The Midstack Directory: September 2024
A library of Substack publications from over 100 midlife women
Welcome to the Midstack Directory, a library of Substacks from midlife women. This Directory is a part of
, a new Substack membership community for midlife women writing Substack publications, from the editors of the bestselling Substack .To see the benefits of a paid membership to Midstack, click here.
We hope this directory will continue to grow, and it will updated regularly (at least once each month).
If you’d like your publication to be included in our Midstack Directory or to learn more about the criteria for inclusion, click here.
Coming soon: In future editions of the Directory, we hope to organize Substacks according to category(ies).
by Beverley Ward: “My experience of recovery following a long period of grief, loss, stress, trauma and burnout. Also about healing, living more gently, post-traumatic growth, love, nature, and recovery.” by Kristi Koeter: Challenging diet culture’s grip on women with an unflinching yet empowering approach to body positivity and midlife health.Suggested Read: “Unraveling the Mystery of Midlife Brain Fog in Women”
: A publication about reinvention and the moment you know something has to change—in your job, your relationships, or yourself—start here. ‘s Substack: Amy Gabrielle is a widowed mother exploring the intersection of sexuality and grief as a catalyst for growth after catastrophic loss. She explores her own post traumatic growth, breaking barriers and stereotypes with photographic self portraits and videos. She provides her audience with a provocative look at the expression of midlife sexuality that is rarely found in today’s popular culture and social media. by Sam Galloway: A publication by a late-diagnosed neurodivergent, tenacious midlife struggler and self-proclaimed self-advocate. by Mel Parks: “My writing comes from a midlife perspective which values the present but often looks back while having one eye firmly on the future. I am developing a Substack project called: My Book Writing Adventure which builds on my Arts Council funded project last year: Moonpause.” by Lindsey DeLoach Jones: A little place on the internet for messy humans. by Katherine Libonate: From a mom of (3) teenage boys (17, 14, & 12) living out her mission to share research, knowledge, and insights to living a happier and fulfilled life especially during challenging times. I have a background in the Science of Happiness, Positive Psychology and Neuroscience. by Ingrid Wagner Walsh: A platform for those intimate conversations with a wider audience of deep thinkers, from a writer, cultural anthropologist, and constant questioner, by Victoria: The latest personal reflections, essays, and introductions to resources, experts, or other writers who provide fresh insights about caregiving or self-development. by Elizabeth Kopple: Bringing together grieving parents as we find ways to channel our grief and move forward without moving past our children. by Lisa Frame: A newsletter and community for women navigating the messy midlife mayhem. : Focuses on various issues including parenting, being a later-in-life mom and views from a different perspective, a Canadian-born child of Hong Kong immigrants who grew up in the suburbs. by Shawna Gamache: “My own little internet mixtape of books, culture, feelings, 90s nostalgia/trauma, parenting, midlife angst, and what it means to me to be alive in this moment.” by Amy Halloran: “This year, I’m exploring the twinned histories of American bread, and the modern American woman, looking closely at my grandmothers and an author who also came of age in the first part of the 20th century. I’m trying to understand the lives of the women who baked me, and my own 57 years.” by Nina Badzin: Honest conversations about the ups and downs of friendship, often with a midlife focus.Suggested Read: “Our Friends’ Invisible Pain”
