8 Questions for... Amanda Saint

Spotlight on The Mindful Writer

Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

Amanda Saint writes and teaches creative writing. She’s the founder of Retreat West and interested in how we can change the stories we tell ourselves about being human to bring more love, peace and unity into the world. She writes The Mindful Writer and The Tao of Storytelling and publishes other writers stories at WestWord.

1.   Why Substack?

I have been a subscriber to The Art of Flash Fiction by Kathy Fish for a few years and when her emails arrived in my inbox, I was always impressed with the clean design and I had no idea Substack was anything beyond a newsletter tool. I was looking for a new one so stumbled into the wonderful world of Substack where I discovered I could also use my newsletter as a lovely magazine site too. And that, as well as Kathy’s brilliant newsletter, there were oodles of great writers here sharing stories on all sorts of interesting things. As soon as I arrived, I could tell it wasn’t like anywhere else I had hung out online.

Shortly after I launched The Mindful Writer, the Notes function went live and my initial reaction was, ‘Oh no.’ I left Facebook and Twitter many years ago because of the vitriol and general bad vibes and I thought having a social feed would turn Substack into the same kind of place. But it has been so different. I have found so many great writers to read and connect with, I have made new friends, and my faith in social media, and humanity, has been restored!

Now, it feels like a space that I was meant to find. One where I can really develop as a writer and connect directly with the people that share my interests and want to read my words. And one where I can find writers whose words I want to read. Where I can have interesting conversations, learn new things, and feel connected to people. I live a nomadic life and I’m always in remote, rural places so Substack is pretty much my only social life!

2.   How long did it take you to find your groove?

I think I’m just finding it now. The Mindful Writer is a personal project I launched in early 2023, as I needed to separate out these kinds of posts from my newsletter for my creative business, Retreat West. A lot of the subscribers there are not into mindfulness and slow writing, and I think they were finding me a bit woo-woo! Every time I sent a newsletter where I talked about slowing down, developing our craft for its own sake, and focusing less on getting an agent and getting published, loads of people would unsubscribe. So, I started The Mindful Writer and I am still feeling my way.

My life went through a massive upheaval just after I launched when my mother-in-law died suddenly, then my husband and I found ourselves with nowhere to live two days after her funeral, when a new place fell through. So, I feel like I am just settling into a rhythm now. Finding the best way to share the things I want to and seeing what resonates with my readers. The posts where I share what’s going on with my life, and how that impacts on my writing, are the ones people seem to connect to the most. So, I am figuring out a way to do that in a way that also brings value and insights for them in their own lives and writing. 

3.   How has it changed you?

It’s made me want to be involved with people online again. It’s made me want to be a better writer. I am blown away by so much of the writing I read and it’s making me determined to develop my non-fiction craft just as much as I develop my fiction.

I truly believe that if we start to change the stories we tell ourselves about being human, that if we start bringing more stories filled with love, compassion, empathy, and messages of unity, into the universe, then we can change the world. People say I’m a dreamer but I have learned a lot about the connections between us all, and everything in the universe, in the past decade, and our thoughts and words have real power. More than we realise.

Writing The Mindful Writer has made me more determined to get more people realising this and sharing the dream, so they bring more stories of love to the world too. I don’t mean romantic love but love for ourselves, for all the other humans we’re sharing this experience with, for our planet and all the creatures and plants that live here with us.

4.   What mistakes have you made?

I didn’t really understand how it all worked so I went paid too early. I didn’t make a plan about what I would deliver and when, or why. But I’ve signed up for help from Sarah Fay and Claire Venus, and I am slowly bringing it all into more focus. I really want to develop a community of writers who want to embrace the slow writing principles and work together to create stories that bring us together. So, I am working out how best to do that.

5.   To pay or not to pay?

See above! Paid supporters get extra posts — more personal ones as I am also using The Mindful Writer to share my flash memoir pieces that are helping me to further process my abusive upbringing and estrangement from my family. I am also sharing more mindful writing craft posts for them and as of this month will be running regular courses. The first one is The Slow Story Course, which is designed to write a first draft of a short story over a three-month period. Slow and steady!

6.   What artistic and technical choices have you made

I recently had a Sparkle audit from Claire Venus, which was excellent, and after that completely changed the design and layout of the site. It looks more inviting and more in keeping with what The Mindful Writer is all about. It’s also more personal and there are now some pictures of me and more info on who I am and what I’m hoping to achieve with my Slow Writing Movement and a mindful writing practice.

At the start of this year, I launched the first of my Year of Mindful Writing courses. I chose to launch this through The Mindful Writer, rather than my business where I have been running courses for twelve years, not knowing if it would work as I don’t have the established reputation that I do at Retreat West. But it sold out within a couple of days of launching it. I am working with a small group, and it has been a fantastic experience so far. It starts every six months and the June group got started this week. It is lovely to be working so closely with writers that want to embrace writing just for the joy of it and to get better at it.

In April, I launched a new monthly interview series — Discovering Mindful Writers — in which Substack writers focused on mindful living answer the same questions each month. It’s been a real joy to connect with so many people through this series, both the writers being interviewed and the people reading and commenting on them.

7.   What’s been the effect on your writing?

I turn up and write every week now. Even though I haven’t got a plan or editorial calendar (yet!), I am writing a post every week, as well as additional ones for my paid subscribers. This is a great thing as my mantra has long been that every time we write, we get better at writing.

8.   In it for the long haul?

Definitely. I plan to keep writing and developing it alongside my mindfulness practice, which keeps me on the path to being a better writer and a more balanced and compassionate human. I have also started two other publications — I brought the literary journal I publish, WestWord, over and I also write The Tao of Storytelling, which is using chapters of the Tao Te Ching to explore the time we find ourselves living in, and how we can tell stories that matter about it.

Thank you Amanda Saint for joining this conversation. Subscribe to The Mindful Writer here: