I’ll turn 40 this year, and I’m starting an exciting new project to celebrate.
I’ve been writing professionally for 15 years, but writing is also my favorite hobby, form of self-expression and mode of self-discovery. As much as I love the craft of writing in my area of expertise, I miss the creativity of writing to discover what I think, as Joan Didion famously described in a 1976 lecture:
“I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.”
Hitting this midlife milestone amid mounting political, social and economic uncertainty, I’m entering my second act in a world that’s largely dismantled the progress of my first. I find my mind regularly unable to think. A blank space where clear thoughts should form — snowy static with no signal. Frantically seeking clarity.
This is how I know I’ve strayed too far from the writing I need.
I spent 2025 riddled with anxiety under the current political regime, my first book launch giving way to the crickets of everyday life, and, in the end, recovering from a pre-holiday layoff. This year, I’m determined to replace that frantic seeking with comfort and peace.
In the face of uncertainty, I return to myself through writing. As I turn 40, I can write to reconnect to creativity and form a clear picture among the static.
Over the next year, I’ll publish 40 essays about who I am as I turn 40. That is — who I’ve always been, but have spent much of my life ignoring, masking, closeting, avoiding, polishing or glossing over.
Through this project, I’m looking at myself and finding out what I think, what I see and what it means. I’m reconnecting to the craft that’s always forged the right path for me — writing my way into what’s next.
Here’s how you can follow along: I’ll publish weekly-ish essays through this newsletter starting on my 40th birthday on March 6. Subscribe below so you don’t miss them!
BONUS: When you sign up anytime between now and March 6, you’ll get instant access to an unpublished bonus essay, “Who was I at 12 years old?”