We recently connected with Sarah Dean and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sarah, thanks for joining us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

Oh my goodness! This question always brings a smile to my face. While The Midnight Post was launched really in 2021, the name idea was formed at the start of the pandemic. At that time I was playing a lot of Animal Crossing, receiving and sending letters, and working on personal illustrations after client work was finished around midnight. I was really touched by those three things in that season, and suddenly I had this concept of bringing them all together for a book and business idea.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Absolutely! My name is Sarah Dean and I worked as a Graphic Designer/Art Director until I started The Midnight Post as a greeting card company while I was writing and illustrating the first middle grade fiction book, The Midnight Post and the Postbox Clock. The debut story follows Frederick the Fox as he moves to Burrowood to unravel the mystery of The Midnight Post and meets wonderful animal friends along the way.

I think what I would want someone to know about this story, is that we can always take heart. This whole brand really came out of covid and my desire is that even in times of life that we don’t expect and can’t explain, there can still be joy and hope even in the most unlikely of places.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Absolutely!

Originally, the book was going to be a picture book series. But, as I was working on the world building of the story, my writing outline kept growing. I remember one day in particular just going to my husband and being like – this isn’t a picture book anymore, but I’m really not a writer, what should i do?

(You know, I traditionally worked as a graphic design, and writing a novel seemed quite daunting!)

But he told me, “Sarah you can write” and I really hope that encourages someone out there. Not everything we start out wanting to do will be the right call for what we need to do maybe one, two, three years down the road — but that doesn’t mean you won’t end up doing something that exceeds your wildest imagination! You just have to be willing to take those next steps even if they lead you into surprising directions!

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I recently listened to this podcast called “Broken Tip Jar” and it’s really great. It’s run by two wonderful young women, Hannah Osterbye and Ally Love. They had a guest speaker on it named Tom Argersinger. He actually was my middle school headmaster back in the day which was so fun!

…And he brought up, do we ask ourselves the “who” question instead of the “what, how, why, or where, when” questions.

This just hit me.

Everyone is always asking like “Where do you see yourself? What do you want to do? How many books do you want to write? When do you want your brand to have ____?” — But I loved this, because at the end of the day all those things are so fleeting.

“Who do you want to become?”

Is just so important!

For me, who am I made for and who I want to be are way more pressing than what I want to accomplish. You can have the world and still be unfilled. You can do it all and have no one in your corner.

I want to write books that help and give hope to young people, but at the end of the day my faith, family and friends come first. I want to love the people around me well.

And what’s so fun about life! We can be more proactive in future thinking than reactive. Which to be fair, sometimes takes bravery, but that choice starts with you asking, “who you want to be.”

It just trickles into every other area of your life, like a fountain. Which is pretty cool!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://themidnightpostbook.com/
• Instagram: @themidnightpostshop
• Youtube: @themidnightpost4751

Image Credits
Headshot: Mary Katherine Fulkerson Photography https://mkfulkerson.com/