Midstory is a magazine for midlife women who refuse to disappear.
We publish essays about reinvention, reckoning, resistance, and the messy, unfinished business of becoming at midlife. The second acts and late starts. The truths we’ve been too polite to say. The ways we’re taking up space, burning it down, or starting over. The daily texture of life in the middle: caring for aging parents, bodies changing, marriages evolving, friendships shifting, creative awakenings, and all the complicated realities that don’t fit the narrative we’re supposed to have.
We’re interested in what midlife actually feels like, not the sanitized, “empowered” version. We want the contradictions, the secrets, the sharp observations, the humor, the rage, the tenderness. We want essays that tell the truth.
Why Midstory Exists:
Midstory was created nearly three years ago by the editors of the HerStories Project, a writing community for and by midlife women, because we wanted to create a space for midlife women’s stories and experiences—the real ones, not the ones we’re supposed to tell.
We wanted an online magazine that published work about what it actually means to navigate midlife as a woman. The transformations and reckonings. The resistance to invisibility and ageism. The late discoveries and daily struggles.
Midstory is now edited by me, Jessica Smock, and is a sister publication to Midstack, a community and ecosystem for midlife women writing on Substack. Together, we’re building a space where midlife women’s voices are centered, celebrated, and paid for their work.
What We Publish:
Personal essays (1,000-2,500 words) by midlife women about transformation, reckoning, resistance, discovery, and daily life
Book, film, and TV reviews that examine how midlife women are portrayed in culture
Interviews with midlife women writers, artists, and creators
Book excerpts from memoirs and essay collections by midlife women
Midstory Reads: monthly roundups of exceptional essays by Midstack writers
We publish 3-4 original essays per month, and we pay our contributors because their work has value.
What You Get:
Free subscribers receive:
Midstory Reads (monthly curated essay roundups from the Midstack community)
Select featured essays
Archive access after 3 months
Paid subscribers receive:
All published essays (3-4 per month)
Full archive access
Early access to our calls for submission
The knowledge that your subscription supports midlife women writers
This Is for You If:
You’re a midlife woman with something to say
You’re tired of narratives that treat midlife as decline
You want to read honest, well-crafted essays that reflect your actual life
You want to be part of a community that values midlife women’s voices
