#020: Katherine May — Writing Memoirs, Wintering, and Embracing Every Season of a Creative Life

Aug 6, 2022

Bestselling author Katherine May discusses the power of 'wintering' in life and writing, embracing slow progress, surrendering to difficult times, and navigating writer's block. She reflects on the challenges of writing memoirs, editing drafts, and challenging misconceptions about autism. The episode tracks her writing journey from a writing group to becoming a bestseller, emphasizing the importance of setting small achievable goals and finding contentment in the present moment.

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ADVICE

Leave The Gas Pedal When Needed

If writing feels forced, step away and do something else until inspiration returns.
Use liminal times and odd places to write short bursts and regain momentum.

ADVICE

Accept Wintering; Don't Rush It

Accept that wintering is normal and inevitable instead of seeking a quick fix.
Develop a mindset to find small pleasures and endure the slow process.

ADVICE

Set Boundaries Early

Set boundaries early when you sense winter signs to avoid collapse later.
Empty your diary and cut commitments to protect mental health when needed.

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Every journey in life, creative or other, has seasons of Winter – difficult periods where the world can seem overwhelming, when our next step is unclear, and where doors close before our eyes. How can we face such fallow periods, learn to rest, and be kinder to ourselves? In this episode, we chat with Katherine May, New York Times bestselling author of Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times’ about writing memoirs, writing through fallow periods, finding our natural rhythm, and how the key to happiness might be found in incremental progress over grand ambitions.

ABOUT KATHERINE MAY

Katherine May is a New York Times bestselling author, whose titles include Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times and The Electricity of Every Living Thing, her memoir of being autistic. Her fiction includes The Whitstable High Tide Swimming Club. She is also the editor of The Best, Most Awful Job, an anthology of essays about motherhood.

QUOTES FROM KATHERINE:

“Suffering is actually quite functional to us as human beings, I think. And in the fullness of time, we look back on the periods we've wintered and see them as sites of transformation. And often you hear people say it was a terrible time, but I wouldn't change it now. And so that's what winter is all about”

“I wasn't writing about what I thought I was going to write about. Actually... there was a different story that was trying to creep out from between the lines. And as writers, we have a choice with that kind of thing. Either we resist the story that's trying to come, or we surrender to it in a radical way and let that story out.”

RESOURCES

Connect with Katherine:

Twitter: @_katherine_may_

Instagram: @katherinemay_

Katherine May’s books:

Other links: