yellowbackground.jpg

To Say One Million Times, WOW

Essays on Awe, Faith, and Family from America’s Great Outdoors (and Some Hotel Rooms)

Sarah M. Wells

Coming Spring 2026

Award-winning essayist Sarah M. Wells presents an uplifting, honest, and humor-filled anthology chronicling an unforgettable family road trip across America. Guided by hope, ambition, acceptance, and joy, Wells traverses both the heartland and the inner landscape of her soul as she reaches the age of forty. Reflecting on the choices, limitations, and freedoms that shape an abundant life filled with purpose and meaning, she reminds readers that it’s not the destination, but the journey itself, that truly matters.

“Sarah Wells writes with absolute beauty and unusual clarity about matters of faith [and] human yearning.” —Dinty W. Moore, author of The Mindful Writer

“Sarah Wells brings a unique perspective to the domestic essay. [Her writing] radiates an honesty, candor, and vulnerability I find not just compelling but refreshingly rare.” —Robert Atwan, series editor of The Best American Essays

Sarah M. Wells is the award-winning author of four nonfiction books and two poetry collections. Her work has been honored with four Pushcart Prize nominations and six Notable Essays listings in The Best American Essays. She is also the recipient of an Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council. Sarah earned her BA in Creating Writing and her MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Ashland University. She writes regularly about nature and sustainability, contributes to a popular blog for women, and is poetry editor for Relief Journal. Sarah resides in Ashland, Ohio, with her husband, Brandon, and their three children, Lydia, Elvis, and Henry.