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Mad Woman
Writing Group Thread: On Aging
Writing Group

Writing Group Thread: On Aging

Plus a discount code for Writing Group members on this month's seminar, 'Against Heroism'

Amanda Montei's avatar
Amanda Montei
Apr 15, 2024
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Mad Woman
Mad Woman
Writing Group Thread: On Aging
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Reminders about upcoming classes!

  • At the bottom of this email, behind the paywall, is a discount code for $25 off this month’s upcoming Mad Woman seminar, Against Heroism, which will be held on Sunday, May 5 10am-1pm PT. Register here. We’ll consider the stakes of writing against, subverting or reinventing the hero’s journey, and the pressure to write ourselves as aspirational characters in memoir.

  • I’m also teaching a 1-day class on Motherhood & Sexuality over at Write or Die Sunday, April 28 10am-1pm PT. Register here.

  • Mark your calendars, too, for our first ever Writing Group virtual retreat May 6-12. More details coming next week. Join us by upgrading your subscription here. Be sure to select Writing Group.


This week’s thread comes from our recent thread on threads—and it has to do with the question of how your current age, and aging, affects your writing.

When I was a young 20-something in graduate school, I had so much idealism about my work, and I thought the writing process required a certain degree of suffering. Now, I’m much more aware of my need for slowness and space— of how this makes me a better thinker and writer—and I’ve become more focused, as I clarify what I want in other areas of life. But as I approach forty, I’m noticing that what I want for readers of my work, and for myself as a writer, is changing, yet again.

In our previous thread, one of you expressed feeling too young to write memoir, while others said they regretted not capturing the perspective of their younger selves in real time. But maybe there are also other ways that your current age or getting older have complicated your practice—even just in terms of the practical space, time, and health we all need to write.

So, let it rip: how has age or aging influenced your writing?

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