Features

Oct 13, 2023

A photo of light streaming through tree branches — Nature’s spotlight, captured on Kodak Portra 400 film

In addition to writing Your Five-Year Plan, you’ll occasionally find my words featured elsewhere.

✳️ Guest Essays

I wrote a story about loss and what we might find in other people’s belongings for Cait Flanders’ newsletter, The Mindful Consumer. (It was also featured by Substack in this edition of their weekly Substack Reads roundup.)

The Mindful Consumer

The artifacts of our lives

a year ago · 307 likes · 147 comments · Maddie Burton

Coming soon: In the summer of 2024, you can expect to see another guest essay I wrote for The Books That Made Us newsletter.

✳️ Interviews and Q&As

Sophia Le interviewed me in a podcast episode of her newsletter, The Write-Life Balance.

The Write-Life Balance

When life goes up in flames 🔥

When tragedy strikes, how do you transform what remains into something beautiful? It’s been nine years since my husband’s cancer diagnosis, the death of my father-in-law, and my end of my career as an emergency planner. While I don’t wish these events on anyone, I can say with confidence that without them, it’s likely…

a year ago · 17 likes · 21 comments · Sophia Le

I answered readers’ money questions in Aliza Sir and Aja Frost’s newsletter, Platonic Love. (You’ll find me in this gift guide of theirs, too!)

platonic love

Issue #19: Answers to the money questions keeping you up

The month before Jude was born, I (Aliza) started putting aside money for daycare. But somehow, when he started six months later, it still felt harder and harder to pay off our credit card each month. After several weeks of agonizing over whether I could afford to add chicken to my Sweetgreen salad, I realized I didn’t know my “number” anymore — the discretionary money I could spend each month…

a year ago · 9 likes · 3 comments · Aliza Sir, Platonic Love, and Maddie Burton

And finally, you’ll find my responses to Caroline Cala Donofrio’s Five Big Questions in this community edition of Between A Rock And A Card Place.

(Note: this edition is for paid subscribers of Caroline’s newsletter.)

Between a Rock and a Card Place

Five Big Questions, Many Big Answers

Though my work revolves around words, I often find them lacking. Words themselves—no matter how carefully chosen or artfully arranged—are only as good as what they convey, only as powerful as their ability to connect us. Why read or write, except to feel seen, leave a trace, discover we are not alone…

2 years ago · 39 likes · 8 comments · Caroline Cala Donofrio