Welcome to What Now? with Lindsay Johnstone
Asking and attempting to answer the various flavours of this question as I rattle roughshod over the peaks and troughs of post-therapy, perimenopausal midlife. Glasgow, Scotland.
“There is so much here for smart, creative women from this smart, creative woman, plus I have only just discovered Lindsay reading extracts from her powerful memoir – I am already hooked (and now a complete fan of her work).”
anna wharton, Sunday Times bestseller, The Orwell Prize longlisted writer and writer of The Spectator’s Book of the Year 2023
Hi friends,
Welcome to What Now? with Lindsay Johnstone, a
Bestselling Publication, and featured in the Top and Rising 100 Leaderboards.I’m a writer, facilitator and memoir / poetry critic for Glasgow Review of Books. In autumn 2022, I ended a three-year psychotherapy journey asking myself, ‘What now?’ and vowed that I’d replace those thrice-weekly therapeutic hours with something, but wasn’t then sure quite what.
Enter Substack.
Post-therapy, I’m holding the necessary space for myself and others entering midlife while very much still figuring things out.
Free subscribers…
can look forward to Sunday words (and sometimes video conversations) on early-onset perimenopause, mental and physical health in midlife, the reality of living with a caring responsibility and our reading and writing lives as well as occasional invitations to join us in Chat. I tend to show up on Notes most days too, so join the conversation.
Upgrading to my Membership community gives you…
The entire audiobook of my memoir, Held in Mind, including bonus behind-the-scenes bits
Access to every post including comments
Invitations to join us in Chat on the last Sunday of every month
The full archive
My Seasonal Journaling Sessions (next Session Thursday 1st May 2025 8-9pm BST and open to Monthly, Annual and Founding Members)
My Writing for Better Health short course, which you can find out more about here. The next four-week run will kick off on Tuesday April 22nd 8-9pm BST for Monthly, Annual and Founding Members and replays and resources sent out afterwards so you can do it asynchronously.
Founding Members…
I’ll be announcing a new course, Life Writing from the Archive for Founding Members, so stay tuned for updates. Memoir in a Month will return in 2026.
In the meantime, I’d love to connect with you on Instagram, too:
And here are some of my most popular posts…
Lindsay x
My spouse is sober... I'm not
“There is so much here for smart, creative women from this smart, creative woman, plus I have only just discovered Lindsay reading extracts from her powerful memoir – I am already hooked (and now a complete fan of her work).” anna wharton , Sunday Times bestseller, The Orwell Prize longlisted writer and writer of The Spectator’s Book of the Year 2023
Held in Mind: An Excerpted Memoir
Listen now (7 mins) | What are the consequences of allowing yourself to be held in mind while you try to hold on to the ones you love? December 27th 1988. A catastrophic house fire at Lindsay’s childhood home near the source of the River Irvine in Ayrshire, Scotland, will stoke something inside her it will take decades to dampen.
Can you put a price on creativity? What about community?
Hello friends… I hope that things are bright wherever you are. It’s Sunday here in Scotland and I’ve stolen a few moments post-breakfast to put the finishing touches to this newsletter. We’re spending the weekend in Crieff in rural Perthshire to celebrate my upcoming Big Birthday which I wrote about
It really happened. Really. Really?
Welcome to What Now? with Lindsay Johnstone. I’m a writer, literary critic and workshop facilitator from Glasgow, Scotland. Last autumn, 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.
It's Time to Lift Your Pen: Announcing my Writing for Better Mental Health short course
Hi friends, Planning an autumn launch of the online incarnation of my in-person writing course has been interesting, given the not-at-all-autumnal weather we’ve been subject to in Glasgow this past week. This is a complaint and not a complaint, of course. I know that it’s pleasant, particularly for us in the north of the UK where ‘summer’ only blazed fo…
I think the best part about this is I'm now going to read everything you write as in your gorgeous accent. And that, dear friend, has no downsides. x
So lovely to hear your voice. ✨💌