Welcome to TRB Lounge. Today, I’d like to welcome S.A. Sterling, author of AWAKE: Notes from the Quiet Hours, for an author interview with The Reading Bud.
About The Author
S.A. Sterling
S.A. Sterling writes about real life: the quiet struggles, late-night thoughts, and moments that push us to grow. She’s lived across oceans, taught languages for years, and met women from all walks of life who share one thing in common: the desire to keep showing up, even when life gets messy.
Her latest book, AWAKE: Notes from the Quiet Hours, was born from sleepless nights and honest reflection. Before that, she wrote Ride On!—the story of Dame Sarah Storey’s extraordinary journey of resilience—and several books designed to help women navigate everyday life with more clarity and courage, including Executive Functioning Skills for Women with ADHD, The 369 Manifestation Journal, and The Women Rising Strong 2024 Workbook.
She lives in northern Italy with her husband, where she teaches, writes, and keeps a pot of lemon water on her desk for the early hours that refuse to sleep.
You can find author Sterling here:
Author Website | X | Instagram | TikTok | Facebook | YouTube | Pinterest
Interview
Welcome to TRB! Please give our readers a brief introduction about yourself before we begin. We’d love to know beyond what your Author Bio says about you.
I’m someone who’s learning to make peace with imperfection. I live in a small Italian town surrounded by mountains, where I teach languages, write, and try to balance too many notebooks and not enough hours of sleep. I’m a mother, a wife, a sister, and a woman still figuring out how to be all of those things without losing myself. Writing, for me, is how I stay honest.
Beyond the blurb, could you delve into some unique aspects or pivotal moments from your book?
Each page was written in real time, during sleepless nights between 2 and 5 a.m. Nothing was planned. I simply sat down and wrote what was true in that moment. Sometimes grief, sometimes humor, sometimes calm. The uniqueness lies in its immediacy. AWAKE isn’t about sleep, it’s about what surfaces when the noise quiets down: aging, motherhood, marriage, identity, and the small things that hold us together when everything else feels uncertain.
What drove you to explore this specific theme?
Insomnia became a doorway. I stopped fighting it and started listening to what those hours were trying to tell me. I realized that sleeplessness mirrors midlife, that stage where we can’t hide from ourselves anymore. The book’s message is simple: you’re not alone in your wakefulness, in your restlessness, in your questions.
What served as the catalyst for this one?
It started with frustration. I couldn’t sleep, and all the advice —magnesium, herbal teas, no screens — wasn’t working. One night I opened my notebook and typed a few lines just to release the noise in my head. That became the first “night.” Then came another, and another. Over time, it became a ritual, a way to process my changing body, relationships, and life.
How long was the journey from concept to final version?
About two years. I didn’t plan it as a book at first; it grew naturally from those nights. The editing process took several months after that, turning fragments into a cohesive journey.
What are your future aspirations as a writer?
I want to keep writing books that make readers feel seen, especially women in midlife. I don’t aim for perfection or grandeur, just truth. In five years, I hope to have published more works that explore the quiet transformations we rarely talk about.
Are there other topics or projects you’re currently working on?
Yes, several. I’m writing a memoir about body image, belonging, and learning to stop performing for acceptance. I’m also expanding my Women Rising Strong platform, where I share stories of resilience and empowerment. Alongside that, I’ve resumed my weekly newsletters, where I write about midlife, creativity, and personal growth. And I’m working on a new book about self-reinvention for women over 50: how we can redefine purpose and possibility in this next chapter of life.
Have you ever been tempted to venture into fiction?
Yes, many times. But even when I try, reality sneaks back in. My writing always starts from something true: a conversation, a feeling, a memory. Maybe one day I’ll write fiction, but it will probably still sound like real life.
Can you recall the moment you realized you wanted to be a writer?
I don’t think it was one moment. Writing was always there: poems, letters, journals, scraps of thoughts. But it became serious when I understood that writing helps me make sense of things. It wasn’t an easy path; there was doubt, comparison, rejection. But each word felt like coming home.
Describe your writing process.
I write early in the morning or in the middle of the night, when the world is quiet. I keep lemon water or tea next to me and write in bursts: no outline, no plan. Later I come back to shape it. It’s less about discipline and more about showing up for myself.
Outside of writing, do you have another profession?
Yes, I’m a language coach. I teach English, Italian, and Russian to adults and teenagers. Having lived across oceans and learned seven languages, I’ve been able to meet women from many walks of life, each with her own story, accent, and way of seeing the world. Teaching keeps me close to real conversations, the kind that remind me how language isn’t just about words. It’s about who we are, and how we connect. That understanding shapes everything I write.
Given the theme of your book, could you recommend other reads with similar ideas?
Two come to mind: The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, for its quiet honesty about grief and resilience, and I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O’Farrell, for its raw reflection on the body, mortality, and what it means to stay awake to life. Both explore how awareness, even painful awareness, can lead us back to meaning.
In non-fiction, are there authors who influenced your approach?
Joan Didion, Anne Lamott, and Cheryl Strayed have shaped how I see the power of truth on the page. They write with honesty, vulnerability, and restraint. They turn ordinary life into something worth sitting with. I also connect with Maggie O’Farrell’s way of writing about the body and memory. All of them remind me that raw truth often says more than polished perfection ever could.
How do you handle writer’s block?
I don’t call it a block anymore. It’s usually exhaustion or fear. When words stop coming, I step away. I cook, walk, or play piano. Then I come back. Writing always returns when I stop forcing it.
How do you balance research and narrative?
Since AWAKE is rooted in lived experience, research wasn’t formal. It came from observing, reading about perimenopause, and listening to other women. I try to weave those truths naturally into the narrative, without turning it into a lecture.
How do you handle criticism or differing viewpoints?
I remind myself that readers bring their own experiences to every book. Not everyone will connect, and that’s okay. I don’t write to please. I write to tell the truth as I know it. If someone disagrees, at least it started a conversation.
What advice would you give aspiring nonfiction writers?
Write what keeps you up at night, literally or metaphorically. Don’t wait for it to sound perfect. Tell the truth, even when it feels uncomfortable. The right readers will find you not because your story is flawless, but because it’s real.
Thank you, author Sterling, for taking the time to answer our questions and for all your insightful answers!
About the Book
AWAKE: Notes from the Quiet Hours
2:47 a.m. Again.
For two years, she woke in the quiet hours—when the house slept, when the world felt suspended between night and morning. In that stillness, she began to write.
AWAKE is a collection of sixty nights lived in real time: the hum of insomnia, the weight of perimenopause, the questions that surface at 3 a.m. when defenses are down.
These pages don’t offer solutions. They offer presence.
For anyone who’s ever felt alone in the dark hours, this book is company.
You can find AWAKE: Notes from the Quiet Hours here:
Ebook | Paperback
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The Reading Bud 