TDWS: With Guest Sari Botton of Oldster Magazine
On late bloomers, long careers, and achieving "overnight" success after 40 years
Today’s The Daily Whatever Show felt like a masterclass in memoir, aging, and what it actually takes to build a life in writing.
We were joined by Sari Botton, founder of Oldster Magazine and Memoir Land, and the conversation went wide in scope as we discussed craft, career, and the long game.
She talked about “literary citizenship”—the idea that you spend years supporting other writers, building community, and waiting your turn, while also doing the work to be ready when that turn comes.
And maybe the line that stuck the hardest: when she follows her curiosity, she succeeds. Not overnight. Not by accident. But over decades of showing up.
It was honest, generous, and quietly galvanizing, the kind of conversation that reminds you why you keep making things, even when no one’s watching—yet.
Thank you Amy Gabrielle, Dr. Amber Hull, Harry Hogg, Letters from a Feminist, and many others for tuning in—with special thanks to our amazing moderators Karen Marie Shelton and Yanni Hamburger.
We love you, mean it!
Lawrence Winnerman
The science fiction writer
Lawrence Winnerman is a science fiction writer in Fort Wayne, Indiana. After twenty-five years leading technology programs at Amazon and Microsoft, he was chief operating officer of Blue Amp Media. In his Substack publication, The Hinge & The Near Field, he writes about AI and democracy and is serializing his novel Light Shines Through. He co-hosts The Daily Whatever Show. All stories by Lawrence
Dana DuBois
The memoirist
Dana DuBois is a memoirist and Gen X word nerd based in the Pacific Northwest. She founded I Write Out Loud, her Substack publication, where she writes across a range of subjects; parenting, music and pop culture, relationships, and feminism are her favorites. She co-hosts The Daily Whatever Show. Em dashes, Oxford commas, and well-placed semicolons make her heart happy. All stories by Dana
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