Your story isn’t stuck.
It’s asking for your attention.
I'm Karen Sommerville — personal essayist, fiction and memoir coach, and writer of The Reclamation Letters.
Coming back to yourself, one word at a time.
The Reclamation Letters is a weekly essay publication for women navigating the second half of life — reinvention, identity, grief, style, home, and love. Written from lived experience, without hype.
If you're also carrying a story you've been meaning to tell — a novel, a memoir, or simply the truth you've been circling for years — this is also where you come to find the words.
It's still there. It's been waiting.
The Reclamation Letters
"I didn't lose myself the way you lose keys, dramatically, all at once. I lost pieces the way you lose an earring — quietly, without noticing, somewhere in the ordinary friction of a life."
— Letter Eight: Reclamation, Not Reinvention
A weekly essay publication for women navigating the second half of life. Written from lived experience, without hype.
Meet Karen Sommerville
I'm Karen Sommerville — author, book coach, and writer of The Reclamation Letters, essays on coming back to yourself in the second half of life.
I work with women who have stories that matter deeply to them — whether that's a novel they've been shaping for years, a memoir they're finally ready to tell, or simply a voice they're in the process of reclaiming.
Before I began coaching, I spent years inside my own long-form projects, learning firsthand how easily a story can stall — not because it lacks promise, but because it matters. Over time, I came to understand that most writers don't need more pressure or prescription. They need space to think, a clearer sense of structure, and permission to move at a pace that honours both the work and the life around it.
My role is not to tell you what your story should be. It's to help you listen more closely to what it's already asking for — and to support you as you move forward with clarity and confidence.
Read The Reclamation Letters on Substack
Gentle structure for fierce creativity™
How We Can Work Together
Every writer arrives with a different story, a different pace, and a different set of questions. These two ways of working together offer thoughtful support at key moments in the writing process.
The Story Clarity Session
A focused 90-minute conversation to help you see your story clearly and understand what it needs next
6-Month Novel Foundation Coaching
A deeper coaching partnership for writers ready to strengthen the foundation of their novel and move forward with clarity.
You can read more about each of these options on the Work with me page.
Not Sure What Comes Next? Let’s Start with a Conversation.
This initial conversation is a chance to slow things down and get clear about where you are in your story—and what would be most helpful right now. Whether you’re just beginning, stuck partway through a draft, or unsure how to move forward, we’ll take the time to listen carefully to what’s actually happening in the work.
This is not a sales call. It’s a thoughtful, exploratory conversation to help you understand your options and decide what kind of support—if any—makes sense at this stage. If we do decide to work together, it will be because it feels like a good fit for both of us and for the story — or the life — you're trying to tell.
CLIENT PRAISE
After writing an overly complicated first draft of a novel, Karen Sommerville helped me to develop a strong, actionable outline so I could find my way into the next draft.
Karen’s coaching style was consistently kind, enthusiastic, and professional. She brought a supportive and encouraging energy to each session, while gracefully pointing out structural issues that required my attention.
Throughout our time working together, I found her to be organized, attentive, and full of practical insight. She demonstrated the utmost dedication to my novel-in-progress and to this writer.
—Lynne P.
A talented author in her own right, Karen is warm, generous and genuinely interested in assisting authors meet their writing and publishing goals. I worked with her on my most recent mystery. Touching on the structure of the novel, she brainstormed solutions to plot issues such as the inciting incident and what at the time was a less-than-great ending. Karen helped me deepen the characters' emotions on the page and heighten the suspense in several scenes.
—Charlotte Morganti
Karen is generous with her time and passionate about helping authors optimize their work from the perspective of good writing, tight editing, and informed publishing. Her approach was pragmatic, creative, and encouraging. I’ve been so grateful to have her expert eyes on my work, and even more so to have her grace and kindness in helping me craft a strategy for publication.
~ Pamela Donison