by Sasha Neal: A fledgling Substack exploring daughterhood in midlife, including caregiving in the sandwich generation, the state of social care in the UK, dementia, loss, grief and dancing. by Anna Sansom: “I write about pleasure, libido, reframing desire, and intimacy. Mostly personal essays and occasional erotic fiction.” by Kelly Kearsley: A newsletter about internet things, book things, life things, and other things. As my kids say, it's not that deep. (But because I am in midlife, the deep things do surface now and again, sometimes prompting tears or laughter or both). by Felicia Sabartinelli: A bi-weekly newsletter that chronicles life in my 40s’ and the new decade ahead. With ferocious passion, humor, and humility, I share personal essays and musings, book recommendations, interviews, and much more! : “I write about my own journey to thrive - which covers loss, grief, self-compassion, self-limiting narratives and beliefs, and celebrating my moments of joy.” by Sanna Salanimi: From “an adult whose paradigm was properly rocked when a therapist suggested I had autism. A second opinion confirmed this. My story is not unique for women my age: we are the Lost Generation. We are women whose pro-social attitude (adopted by force or by choice) aided in our masking our life-altering disability for decades. Now, in middle age, I’ve finally arrived. One of my special interests is sex. I write about sex and love and how this autistic woman experiences it.” by Dawn Levitt: The intersection of hurt and healing, creating art from trauma of the past, looking forward to the best years of our lives yet to come. by Stephanie Weaver: “I do a curated themed stack featuring that week’s thoughts, then media (books, tv, film) that relates and a recipe.” by Anne: About anticipatory grief and ambiguous loss, as well as love and life. by Angela Amman: Stories of writing back to myself as my family shifts into the teen years and beyond. I share my perspective on reclaiming my sense of identity and how it affects the art I'm consuming and the art I'm attempting to create. by Victoria Navarra: “I write mostly about caregiving for my mother, middle age, writing, running, and whatever else occurs to me. These essays are intended to be like glosses (annotations in a book) to my life--short personal essays.” by Leanne Rose Sowul: Explores character traits that form resilient humans and strong communities; how to be, raise and create good humans (for parents, teachers and writer/creators). by Treena Orchard: Poetic explorations of life, relationships, live, and how we understand and think about our place in the world, from an anthropologist, author, and activist who explores sex, gender, health, and tech through a creative, feminist lens. Firmly Gen X! by Eva Lydon: Musings and observations from a mid-forties mother of two. Trying to spread a bit of empathy, understanding, compassion, laughter and unity amongst other women and parents. Building a new business and writing a book by Jennifer Crow: “Through personal stories and thoughtful analysis, I encourage mid-life women to reflect on how societal expectation have impacted their identities and share tools for reclaiming their stories. I talk about everything from breaking taboos and confronting hidden forces to using writing as a way to heal. Recurring themes include gender roles, mental health, personal empowerment, and embracing growth.” by Hilary Connors: “Honing the craft of writing as a form of my self examination while also sharing this journey with others who write for personal reasons. I want to be a part of a collective unfolding of common and uncommon experiences in midlife.” by Sherisa de Groot: Serves as a personal documentation of what it means in these moments to be who we are. by Lucy Handley: About being childfree/childless (when I always hoped/expected to have kids); having a midlife ‘bounce’ via clubbing and house/disco music; positive ageing. by Sophie Cartledge: addresses the realities of perimenopause and late discovered neurodivergence. Sharing personal experiences, resources and research links. by Sara Stansberry: From a storyteller at heart, a writer by craft, and a certified life coach by passion who addresses what so many feel: the slow burn of becoming disconnected from themselves. : “A long-form, serialized experiment; a craft exercise in sifting ideas from poetry to prose, and back again; and a story it has taken me 3+ years to reteach myself how to write. Written with love for everyone who has gotten sick and those who have always been sick.” by Rebecca Gale: “I write about the people and policies that shape parenting and care in this country - many of which are parents in midlife. I also investigate why we devalue care so much and how we can shift the narrative and policies that make being a parent in this country so much harder than it needs to be.” by Christine Vaughan Davies: “I look for the sacred in the everyday and focus on spirituality, grief, resilience and care for others and ourselves. I share stories and practices from my work as a hospital chaplain and spiritual director.” by Keris Fox: “I interview women about money and share my own money misadventures.”: A newsletter about reading and writing from a New York Times best-selling author, co-founder of the Bob Woodward Foundation, journalist, and consultant. by Nneka Kelly: by Kim Van Bruggen: A publication meant to inspire, enquire, and pave the way for those of us making a major life transition, whether by choice or circumstance, no matter what age we find ourselves making it.Suggested Read: “Spotlight on Older Women and Why We’re So Awesome”
