Tonight! Join our live event about caring for aging family
+ We recommend this writing group | "Sticky, Sexy, Sad" as a screenplay
Since I was a teenager, my mom has consistently quipped, “Just shoot me if I become a bother in old age. If I don’t remember who I am or I’m hooked up to life support, just shoot me.” And then my family laughs awkwardly and we don’t know what to say next. So we change the subject.
As for my mushroom-hunting dad, the subject of death never comes up. He acts as though he’s going to live forever, so we all just roll with it. I mean, he’s 82 and just bought his lifelong dream car: a Corvette.
But I digress. Tonight I’m hosting a live free conversation on Substack Live, starring my new friends who are death doulas (yep, it’s a thing) and experts in planning elder care.
Join me — my mom will be watching too. We’ll make it as non-awkward as possible. — Amy Cuevas Schroeder
The Conversation Your Family Keeps Avoiding: A Practical Guide to Talking About Aging
If you’re unsure about how to plan care for elders and loved ones, this workshop is your starting point.
Most families avoid talking about aging until a crisis forces the conversation, and by then, options are limited and tensions run high. You’re not alone in this: caregiving has become one of the most urgent challenges families face, yet it’s rarely discussed openly.
If you’ve been putting off these conversations because you don’t know where to start or worry about making things worse, this workshop is your starting point. You’ll learn a framework for approaching these conversations in a way that’s productive rather than combative, understand what both you and your parents need, and identify which topics to tackle first. You’ll walk away knowing whether you can navigate this on your own — or when it’s time to bring in expert support.
Registration is not required for this event. Please save this livestream link to your calendar.
“Lifelong luddite Treena Orchard was a newly sober woman coming off a much-needed break from relationships, reluctantly taking the digital plunge by downloading a dating app. Instead of the fun, easy experiences advertised on swiping platforms, she discovered endless upkeep, ghosting, fleeting moments of sexual connection, and a steady flow of misogyny.”
That’s a brief description of Sticky, Sexy, Sad, Treena Orchard’s memoir published in 2024. Treena recently announced that her PR agent has begun pitching the Pilot screenplay for a scripted series she’s been writing. “Inspired by my memoir, it's a character-driven comedy/drama about a messy, very relatable midlife woman on the comeback trail,” she says here on Instagram.
We’re rooting for you!
More about the memoir:
In Sticky, Sexy, Sad, Orchard uses her skills as an anthropologist who studies sexuality and a sex-positive feminist to explore what it feels like to want love while also resisting the addictive pull of platforms designed to make us swipe-dependent. She asks important questions for those searching for love in the modern era: What are the social and human impacts of using dating apps? How can we maintain our integrity and warm-blooded desire for intimacy while swiping? Can we resist some of the problematic aspects of swipe culture? Is love on dating apps even possible?
Revealing how dating apps are powerful social and sexual technologies that are radically transforming sexuality, relationships, and how we think about ourselves, this remarkable book cracks the code of modern romance. Told with humor and vulnerability, Sticky, Sexy, Sad is a riveting and inspiring guide to staying true to ourselves amid the digitization of love in the twenty-first century.
Attention writers!
Remember Steph Sprenger? The solo-parenting Renaissance woman who leads Artist’s Way workshops and has ADHD superpowers?
Steph recently launched The Pause, a writing community for midlife women. In her words: “In The Pause, you’ll find a creative community for midlife women who want depth, momentum, and real connection. You can join our membership community, find drop-in workshops and writing courses, or work 1:1 with me.”
The Pause Membership includes:
Weekly co-working sessions
2 monthly writing circles
2 guest instructor workshops per month
Accountability space
Critique groups
A yearlong exploration of The Artist’s Way through weekly prompts
Access to our resource library of recorded workshops
Folks featured in our community newsletter are members of The Midst Founder network of entrepreneurial women.