Short version

Sara Moss (she/they) is an Australian nonfiction writer with a background in journalism, photography and experience design. 

She’s the author of GO: A memoir of wanderlust and anxiety, and her magazine and press credits include Australian Traveller; Let’s Travel (New Zealand); The Toronto Star and Everything France. 

Drawing upon lived experience and a 20-year communications career, Sara now mentors values-led professionals — in the creative industries, business, healthcare and design — writing their first nonfiction book. 

Sara’s online home is www.hellosaramoss.com and they live with their partner on unceded Giabal country mountains, in Toowoomba, Australia. 

Long version

Sara Moss (she/they) is an Australian nonfiction writer, mentor and the author of GO: A memoir of wanderlust and anxiety.

She’s worked with big and small business, government and entrepreneurs, in Australia and overseas. Mostly as a writer; also, researcher, editor, photographer and experience designer. 

Their magazine and press credits include Australian Traveller; Let’s Travel (New Zealand); The Toronto Star and Everything France.

Sara was also fortunate to review 1600 hotels around the world for trade guides known affectionately by UK travel agents as the ‘truth books’.

Now their focus is on enhancing wellbeing through fostering creativity, inclusive cultures and healthy environments.

Sara mentors values-led professionals (in the creative industries, business, healthcare and design) writing their first nonfiction book; and champions design for wellbeing in various physical spaces as an emerging practitioner member of Urban Design Forum Australia.

Home is currently at www.hellosaramoss.com and with their partner on unceded Giabal country mountains in Toowoomba, Australia.  

Formal qualifications

• B Communication (Journalism) — University of Canberra

• Diploma (Photography) — Queensland School of Printing and Graphic Arts

• Commencing in 2024: Sustainability — University of Tasmania

Other key training and memberships

• Writing powerful ‘big idea’ nonfiction, seminar — Shawn Coyne, Story Grid, USA

• Writing a deal-winning nonfiction book proposal, masterclass — Beth Kempton, UK

• Successful strengths coaching (CliftonStrengths), workshop — Gallup, AUS

• Women in Technology scholarship recipient, UX design short course — Academy Xi, AUS

• Member: Australian Society of Authors

• Member: Urban Design Forum Australia

• Member: Climate and Health Alliance

Short version

Adventure – real adventure – delivers colourful bruises. Sara Moss’ debut memoir charts her search for adventure, love and meaning, across almost 40 countries and more than 10 years. What does it take to keep stepping into the unknown? Take a breath, a deep one, and prepare to go…

Long version

Sara Moss knew she had to go. Taking photos of cranky cruise ship passengers was not the adventure she planned. But adventure – real adventure – dissolves plans and delivers colourful bruises. During more than a decade of exploration, through close to 40 countries, Sara discovers flashpoints of intense loneliness and unrivalled joy.

GO is Sara’s great escape from the Aussie bush to an induction to journalism in the nation’s capital; from hard labour at sea, to writing travel articles for trade and glossy pages, while looking for what’s beyond them. Sara walks naked through a San Francisco bath house, learns how to cook buffalo’s testicles, and scrambles to find a reliable map for a healthy marriage.

GO is about the monkey-grip of internal and external shifts. About the courage needed to take faltering leaps into the unknown. Whether it is a new country, a new love or a new part of yourself. Take a breath, a deep one, and go.

May I interview you for my magazine/website/podcast?

Thank you for asking. I’d love to hear more.

Please get in touch via the contact page and put ‘Media outreach — [insert the name of your publication/site/podcast]’ in the subject line. In the message body, please include:

• a link to your site

• (if podcasting) an overview of typical episode format and length

• topics you’d like to discuss

• when, where and how you’d like to conduct the interview

• approximate audience size.

I read every email I receive so there’s no need to follow up, but I’ll be in touch to let you know if I can help.
 

Do you write guest posts?

Sometimes, yes. If you think I could provide value for your audience, I’d love to hear more from you.

Please get in touch via the contact page and put ‘Media outreach — [insert the name of your publication or blog]’ in the subject line. In the message body, please include:

• a link to your site

• topics you’re seeking coverage on

• when you’re seeking the guest post

• an overview of your publication guidelines

• approximate audience size.

I read every email I receive so there’s no need to follow up, but I’ll be in touch to let you know if I can help. Either way, thank you for thinking of me.

do you accept guest posts for hellosaramoss.com?

Not at this time but thanks for your interest.

May I review your book on my website?

Of course! I’m thrilled you’d like to do so. The information and images on this page are designed to help you. Let’s know via the contact page if there’s anything else you need. (If you enjoyed GO, and want to help others find it, I’d be very grateful if you could also leave a review on the platform from which you purchased it. The algorithms like good reviews.)
 

What if we want to put your book on our reading list?

That would be wonderful, please do. If you run a virtual book club (or host an in-person meeting in Toowoomba) I’d be happy to talk about GO. Please get in touch via the contact page to share the details of your club and prospective session dates and times. (Put ‘Book club’ in the subject line.)
 

What made you write the book?

As I mentioned over here, I’d reached the point when I couldn’t not do it anymore. (I don’t like double negatives either but this one was pertinent.) Initially, I had the overwhelming sense the time had come to tackle this vast creative undertaking — that my personal and professional life had been building towards it — and writing the book was the most meaningful, purposeful thing I could do.

Then, predictably, came the welling of self-doubt:

Are you sure you want to do this? Reveal all this? Do you even know how to do this? You’ve never written more than 3,000 words and that was back in 1996 for a university essay… What if it’s awful and nobody reads it, let alone buys it?

From a story perspective, I had a clear point-of-no-return moment that lasted a few months. Then I imagined dying without having done so (truly), and I was all in.

I also wanted to craft a good read.

GO isn’t autobiographical because I think I’m something special or more noteworthy than anyone else — it’s because I’m not. There more we can see ourselves in others, the easier we can be on our own soul.
 

Who are your favourite writers?

I’m usually a reader by mood, and devour nonfiction (with occasional exceptions), but I’m always happy to read anything written by: Alain de Botton, Dani Shapiro, Craig Mod, Brené Brown, Tom Hodgkinson, Dixe Wills, Claire Bidwell Smith, Barbara Sher and Anne Michaels.
 

Do you have any tips for first-time authors?

So many! I’ll be sharing them in the articles I post here, over time. But in the first instance? Be very clear on why you want to write a book. Get the fuel for it deep down in your bones. The reason needs to be a compelling one because the work is guaranteed to become hard, then harder still — for a multitude of reasons — and you’ll want to give up. Your reason has to be strong enough to pull you through all the times it feels like you just can’t do it anymore.