Hi! I’m Kara.

I’m a writer and podcaster, long-time blogger, journal junkie and mom to big kids.

I’m officially a cat lady, and I have the cat-shaped paper clips to prove it. 🩵

Also, in the past year, I’ve gotten a teeny bit obsessed with squirrels and chipmunks. But only the cats live inside the house, so everything is fiiiiine and totally normal here.

What else?

I’ve had anxiety for forever and I found out when I was 45 that I also have ADHD. It’s kind of wonderful, in a strange way, that just as so much is changing, I have a bit of time to figure out my sweet, sparkly neurodivergent brain.

(I mean, would it have been nice to know about the ADHD and how it was regularly ping-ponging into my anxiety earlier? For sure. But I’m not mad.)

Instead, I’m finally, at age 47, learning to really love myself for exactly who I am.

I’m also learning that being a bit overwhelmed and wondering about next steps and trying to navigate through big transitions is a lot more fun when we do it together.

It’s easier too.

So I am so glad that you are here. 🩵

We don’t have to figure it all out alone, OK?

Take Me Right to Kara's Writing

Wondering About Where the Beauty Is?

This is my new spot for writing about midlife, transitions, wholeheartedness, everyday beauty, journaling and probably cats.

The past couple of years have been a bit of an adventure in transition.

So I decided to start this new place to share about that.

It’s definitely still messy midlife right now, and yet, there is also much beauty. I see glimmers of it all the time.

✍️ A New Way to Write

I’ve recently changed the way I’m publishing my writing because:

1. I really wanted a fresh start.

2. I wanted a way to share my writing and podcasting without relying on social media, because being on social media too much drains my battery, and then I don’t have the gumption to actually write or podcast. 😊🙃

3. So I decided to try this new platform - Substack. It’s getting more popular all the time, so maybe you are familiar with it, and maybe you even use the Substack app.
   

   But what I really love is that you don’t have to have the app to read posts. Instead, you can subscribe (even for free) to the writers and creators you want to hear from, and then you get updates sent right to your email.

   Where The Beauty Is is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

   Subscribe

A New Way to Read!

I love writing on a reader-supported platform, because part of what started to feel a little off to me about blogging the old way was trying to figure out how to support my writing without doing sponsored posts that didn’t feel quite right, or having to figure out advertising.

Mostly, I just want to write, and this platform lets me do that.

I am truly so grateful for each and every one of you who supports my writing, whether it’s through a monthly or yearly subscription, or “buying me a tea,” (making a one-time donation when you can.)

(This doesn’t actually necessarily go to tea - usually it just helps me be able to keep making time to write here!)

But I also know that not everyone is in a position to subscribe or donate. And that’s OK too. That’s why I’m doing things this way.

And can I tell you:

• it helps so much just to have you here reading

• it helps when you share a post or Where The Beauty Is with a friend

• it helps when you leave a comment or send a quick note - some days, it’s those comments and notes that bring me back to my computer. 🩵

My Why is … Us

It’s been my dream since I was 5 years old to be a writer, and more and more, I feel like something is missing if I’m not writing.

This is part of practicing wholeheartedness for me, and so if I don’t write, things feel so much harder and my soul gets achey, and I just want to move to a retirement home and smoke Pall Malls and sit by a pool and shrivel into a little lady raisin.

But I’m figuring out that there is more to it than that.

I think writing is helping me to process this very messy middle stage of midlife, and the more I hear from you, the more I am learning that I’m not alone.

This stage is bumpy and a little scary, and sometimes, I think it really helps us all to know that we are not alone, you know? 🩵

💟 So Why Join Me As a Subscriber?

For the past several months, I’ve been spending a lot of very early mornings and late nights thinking about what this little venture could become.

I’ve got a notebook full of post ideas that I want to share, but I’ve also started to consider what could come next.

A podcast, perhaps, or at least more recorded audio.

And maybe some events.

Maybe even classes and programs.

And maybe, (maybe this is too much to tell you but let’s go ahead be courageous and say it out loud) - maybe even a community where we could support one another as we navigate big transitions and dream of what could be on the other side.

Subscribing to Where the Beauty Is

So I hope that you will consider becoming a subscriber, because that means you will get new posts sent right to your email for free as well as my brand new FREE Hard Days Guidebook.

You’ll also get all the big announcements, and all the posts, and any tiny poems, and of course, you don’t have to open my emails, but this way you will get them and you don’t have to learn a new app unless you want to!

If you would like to support my work and help me keep going - that’s super nice.

And I want you to know how much I appreciate it.

But honestly, again - I just like you being here. I’m grateful.

You can’t peak at all of my subscription options by clicking on the button below.

Thank you so much for being here. 🩵

Kara