If you’re reading this, you’re doing so despite an overwhelming number of choices (so thanks!). If they even are choices; by the time you’ve subscribed to a dozen or so Substacks, online magazines, (and even if you haven’t subscribed but once or twice just clicked on a website you now suddenly receive their emails) your in-box is likely flooded beyond easy ability to control.
I’ve been striving to describe this experience, which I don’t remember feeling in this same way at any other time in my life, and this morning it hit me: Saturation. Where once there used to be glorious space, emptiness in my mind from whence most of my stories sprang, there is now a kind of gelatinous fullness, much like a sponge gets when it is so full of water it can hold no more.
So I stop and interrogate: how much of this feeling is a result of my own choices? How much of this feeling is a result of circumstances beyond my control? At the end of the day I have the power to reduce inflows into my already too-heavy sponge. But I am not always choosing them. Why?
Information, entertainment, stimulus—they’re addicting. Staying overly connected online provides that dopamine hit, be it something uplifting, or a doom scroll. It provides the illusion of soothing whatever might actually be on my mind and heart—from the rollback of so many hard-fought rights in this country to my only child being just a couple of months away from leaving for college. But at the end of the day, it leaves me more agitated and disconnected from myself and my creativity.
And then there are the midlife onslaughts. The physiological reordering of body and brain through perimenopause / general aging. It’s made me care a lot less about appearances and playing nice. It’s given me more inner steel even when my actual spine is shrinking.
So what to do about this saturation? The first, clearest answer is disconnect from the inputs, as much as that is possible. But I find rather than just discovering what “not” to do, I’m much more motivated by what I can put energy toward. Last week, my little local labor of literary love, SCRAWL, held its first event, a “Book Karaoke” open mic. Just people reading their words aloud in a room with each other. I did, in fact, feel full from that event, but not saturated, not unable to contain anymore. In fact, I felt as though my well gained new depths.
Coming together around shared delights seems to be an antidote to saturation. Another has been allowing myself to be creative, to write, without always needed it to be “for” anything. Lately, at night, I’ve been getting little nudges of inspiration. I write prose-poems on my notes app in bed. Sometimes I turn them into more, but most of the time, they’re just processing something out of my psyche.
What helps you?
“Book Karaoke” at Ancora Vino, May 27, 2026. Sign up to read at our June 24 event, where the themes (loosely interpreted) are: Half Measures/Things Left Undone.
“Write the Pause” Creative Circles Start September!
I’m excited to introduce “Write The Pause Creative Circles.” Part writing workshop, part support network, part creative community. It’s for midlife adjacent women/non-binary writers who are tired of feeling isolated, disconnected, stuck, fallow, or who want accountability, elevation of craft and creative support.
Do you need a community or cohort to help you draft material, finish work, find new avenues to your creativity and do so with the support of others in a similar place? Have you been bullied by the onslaughts of midlife, including but not limited to: perimenopause, creative frustrations, caregiving, brain fog, mood swings, struggling to access your creativity or finish a project? This circle is for you.
Maximum of 12 people meet weekly over three quarters of the year via zoom. In each quarter, you’ll focus on a specific aim, whether that’s to simply regenerate a creative practice, create a finished piece of writing, get published or something else. Cost is $270 per quarter ($90/month).
We’ll write, read, discuss, and work toward your specific creative writing aims in a supportive environment.
Quarters run as follows: September-November, December-February, March-May. Summer there will be some monthly offerings to keep connected but we’ll break from weekly meetings.
Starts September 8, 2026.
Tuesdays, 5-6:30 pm PT via zoom.
Message me with questions: jordanwritelife (@) gmail (.) com
Friday, June 12 12:00 PM: Virtual Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions!
I’m excited to join an incredible line-up for a virtual fiction workshop as part of Free Expressions NEW Story 360 Virtual Advanced Fiction Workshop! Best part, it’s virtual, so you can attend from wherever you are! It’s an intensive three-day virtual workshop for writers of fiction and creative nonfiction who relish deep-dive challenging classes that go far beyond the basics.
Included in the workshop is a day-long master class, THE DEEP END: SECRETS OF STORY DEPTH with literary agent Donald Maass, along with substantive courses on advanced topics from industry pros, Janice Hardy, Sarah Fisk, Sheree L.Greer, Jordan Rosenfeld, Lorin Oberweger, Leah Henderson, Jonathan Maberry, and Steven James.
Expect hands-on, generative work, lively discussion, and topics that challenge what you think you know about fiction craft!
Topics include:
Flat Settings, Heavy Paragraphs, and Other Description Disasters
The Scintillating Synopsis
Close to the Bone: Revision
Departing the Arc: New Patterns for Fresh Story Structure (That’s me! Sat. June 20th)
Let’s Fall in Love: The Intersection of Voice, Viewpoint, and Character
Building a Multi-Platform Writing Career
Emotional Connection to Place
Suspense Essentials: Secrets to Tapping into Tension (Whatever Genre You Write)
PLUS “Working lunch” clinics with feedback on select participants’ query letters and first pages.
Use discount code: JRFX10 for 10% off!
Pre-Order Writing Through the Pause: Mining Midlife for Powerful Writing
That SCRAWL event looks like it was fun! I know what you mean about feeling like some things make your well even deeper. I feel like my well is very shallow these days. I just pre-ordered your book!
Jordan, your deep commitment to craft and to the people who practice it inspire me to do my best, also.