by Keisha Kokonezi: “About my experience recovering from severe Long Covid, mental health, beauty, and grappling with everything that is a part of this new phase of life—including being in perimenopause.” by Jen Gates: Personal essays, newsletter and journal style about waiting for the menopause, while confusing the symptoms of ADHD and anxiety and trying to manage it all. by Lisa Cheek: “I came here as a quick way to connect to others. I’m going to share my favorite things and thoughts… if I ever have any. I promise they will be brief like my attention span.” by Kari Bentley-Quinn: About the challenges of being diagnosed with ADHD in midlife, trying to navigate reality as a neurodivergent human, and life as a theater maker in New York City by Lisa Renee: A place for midlife musing, a platform for essays and letters about one woman’s life experience, writing essays by a big lake in New York, trying to figure out how be a person in a mad world. by Amanda Montei: Essays on culture and books, plus a writing group for founding subscribers, from the author of TOUCHED OUT: Motherhood, Misogyny, Consent, & Control, available now from Beacon Press, as well as the memoir Two Memoirs (Jaded Ibis Press) and a collection of prose, The Failure Age (Bloof Books). by Kristin Gourlay: “Delivers deeply reported, deeply personal, stories from medicine, art, culture, and history about our obsession. I aim to help us grapple with that ache we all have for the perfect cure.” by Rose: About the journey of writing a memoir, and about how writing a memoir enriches not only the life of others, showing them what has gone on before, but it also enriches the writer in the process of doing it. by Phoebe Assenza: Business, tech culture, and regular culture through the lens of a feminist in the middle of her life. by Shelly Mazzanoble: Your source for humorous, observational, and relatable takes on parenthood. If you can’t laugh you’ll… probably need to get that checked by a doctor. by Andrea Case-Rogers: On a quest to reinvent myself to tread more lightly on the planet and contribute something positive to the world. : A media and lifestyle platform for women in their (roughly) 30s-50s. We publish thoughtful content that empowers women to reimagine this period as a time of growth, exploration, and possibility. by Cindy DiTiberio: A feminist exploration of marriage, motherhood & divorce and how my own divorce at age 43 set me on the path to discovering my wants and needs for the first time in my life.Suggested Read: “Is This The End of Marriage?”
by Heather Johnson Durocher: A newsletter and community about midlife, marriage and long partnership, parenting adult children, and how to keep moving forward — literally and figuratively — through it all. by Courtney Naiboff: Musings from the middle: midlife body and mind observations from the author of Your Postpartum Body. by Lani V. Cox: Essays by a latchkey kid but without the key, so learned to break into the house; a reader, writer, friend to animals and scones; and a first generation American living abroad since 2009. by Lisa Bolin: A home for my ponderings and wondering about life, a dash of poetry, and seasonal change from an Australian living on an archipelago in the Baltic Sea.: From a culture and health journalist whose writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic, Glamour, and Vox. Wherever she goes, she brings a little bit of Miami with her. by Tawnya Gibson: Personal essays that cover those ‘off the record’ moments of life. by Brenda: Focuses on life after structured (corporate) work. I retired September 29, 2023 and write about enjoying life and retirement. by Sari Botton: Explores what it means to travel through time in a human body—of any gender, at every phase of life. It focuses on the good, the bad, and the ugly we experience with each milestone, starting early in life. It’s about the experience of getting older, and what that means at different junctures. : “A newsletter and podcast designed for mid-career women, typically between 35 and 55, who are navigating personal and professional transitions. Drawing from my experience moving from NYC to Paris and my work as a career coach, I share real stories, coaching insights, and practical tools to help