In this follow-up to last week’s episode, I talk about what happened when everything got even messier. After my sister passed away, I couldn’t write. I didn't even care about the story I had spent months working on. Grief completely threw me off track, and just when I was getting back into creative flow, I started questioning the project all over again. In this episode, I talk about how loss changed the way I see work, why my sci-fi script started to feel irrelevant, and how I’m trying to finish it anyway (to keep a promise to myself). I also had some thyroid drama and ended up in the ER! Like whaat? Tangled up with everything else! I really thought I knew about aging, hormones, and midlife identity, but nope. Life keeps teaching me new things. If you’re grieving someone you love, second-guessing your passion project, or fighting with your health and hormones, this one’s for you. Hot Flashes & Fiction is about navigating grief, writing through chaos, and figuring out who you are at 40 and beyond.

In this first Hot Flash Tuesday episode, I’m sharing how my journey as a writer started during a midlife crisis—right as I decided to leave my wellness podcast and jump into writing a sci-fi audio drama. I talk about what inspired the story, how it evolved from an alien-in-a-dumpster idea into a full-blown audio series, and how hitting perimenopause completely changed everything. Burnout, anxiety, hot flashes, and creative confusion slowed down the writing process... and forced me to face some deep stuff around aging, purpose, and identity. You’ll hear about learning how to write a script from scratch, hiring voice actors, and why I had to step away from it for a while just to focus on healing. If you’re navigating perimenopause, trying to write through burnout, or starting over at 40 & beyond, this podcast is for you. Hot Flashes & Fiction is about writing, grief, midlife, and finding your voice again—one episode at a time.

This is the beginning of something new. I’m Darling Izzy, and in this first episode, I open up about why I’m starting this podcast.

At 40, I found myself in menopause, grieving the loss of my sister, and navigating the messy process of reinventing myself as a middle-aged woman.

Hot Flashes & Fiction is a space for storytelling, healing, and honest confessions about aging, creativity, and grief. Some episodes will be real talk, and others will be original short stories based on my life, with fun plot twists along the way, of course.

If you’re starting over at 40, dealing with grief, navigating menopause, or just trying to feel creative again, this podcast is for you.