From News Junkie to Storyteller

How I’m Finding Hope in Books

Every morning I wake up and grab my phone. First I check messages from friends. Then I check my social media for messages. And then I check the news.

I used to check the news first. As a former journalist it was automatic. I needed to know what had happened during my sleep and what was going to happen that day.

That habit stayed with me for over a decade after I graduated from uni with a master’s degree in journalism. The news was part of my routine and I loved it. I loved making sense of events across the globe. I thrived on researching backgrounds to stories. I enjoyed discussing the news with friends and family.

Today, I have come to hate it.

Now I hate waking up and fearing what bombs have killed countless people this time. I hate hearing how trans rights are evaporating, endangering more and more humans overnight. I hate how empathy is now considered a weakness.

I hate everyone who voluntarily voted for white men – and a few women – to strip fellow human beings of their basic human rights, who threaten people online and who don’t care that democratic rights are undermined.

I no longer enjoy researching backgrounds to stories, because it only makes me see the cruelty in my fellow human beings, and my own ugly hate for them and their choices.

I no longer enjoy watching how broadcasters frame a story. I no longer enjoy having a moan at them for choosing ‘the wrong one’.

(In)Objectivity

I am glad I am no journalist today. I could never remain impartial and objective. I wouldn’t want to when we see civilisation collapse from within.

But I feel relief that I still love storytelling. Not only through writing about my own worries and fears and experiences. But also, as a certified book coach, by helping others write about theirs. To help others bring their book vision to life.

Because storytelling changes us. By extension it changes the world. Stories about ourselves and about others. Stories make us see connections we never knew existed.

We need to change this world now and as ordinary citizens we can only do that from within, from the bottom up.

One person at a time. One such story at a time.

It’s why I no longer only serve writers with illness. I feel a deep desire to do more, help more and write more. And so I will. I must. Now it matters more than it ever has in my lifetime.

I want to serve any writer of historical, literary and women’s fiction who dreams of making an impact on the world, one reader at a time, with their story. Particularly in this new reality.

I want to help any writer who sees the pain of the world – of the people in it – and who wants to protest and change and leave a legacy of healing. Coach them to bring their vision to life and help them write the best book they possibly can. Because we need books that connect us to each other, not alienate.

Right now it is all about the stories we tell ourselves and each other. So let’s tell ours and with it at least try our very best to save the world together.

Sandra Postma
Posted on 12 March 2025 on Substack

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