you embrace the messy, transformative journey of self-discovery.” by Sarah Styf: by Rebecca D. Martin: A place for those who want to pay attention, a home for anyone who finds poetry and literature a compass to making sense of life. That true-north needle often makes us feel a little different, and I know something about being different: chronic illness and late-diagnosed autism have set me on a course that doesn’t fit with traditional expectations. In this space, I meander from poetry reading to middle-aged autistic experience, from literary women: “the reincarnation of a blog I started in 2020 to address the many issues/transitions of midlife in a way I couldn't find. I wanted to create the community I was craving, and contribute to a shifting cultural conversation about age. I write personal essays that acknowledge the challenges but also highlight the hard-earned wisdom and growth, journalistic style pieces to share resources and information, lifestyle bits and pieces, and I also share midlife-adjacent links and recommendations that I think will be helpful/interesting to my midlife audience.”Suggested Read: “Style Knows No Age”
: by Tracy Mansolillo: A guide to overcoming adversity, building resilience and transforming your life. With deep insights from the worlds of psychology, neuroscience, and metaphysics, The Power of Change offers a roadmap to healing, human connection and the pursuit of joy.Suggested Read: “Life After 50 Is Not the End”
by Marychris Melli: “My deeply personal, honest and vulnerable reflections on being a women. All that it has done to me and for me and how societal expectations affected all of it. My deep hope is that these stories resonate in a way that makes you feel connected and seen.” by Susie Schwartz: Resources and understanding, feature articles about health and illness, expert patient help, and some musings from a 50-year-old woman (me!) who is happy to still be alive! by our Midstory Magazine co-editor Stephanie Sprenger: “I write about motherhood at midlife, ADHD, feminism, women’s health, relationships, divorce, therapy, and yes, I am an unapologetic Swiftie. I am a semi-apologetic navel-gazing nostalgia junkie currently working on my first memoir.” by Nim de Swardt: A storytelling project that elevates the insights, experiences and wisdom of those who have lived over 18,000 days (50+ years) to re-connect us all. by Nicole Giordano: A newsletter and community creating closeness, understanding, inspiration, and joy for women in midlife. by Skylar Liberty Rose: A writer, coach, and pro-aging advocate helping women embrace their 40s and 50s with passion and purpose. Through courses, coaching, and circles, she has helped thousands of women to smash ageist stereotypes, challenge a culture of anti-aging, and create meaningful change in their lives. by Cathy: Written from the point of view of a woman who has lived half a life, including personal stories as well as social commentary by Fran Mason: “I’ve tried to braid my life’s threads together, keeping a sense of continuity with the person I’ve been at every stage of my life. I still find inspiration in the things I enjoyed as a child, and before I could drive, and when I was always broke: journal writing, reading, bike riding, exploring, finding the natural world in the city.” by Kerstin Auer: “I write about midlife as a GenX woman, caretaker of my husband who had to retire at 50 due to a devastating diagnosis. Navigating life and taking inventory of who I am and what I'm learning along the way.” by Francesca Moroney: “I started my Substack to chronicle life post-divorce, which happened to coincide with my children entering or ending college, the pandemic, and my own mid-life changes. I write about what healing means to me.” by Kerri Sparling: About growing older with type 1 diabetes. by Amelia Wilson: A weekly newsletter packed with genius ideas and advice for infusing more joy into each day—for people who know that real happiness is not found in a fancy job title or expensive jar of face cream. Each Friday dispatch is filled with practical happiness advice—from travel tips and how to create a beloved family tradition—to what to watch, read, and cook.Suggested read: “Tales of a Midlife Failure”
by Sommer Schafer: “Because we always need more conversation around literature, books, writing, reading, and what it means to live thoughtfully in the world.”The Spark by Madelyn Postman: A place for inspiration and community for readers and writers. The monthly newsletter includes an author interview, book recommendations, writing resources, and personal updates.
