About Me — Sarah Waterman
I’m a wife, a mother, a writer, and, and, and…
Hi, Medium. Internet. People of online. I’m Sarah, and I’m lots of things.
I am from Kansas City, Missouri — born and raised. I used to hate being from Kansas City. I think I was sheltered. I’ve come to really love it, to love all this city has to offer, all that it’s given me.
I am a corporate-American middle-manager by trade (help!), but really, I want to be an author. A published author. An agented, published author of books with magic and plants and forests and rivers and characters who are flawed and deep and lovable. I’ve been working on that.
I originally came to Medium because I felt like I had some things to say. Don’t we all? These things I wanted to say, they weren’t things I was including in my fiction writing. And with three kids under the age of five and wanting to spend the bulk of my time writing fiction, I knew I couldn’t start my very own blog. Been there, done that, anyways. No thanks. Not for me. So I came to Medium. That was a couple years ago, and now I’m returning, because I again find myself with things to say.
Things about the writing life.
Things that I wish I had heard when I was a budding storyteller.
Things that I think are important for moms who want to be creative and hold space for their own dreams to say.
Things that I hope others find useful.
So, yeah, I’m a wife and mom.
You know when you’re at school or work and the managers decide they’re going to force everyone to participate in a “culture moment” and ask everyone for an interesting fact about themselves? Ugh. Audience participation is really the worst, right? Well, my interesting thing is one of the following:
- I almost got married in 2016 but then called off the wedding seventeen days before because I was in love with someone else (my now-husband).
- My son is named after Atticus Finch because To Kill A Mockingbird is my all-time favorite book. Before I realized I would have children, I named a cat Scout. She still lives with us, and I wish I hadn’t used that name on her.
I think what makes me unique is that I have been humbled. Many people have, really, but it takes a certain type of self-awareness to know it and to use it. Use it like a weapon, like a super power. The wedding thing certainly humbled me. Having my first baby be admitted to the NICU after birth humbled me. Nearly drowning in debt humbled me. Having a baby during the pandemic humbled me. Being discriminated against in a workplace humbled me.
I try to infuse my writing and especially my writing about writing with all of this perspective, keeping in mind that my readers will have unique, humbling experiences that color the way they read my words, too. I want to help make the world a better place. I want to be your bookish best friend. Just so long as you’re okay with me being a card-carrying introvert… that means I’ll try by any means necessary to get out of social engagements :)
The stuff I’m working on right now is really starting to push its way to the forefront of my “blogging” or nonfiction writing. These are things like:
- How I wrote, alpha read, revised, edited, and beta read my novel The Forest in 507 days.
- How I really believe I’ve mastered the outlining/ story structure process.
- How I’m a National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) veteran: I’ve participated and won 11 times.
- How of those 11 times “winning” NaNoWriMo, I’ve only finished two novels…
- How that failure has derailed me. How it has motivated me.
- How I’m in the throes of submitting my novel to literary agents, and how much this process frustrates me.
- How my process for building a solid writing habit is something I want to teach others.
- How I started a TikTok (hint: it’s not going great…)
- How I want to quit my corporate job and be a writer fulltime.
- How I started a program to become a copyeditor and proofreader.
- How I am the sole income earner for my family, and so there is so much extra pressure not to fail…
I am Sarah. Wife, mom, etc. Reader, writer, editor. Craft-enthusiast. Caffeine addict. Plant lady and garden witch. Fluent in sarcasm. And, and, and.
I contain multitudes, and I hope my scattered sense of self can speak to some of you, too.
