AboutMy name is Shari Caudron and my mission is to tell the truth about my own life in a way that helps other people see theirs.
It wasn’t always this way…
Hello!
I spent a good part of my adult life hiding. I was much more comfortable focusing on other people than revealing myself. I hid behind the notebook as a journalist, behind the lectern as a professor, and behind all the questions I asked my clients as a memoir coach.
But you can only hide who you really are for so long before the strategy that once kept you safe starts preventing you from the life you want to live.
Today, being real is what matters most to me.
You can learn how I got to this new place of truth in my latest book, The Second Story. On the surface, it’s a memoir about aging and preparing for life’s later years. But at its heart, it’s about uncovering the stories I’d been telling myself, questioning which ones still fit, and becoming more comfortable in my own skin.
I’d been building up to this book for a long time.
When I was thirteen, I was given a small journal covered in blue denim with orange stitching and a tiny brass lock. Inside the safety of those pages, I wrote the truth of my life without censorship or shame. I wrote about the crushing insecurity I felt among friends, the strange mix of pride and embarrassment I felt upon becoming a cheerleader, and my complicated, often angry feelings toward my mother.
That diary was the start of a lifelong passion for using writing as a way to look more closely at life. That curiosity has taken me to some unexpected places.
I once spent three years researching Barbie collectors, storm chasers, pigeon racers, and other people with unusual passions. I wanted to understand not only what they loved but why. The book’s title? Who Are You People?
I spent more than fifteen years helping memoir writers uncover the emotional truth behind the experiences that shaped them. Again and again, I saw how personal writing transformed the author, while also connecting them with readers. I’d routinely tell my clients, “Being authentic gives others permission to do the same.”
Along the way, I’ve also been a magazine columnist, restaurant critic, and the author of two previous books. My work has appeared in national publications, been featured on NPR, and received honors including a Colorado Book Award and several first-place national magazine awards.
The roles I’ve held may have changed, but the question driving them has always been the same: What’s really going on beneath the surface of our lives?
These days, I’m still interested in that question—only now, I’m asking it more openly in my own work. Through my Substack newsletter, On Second Thought, I write about identity, aging, and what becomes visible when we look more closely at our lives.
I live with my husband in Boulder, Colorado, where I spend my days writing, hiking, and marveling at the life I’ve learned to love.