: Part memoir, part side-bar conversations about midlife, creativity, recovery, and a new diagnosis of Parkinson's disease. by Barbara Valentin: “My attempt to stop wasting this precious life, and I sincerely hope you’ll join me on what promises to be a sometimes bumpy, sometimes ridiculous, but ultimately enlightening journey.”: The focus is the empowerment of women after midlife through creativity, and especially through writing fiction and also features articles on sexuality, beauty, health and finance after midlife. by Holly Holt: “I write about the cocooning, the waiting, the boredom, the confusion, and the (potential) breaking open that midlife brings. As a lifelong seeker and, more recently, caregiver to my elderly parents, I share practices that have supported my health and sanity including what I call ‘deep river’ writing, seasonal and lunar rituals, embodiment (yoga, dance, somatics), personality theory, and energy work.” oard Life by Kristin Fellows: How one woman unintentionally built an adventurous 30-year career in documentary film with $20, a little magical thinking & no film degree. by Stacy Smith Rogers: “I write about ways I've discovered strength post-divorce and the power of community, friendships and the pursuit of leaving a legacy for my three daughters + one granddaughter.”: Twice weekly posts on fashion, culture, current affairs, dating, divorce, grief, and professional issues from a trade union leader. by Shawna Ayoub: A free monthly publication on topics of expressive writing for release and recovery and memoir. by Lynn Shattuck: by Emily F. Popek: Explores the culture of parenting and education, from a midlife perspective, from a writer, parent, PR professional and rural enthusiast whose parenting idol is Ramona Quimby's mom.Suggested Read: “She Wears Short Skirts, I Wear T-Shirts: Reflections on Mothering a Tweenage Swiftie”
from writer and editor Holly Sawchuk: Figuring it all out — the murky midlife of a woman who is sometimes flying and sometimes drowning. by Loretta: A brutally honest, often messy, sometimes hilarious account of midlife dating and sex post-divorce. by Sarah McCraw Crow: Covers books, art, late bloomers, and writing. It also includes an occasional series called Midlife Authors, featuring writers who debuted at midlife.Suggested Read: “On late bloomers, flowers, friendship, and Mary Delany”
: “As a former magazine editor I think of it as a left-of-centre mini-magazine. An essay I write anchors each week's newsletter (the "features well") and then around it I build the "furniture" in the form of carefully curated links to great external content including other Substackers' work. I include links to topics not typically covered by women's mags, including politics, art, creativity, craft, the environment and nature.” by Elise Young: “An account of a random street assault that injured my brain and left me in need of craniofacial reconstruction. I write about healing emotionally with my horse, Victoria, in a community of fellow equestrians, all women.” by Claire Ponders: A weekly travel newsletter for curious people in search of awe and inspiration, focusing on how we change the world by moving through it, and how the world changes us each time we feel moved. by Charlene Alofs: Stories inspired by a bumpy yellow brick road, finding humor in growing older and making up for lost time by celebrating the simple things, the extraordinary in the ordinary moments, and of course, YOU! by Miriam Verheyden: Deeply honest and vulnerable essays about love, fear, mental health, and being a woman in the world, as well as perimenopause, feminism, living a sober lifestyle, age-gap relationship (my husband is 25 years older than me). by Paige Geiger: The title (Work in Progress) is in reference to my current writing project (a memoir of my year as a young research scientist living in Florence, Italy) and because despite recently turning the glorious age of 50, I still feel like I am a work in progress. I write about work/life balance, parenting teens, healthy aging, and caring for a parent with dementia. Oh, and books! by Zoe Deleuil: Writing, reviews, essays, rants, recipes and more from the Perth desk of crime novelist Zoe Deleuil.: From a woman in midlife who was saved by writing, connecting fellow writers through literary citizenship. by Elizabeth Austin: “I share personal narratives that blend vivid storytelling with emotional insight. My Substack essays explore topics like single motherhood, endurance, and pushing through unexpected challenges, often with a sharp wit and candid vulnerability. Readers can expect reflections on atypical family dynamics, societal expectations, and the power of enduring through hardship.” by Jordan Rosenfeld: A place to reflect and dissect aspects of our changing bodies and world, as well as writing and books, through essays, reflections and analysis. by Janine Agoglia: Discusses practicing yoga when you are over 50, both on and off the mat from a GenX yoga instructor and how to use yoga, meditation, journaling, and breath to get through life's challenges, learning to be kinder and gentler the myself and teaching others to do the same.
wow! so much good stuff from so many interesting women! I'm getting out my reading glasses! 👓
Thanks so much for including me. Really looking forward to getting stuck in to reading the others :)