio-drama, and your podcast. In one episode you mentioned that you think it's mostly adults that listen, and that is possibly true, but you have at least one fifteen-year-old listener.
...I'm looking back and just realizing I wrote an essay instead of a comment. So sorry, but I hope it comes across that I love everything you do. Hope you have a wonderful fall! 🍂🍁
Oh gosh! Autumn! There is so much here. I can FEEL your love of the season. :) Nothing -- NOTHING! -- is wrong with you. Please keep writing! I'm so excited to see what you do.
After four traditionally published fantasy novels in a small European country, I have had a two years long non-writing season when everything I've tried has failed miserably. Today I'm filled with hope and excitement about an old(ish) idea that I might just end up turning into a new novel. Also on my way to an official diagnosis for my ADHD (I'm over forty and I've had my suspicions for a few years now). Thank you for your kind and encouraging words, Sarah! You might just have given me the nudge that I needed to be back.
Kae, thank you for sharing this. I was diagnosed with ADHD at 39, so I'm sending you strength & solidarity. I hope you're back, and I am so excited for what might turn into a new novel for you!
I live in a tropical city so I haven’t really gotten accustomed to seasons, because everyday is summer for us!
About doing things just because it feels right to oneself, hold so much sense and personalisation that I’ve struggled to find the past year. (I still do).
And hopefully I can find nuances that help me find my own way to achieve my targets and goals.
Great post Sarah. A great reminder that time is a construct and other people's (or society's) timelines are even more so. I started taking piano lessons at 61 and wrote a debut novel at 62. It is never, ever too late. Do your things when the time feels right.
i have to make this my first time commenting because i feel *exactly* the same about fall, and always have, it's my favorite season by a wide margin and it feels so mentally renewing. i highly HIGHLY recommend the novel "the girl who circumnavigated fairyland in a ship of her own making," by catherynne valente -- it's the sweetest and deepest writing about autumn that i've ever read, and i think you'd enjoy it.
Ari, thank you for commenting! Weirdly, I own that book... but I haven't read it yet!!! It's in a big pile. I'll have to dig it out and give it a read this fall!!!
Cyrus actually started yelling at me to come play in the episode I just recorded for release this Wednesday, but I had to cut it out because I screwed up what I was saying 😂
This is beautiful. There is so much freedom in these words. I adore the idea of turning this season into anything we wish it to be. Never stop writing. Your words inspire me to be a better human.
Shannon, thank you so much for these kind and encouraging words. <3
I made a profile to respond to this because it rang something so soundly in me. I have been going through the motions to arrive at this understanding you describe, and just recently taken on the mantra of "The time will pass anyways, why not try now?".
Thank you for your work and sharing this. This hopeful perspective is what I was reaching for. Thank you!!
Aaaaah Shelby, thank you so much! I'm so glad this resonated. :)
I feel the exact same way about September! And I think it's because I loved school and that sense of possibility. I still get excited for September for that reason.
I love it! 🙌
Gah! I love all of those words. And feel the very same... so much possibility and newness every autumn. I am absolutely stealing your strategy of making Sept/Oct/Nov Q1! Brilliant. Feels very expansive.
I've been listening to the Write Now podcast for a while and thoroughly enjoy your work! You have been so encouraging and helpful to this creative who lost her creative way for a couple of decades (eek!) being in survival mode. Closing in on 54, finding my way back to myself... and your work is a wonderfully supportive guide on my journey.
Annie, thank you!!! And YES -- reinvent your Q1!!!
Thank you for your kind and encouraging words, and I'm excited for everything that's ahead of you. :)
What is your podcast called?
I have two! A podcast for writers called Write Now with Sarah Werner (https://www.sarahwerner.com/episodes/), and an audio drama (fictional podcast) called Girl In Space (https://www.girlinspacepodcast.com/)!
I remember Girl in space I listen to it last year and got confused by the story. I got lost. I was listening to it while I wrote my own novel. I could only write quitly for so long.. I actually joined a creative writing group nearby. Are you going to make/produce/write another audio drama? I been listening to a few of those every once in a while. Can you recommend a few please.
I am! I'm working on Season 2 of Girl In Space now and I am also planning on writing and producing a sort of cozy horror series. As far as audio drama recommendations, I love SPINES, Midnight Burger, Badlands Cola, Unwell, Marsfall, Wolf 359... let me know if you need more recommendations!
I just listened to the podcast about believing in your dreams. You mention about how you wrote before and after work. In the morning before work you mentioned you were ghost writing for people. Do you still ghostwrite?
