What Now? What now? What, NOW?
Hello friends,
Welcome to What Now? with Lindsay Johnstone. I’m a writer, reviewer and creative writing workshop facilitator based in Glasgow, Scotland. Post-therapy, I’m holding the necessary space for myself and others entering midlife while very much still figuring things out.
In autumn 2022, I ended a three-year psychotherapy journey asking myself, ‘What now?’ I vowed that I’d replace those thrice-weekly therapeutic hours with something, but wasn’t then sure quite what.
Enter Substack.
Free subscribers can look forward to words on mental and physical health in midlife, the reality of living with a caring responsibility and our reading and writing lives. With a memoir about intergenerational trauma, caring, motherhood and the nuanced interplay between nature and our mental health available to listen to for my Membership community, I have lots to say.
Joining my Membership community gives you access to my podcast excerpting my memoir, the full archive, members-only Friday discussion threads and my Writing for Better Mental Health short course, which you can find out more about here. My flagship online course, Memoir in a Month, runs again in January 2025 for Founding Members and you can reserve your spot or join the waitlist here:
Some nice words others have said
'Johnstone's writing is present and vivid': The John Byrne Award, 2022
'A delightful insight into the therapy dynamic': Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival, 2022
‘A complex intergenerational narrative... ambitious and intriguing': Our Voices - ASLA & Creative Scotland judging panel, 2021
‘Lindsay's writing is beautifully vulnerable and open - reading her work always leaves me feeling inspired and encouraged.’ Charlene Storey, Haver and Sparrow
‘Beautifully honest writing at the intersection of mental health and creativity.’ Samantha Clark, The Life Boat
‘Lindsay's writing is generous, poignant and beautiful. I always look forward to reading her posts and she makes me a better writer by osmosis somehow! ✨’ Claire Venus, Sparkle on Substack
‘Lindsay is a phenomenal writer and writing for better mental health course is gently life-changing, and brought me back to writing for myself after years absent.’ Kay Bohan, Better Than Zero
‘Lindsay is actively creating a soothing and supportive space, not just for her own writing but for those charting midlife with all its challenges and uncertainties. Covering topics such as mental health and the writing life, with glimpses into her memoir, her Substack is a valuable read for anyone negotiating similar experiences.’ Sarah Robertson, Brand Stories
More on ‘What Now?’
I find myself asking this question a lot. Perhaps because I’m a parent there are many flavours of ‘What nows?’ in a day. There is the incredulous ‘What now?’ in the face of pre-teen cheek, the ‘What is it this time?’ what now and also the ‘Does it have to be RIGHT now?’ what now. But more generally, the question reflects the ever-vigilant part of me that has spent the past 40 years with my head tilted back, in wait for some sort of ‘surprise’. It also speaks to the part of me that is – daily – saddened, shocked and yet also hopeful when faced with the reality of the world we live in.
Now for the credentials bit
I am represented by Caro Clarke at Portobello Literary and I am part of the inaugural cohort of writers selected for Arvon’s Advanced Writing Programme 2024-26. I write memoir and poetry reviews for the Glasgow Review of Books, and am working on my second non-fiction book as well as my first a novel. I work part-time at Scotland’s national literacy charity, Scottish Book Trust, inspiring a love of reading and writing from cradle to grave, and am a judge on the 2025 New Writers Award.
With an extract from my memoir I won the John Byrne Award in October 2022. I was shortlisted for a Writers’ Award at the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival in 2022 with another excerpt from my memoir and was supported by Creative Scotland and ASLA's emerging writers' programme, Our Voices, in 2021.
I facilitate writing workshops with a focus on improving our mental and physical wellbeing across Scotland and online.
In my former life as a high school English teacher, I wrote for the Herald and BBC Bitesize. I am a regular voice on BBC Radio Scotland, and can (mostly) be trusted with a microphone.
With love,
Lindsay x
