Good Things Worth Sharing

A Little Something Before I Go

I’m packing my bags for Halifax, Nova Scotia, where I’ll be spending the next week at an Activate Her Awesome retreat. I’ve written before about finding the right people in the right rooms, and I’m looking forward to the conversations and energy that come from spending time with other women solopreneurs.

Since I’ll be traveling, I thought I’d do something a little different this week and am sharing three pieces that resonated with me, along with three from my own archives you might have missed.

I’m calling this occasional collection Good Things Worth Sharing. Because good writing deserves to be passed along.

If you enjoy reading good things, I invite you to subscribe at no cost.

Three things worth reading

I’m Not Training for a Smaller Body by Jada Butler

I appreciated this perspective on fitness and aging. It’s about taking care of our bodies for what we want to experience in the next decade of our lives, rather than having smaller bodies. I also enjoy reading Philippa Taylor and Antonia Cook, who write about similar things.

Why Was My Son Spared by Jane Elowen

Jane’s essay resonated with me because of how events in the wider world can bring our own experiences and memories back to the surface. It made me think about how someone else’s story can prompt us to revisit our own and consider it from a different perspective.

The 3 Best Times to Ask for Help With Your Writing by Jennie Nash

I appreciated Jennie’s distinction between needing clarity, needing accountability, and needing honest feedback. They’re three very different kinds of support, and knowing which one you need can save a lot of frustration. Although she’s writing about book coaching, I think the same distinctions apply to many other areas of our lives. Jennie founded Author Accelerator, where I earned my memoir book coaching certification.

Three from my archives

These three pieces are about writing, but they’re also about something bigger: making sense of our experiences and deciding which stories we want to preserve.

Having a Story Is Not the Same Thing as Having a Book

This one started with my husband wearing a continuous glucose monitor and my realization that 46 years of living with Type 1 diabetes have given me a kind of expertise that’s difficult to explain to someone who hasn’t lived it. It got me thinking about how hard it can be to see our own experiences from the outside, and why another person’s perspective can be so valuable.

How Do I Start Writing a Memoir When I Have Too Many Stories?

When I wrote my memoir, I had decades of stories to sort through, particularly about adoption and parenting a child with special needs. I share the notecard method I used to organize those memories and identify the themes that belonged in the book. It’s a useful exercise for anyone wondering what to do with a lifetime of experiences.

You Don’t Think of Yourself as a Writer. You Just Keep Writing Things Down.

As my son’s wedding approached, I wanted to capture some feelings before the moment passed. I sat down and wrote for 15 minutes. This piece explains how I use short journal entries to preserve memories and eventually turn some of them into something more. You don’t need to be writing a book to benefit from the practice.

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I hope you find something worth reading here. And if you’ve come across something particularly good lately, please share it with me.

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This was originally posted on my Substack here.