Thank you Thank you!!!
Thank YOU!
💕 You wrote what was in my heart! I LOVE the fall time of year so much, and it makes me happy that there are other people who see beginnings in this time of year, since my name is Autumn, and I was born in October. A few years ago, my puppy died in the beginning of September, so that time is often a melancholy time for me. But further into the month I start to feel like a renewed person, no longer held down by the heaviness of summer, which I usually trudge through just barely hanging on, looking forward to when I see the first crisp, yellow leaves falling to the ground. You have no idea how high the cloud I'm floating on is right now, since the days are finally starting to cool off, and rainy gray days are becoming more frequent. They help me write, help me feel inspired, and I think it's because on days when clouds cover the sky, I feel safe in a little cocoon. For months I've been stuck on a part of my novels, and every time I even looked at the screen it felt like my brain was being torn apart from the inside. But I took the month of August off, and September hit, and I just felt something inside me unlocking, the fall breeze carrying the answer to me.
This time of year also reminds me of school in a nostalgic way. My parents just recently decided my brother and I are going to be homeschooled from now on, because my dad's job forces us to move from Illinois to Georgia every year (which your writing traveling episodes helped me through this last time. The time before was when I found your podcast). This means we miss half the school year. It's just too difficult now, and I understand it, but this year I would have started high school, and I can't help wondering what I'm going to miss. However, I know it also gives me an opportunity to spend most of my time writing, and for that I know I will be endlessly thankful. I'm younger than most authors, I often feel hindered by that, like something is wrong with me. But your words inspire me--beginning when it feels right. To me, there's nothing I want to do right now (or should I say Write Now? 😏) than write. Thank you for writing this. I love your newsletter, adore the Girl in Space audio-drama, and your podcast. In one episode you mentioned that you think it's mostly adults that listen, and that is possibly true, but you have at least one fifteen-year-old listener.
...I'm looking back and just realizing I wrote an essay instead of a comment. So sorry, but I hope it comes across that I love everything you do. Hope you have a wonderful fall! 🍂🍁
Oh gosh! Autumn! There is so much here. I can FEEL your love of the season. :) Nothing -- NOTHING! -- is wrong with you. Please keep writing! I'm so excited to see what you do.
After four traditionally published fantasy novels in a small European country, I have had a two years long non-writing season when everything I've tried has failed miserably. Today I'm filled with hope and excitement about an old(ish) idea that I might just end up turning into a new novel. Also on my way to an official diagnosis for my ADHD (I'm over forty and I've had my suspicions for a few years now). Thank you for your kind and encouraging words, Sarah! You might just have given me the nudge that I needed to be back.
Kae, thank you for sharing this. I was diagnosed with ADHD at 39, so I'm sending you strength & solidarity. I hope you're back, and I am so excited for what might turn into a new novel for you!
Thank you so much for this!
I live in a tropical city so I haven’t really gotten accustomed to seasons, because everyday is summer for us!
About doing things just because it feels right to oneself, hold so much sense and personalisation that I’ve struggled to find the past year. (I still do).
And hopefully I can find nuances that help me find my own way to achieve my targets and goals.
Eargerly awating your next letter!
Farah, thank YOU! I suppose every day being summer wouldn't be such a bad thing... ;)
Great post Sarah. A great reminder that time is a construct and other people's (or society's) timelines are even more so. I started taking piano lessons at 61 and wrote a debut novel at 62. It is never, ever too late. Do your things when the time feels right.
ANN YES!!! Debut novel at 62 is music to my ears. I love it. Thank you for sharing this.
i have to make this my first time commenting because i feel *exactly* the same about fall, and always have, it's my favorite season by a wide margin and it feels so mentally renewing. i highly HIGHLY recommend the novel "the girl who circumnavigated fairyland in a ship of her own making," by catherynne valente -- it's the sweetest and deepest writing about autumn that i've ever read, and i think you'd enjoy it.
Ari, thank you for commenting! Weirdly, I own that book... but I haven't read it yet!!! It's in a big pile. I'll have to dig it out and give it a read this fall!!!
I love this! And I’m SO glad the podcast is back. Thanks for all your work and for providing much needed creative inspiration. Happy new year ✨
Thank you Claire!!! I'm excited it's back, too. ☺️ Life felt incomplete without it.
Hahahahaha Dana you are not lazy. I love this!
Cyrus actually started yelling at me to come play in the episode I just recorded for release this Wednesday, but I had to cut it out because I screwed up what I was saying 😂