The Midlife Era

What happened when we did a Taylor Swift writing workshop with midlife women

We weren’t sure if it was the worst idea we’d ever had. It felt a little crazy. After a decade of offering personal essay writing courses, publishing anthologies and essays, exploring women’s friendship and motherhood and midlife, were we really going to offer a writing workshop based on Taylor Swift songs? Who even were we? Certainly not a pair of writers in our late forties.

I (Steph) stopped being embarrassed by my love of Taylor Swift music during the pandemic when she released folklore and evermore (two albums that are exquisite enough to transcend the stigma of cliched pop music), and I now proudly identify as an unapologetic Swiftie. And after the day in May when

Jessica Smock

and I spent hours messaging while watching the livestream of the Paris Eras concert in which Taylor debuted the new TTPD set (The Tortured Poets Department, her latest album), I think it’s safe to say she identifies as one as well.

But we weren’t sure if our community of midlife Gen X writers was going to throw things at us for jumping on a bandwagon—do “serious writers” really want to respond to writing prompts based on song lyrics of arguably the biggest music star in the world? Were we about to alienate our readership? We put on our Swiftie blinders and boldly announced our latest prompt-based workshop, “Writing Our Eras,” which began the week TTPD dropped.

We crossed our fingers and hoped for the best. And what happened next took us both by surprise.

We absolutely fell in love with this workshop, and the dozens of midlife women writers of all levels who unabashedly immersed themselves in the community, Swifties or not, writers of all levels.

These women showed up with open minds and open hearts, claiming and identifying the “eras” of their lives, digging deep into past relationships—not just romantic partnerships, but relationships with siblings, parents, co-workers, and friends—to excavate painful and triumphant moments from their own lives. The quality of writing was stunning, and the depth of sharing and connecting was profound.

One of our favorite things about writing in community is the opportunity to be witnessed as a writer, to be “read.” Sometimes women respond to prompts with excerpts they wouldn’t be “allowed” to share publicly—in a Substack column or blog, online or print publication, or even on social media. And yet we all have stories bursting out of us that we are longing to write, even the ones we feel like we can’t or shouldn’t share.

It’s one thing to write something that will never see the light of day, and another to write something personal and share it with a safe, supportive group of women who care for, receive, and hold your words as though they are creativity midwives. And in the Writing Our Eras group, we witnessed powerful writing that was met with more support and engagement we’ve ever seen in our writing groups. It was beautiful.

Our Friday Zoom meetings felt like a combination of virtual happy hour, group therapy, and a writing critique group. We looked forward to them every week. When our first session ended, we were so disappointed it was over that we had a second one. And now we are starting yet another one, to begin July 10th.

We truly were unprepared for the level of connection, creativity, and generosity in these writing groups—despite the fact that I’m actually a music therapist, a song-based workshop was way out of our comfort zone, and to be honest, it felt risky. But if we wondered whether women in their 40s, 50s, and beyond are “too old” for Taylor Swift, we were wrong.

Her music seems to resonate just as deeply—if not more—with women at midlife.

Because at this stage of our lives, we have the perspective to look back on all our relationships and eras and find the threads of meaning that connect them. We are ready to untangle our stories and understand ourselves better. And while Swift may only be 34 years old, she’s lived enough life to have earned some of that wisdom and perspective. She has given women permission to dive into the depths of themselves, their histories, the different versions of themselves. She has made it acceptable for us to tell our stories out loud, to explore and celebrate and mourn them.

The groups have been a glorious mix of Swifties, casual fans, and women who have barely ever heard a Taylor Swift song.

There are academic writers, Substack columnists, bedside-journal-only writers, essayists, and everyone in between. None of it mattered—the writing prompts and supportive connection bridged any gaps. We asked for writers to share their experiences with us for our website, and their responses echoed what we felt about these groups—they were special:

I’m not a Swiftie but do admire her truthful storytelling through song. I was intrigued by the idea of examining my own life through the concept of Eras, especially in midlife when there is much to reflect upon. While the prompts were based on her music, I found the themes to be universally applicable, and gave me much needed direction to begin writing some pieces with which I’d been struggling. The women in this group inspired and encouraged me to show up honestly, and the support from both Jessica and Stephanie was unfailing. I highly recommend this workshop!

Participating in the first two Writing Our Eras workshops opened my eyes to not only becoming a full-fledged Swiftie, but to exploring personal ideas deeply rooted in grief through different and creative ways. The songs, lessons, and prompts fueled my generative writing, and the ongoing support and bonds formed within the group of women involved was simply amazing. 

This group has encouraged me to take my writing seriously again; to look into my past and celebrate the good times while letting go of some of the negative stuff; it’s been a joyful, non-judgmental space to write and read and share. I hope to join another group soon and explore other Taylor Swift inspired ideas and experiences. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who has read and shared here, you are all goddesses!

Working in film/tv you are always writing for someone else. This group has given me permission to write for myself. To write because I have to write in order to feel fulfilled. This course reminded me that’s who I am and writing is forever. There’s no “rush” to be a writer. The women is this group showed up with such honesty, skill and vulnerability that it blew me away daily. I feel lucky just to have been in their presence here. 

And one writer’s words captured the “Taylor Swift effect” that I think is the crux of why midlife women are drawn to her music and her impact on the industry:

I didn’t know how much I needed a group like this. I needed someone to ask me imaginative questions, someone to get me thinking about the meaning in music, someone to give me permission to say all the quiet parts out loud, someone to hear me, someone to make me notice how sad some of my stories are, someone to laugh with me, someone to say yes, me too. And most importantly, someone to tell me to keep writing my story.

We would love for you to join us for our next 3-week session of Writing Our Eras. Learn more and sign up here.

As we head into the second half of summer, we are looking ahead to other fall workshops, including a new session of our course, “It’s Time For Your Book,” and a brand new workshop, “Writing Divorce.”