Sarah's Blog

I had a great Zoom call with my friend Kate Brauning last week, during which she asked me to consider who I am outside of my identity as a creator and entrepreneur.  Hilariously/sadly/insert your own adjective here, I did not have an answer.  The tunnel has been...

Originally, I was going to title this “My Neighbors Hate Me,” but that felt clickbait-y, so I went with something more explanatory.  My grandfather always had the nicest lawn. Lush, green, well-watered, and tender, with no pine needles or burgeoning thistles to stab...

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how I spend my time.  Our society is obsessed with productivity — there are entire books, podcasts, courses, and lifestyles devoted to the topic.  But while we think a lot about how much stuff we can do in a day (or a week or...

I have a really weird relationship with motivation — and perhaps you do, too.  Every once in a while, my eyelids fly open at 6am and I bounce out of bed, eager and excited to tackle the day’s work. I love these days and am incredibly grateful for them. The other 360...

I feel like life has been tough for a lot of us lately. I've been attempting to balance priorities and obligations and it hasn't been going very well.  I hope this doesn't sound too complain-y, or like a big ol' pile of first-world problems, but running your own...

It was Saturday afternoon. I had taken care of everything on my to-do list. It was too hot and humid to go outside, and I had just brewed a fresh cup of my favorite tea. I was wearing cozy sweatpants and a hoodie, and I had seated myself at my desk, prepared to write....

Searching for validation takes a lot of time and energy, but we all do it because we want to feel like our work is good and that people enjoy it. However, are we receiving validation from people we respect, or are we relying on the standards of others to determine our worth?

I did a lot of research into various writing practices for Episode 121 of Write Now with Sarah Werner, which came out last Wednesday. I read about writers who wake up at 4:00 a.m. and writers who sleep in until noon. I read about writers who write every day and...

Have you ever had someone else articulate something that you weren’t able to — and the second they did, your eyes opened up wide, you hopped up and down in your chair, and you started yelling, “Oooh! Oh, that’s ME!”? This past week, I finally opened up my copy of...

I’m so excited to announce that I’ve been invited to interview New York Times bestselling author Anne Lamott for her upcoming virtual event on May 24, 2021! We’ll be talking about resilience, courage, and her new book, Dusk Night Dawn.  Oh, and best of all, the event...

I spend a lot of my time searching for answers — in books, in podcasts, in webinars and talks, in formal lessons, in quiz results, in music, and in many of the everyday conversations I have. The answers are responses to questions that I may have explicitly asked —...

In last Wednesday’s create-along, we ended up having a fantastic conversation about our need for external validation. I’m talking about constantly refreshing your download statistics after posting a new podcast episode to your RSS feed, compulsively checking your...

Back in 2015, I went on a wilderness writing retreat in the northern woods of Minnesota. I recorded a Write Now podcast episode about it (including some of it from the three-seasons porch of the little hermitage where I stayed), but today, I realize that the episode...

I was texting with my lovely friend and fellow creator Jordan earlier this week, and we ended up discussing how we’ve both been feeling weighed down by creative pressure lately, and how the threat of burnout also seems to loom closer than usual.  As we enter our...

I’m one of those people who has lots of advice for other writers, podcasters, and creators. It’s the entire basis of my podcast Write Now with Sarah Werner, as well as the vast majority of interviews and public speaking gigs I’ve done over the past several years....

Hey. I know it’s Monday. I know that things have been tough lately. I’ve talked with so many creators who are tired, hurt, worn out, burned out, and full of fear that I’m wondering if this is the “new normal” I keep hearing about.  But it doesn’t have to be. And if...

I have a short, simple reflection for you this week. I was taking a social media webinar last week with Amie McNee, and she said something really surprising — and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. She said, “I had to BE the author I wanted to be in...

I think a lot about the future. So much so that I feel like I live there most of the time. For me, everything is about future plans, future goals, and what’s next, from my next project all the way to my next meal.  It’s one reason I love speculative and science...

Do you ever doubt your creative abilities? Because I do! … My own creative abilities, I mean. Not yours. It can be really hard to believe in ourselves constantly, even if deep down, we know we’re good at what we do. Because those doubts can creep in about not only our...

I am INCREDIBLY honored and grateful to find Girl In Space in the top 10 of Podyssey's "15 Best Fiction Podcasts Of All Time" list. Just... wow. Thank you! Now, several weeks ago on Twitter, I talked about how my show has won awards and gained recognition because I...

I don’t know if this is how it is for you, but for me… social media is an absolute roller coaster. I’m either feverishly posting multiple times a day on multiple platforms, or I’m completely burned out, overwhelmed, and radio silent. It’s rarely anywhere in between. ...

If (like me) you’ve ever tried to lose weight, you know the horror that lies in the word “plateau.” A plateau is a point that you reach in your progress… and sometimes don’t progress beyond.  In geological terms, a plateau is “an area of relatively high level ground”....

Have you ever felt like you were in “survival mode”? Or… are you perhaps even feeling that way today? Survival mode happens when we give over to our most basic survival instincts — driven by extreme fear or stress, we’re living minute-to-minute, in constant...

Do you ever just sit down and… you have no idea what to write, or create, or even do? Well, you’re not alone. I sat down to write this week’s newsletter, opened up my little idea folder, and… realized I hadn’t prepped for this week with an idea. “I have no idea what...

I was sitting here, working on my 2021 goals, and thinking about what I could add this year to challenge myself as a creator while bringing extra value to my audience, when I had a REALIZATION. A big one.  I had already written down all of the things from 2020 that I...

I’m writing this email, which will arrive in your inbox on Monday the 11th, on the evening of Friday the 8th during my Create-Along livestream. (I’m trying to get better at doing things ahead of time!) So far, this week has been… well. Not fantastic. On Monday and...

Happy 2021! I’m so excited to start out the new year with you.  Over the last few weeks of 2020, we’ve been talking about prioritizing and protecting your time for writing and creating. This isn’t a switch that can be flipped in a moment or even a day — it’s a change...

Are you doing any planning for 2021? It's so hard to realize that the new year is upon us when 2020 has seemed so eternal, so heavy, and so all-encompassing. It's hard to remember that there is indeed life beyond 2020! It can also seem a little intimidating — perhaps...

I know, I know. The title of today’s email contains the dreaded M-word: Marketing. The thing that is so easy to confuse with selling, selling your soul, or simply selling out.  Other people get it confused with being fake, harassing others, yelling into a void, or...

Yesterday, a friend alerted me to a Deadline article that very casually mentioned several “podcasts in various stages of development to be adapted [for television, including] sci-fi drama Girl In Space.”

Usually, when we choose to do something, it’s for a reason. Sometimes the reason is obvious and sometimes it’s buried deep within our subconscious, but there’s almost always a reason — sometimes two or more. I complete my work each day so that I can continue to afford...