books know more than we do

Last weekend was the fourth birthday of my first novel, Catchlight. Happy birthday Catchlight!

(Haven’t read it yet? Get your copy from Bookshop.org {support indie bookstores!} or from Amazon.)

Here’s the wild thing:

I finished writing that book in approximately 2014. (It took another 6 years before it was published.)

And in the past year, a few moments in that book have happened in my real life.

The same thing happened with the book I was writing from 2020-2023 - some events happened in my real life that echoed the themes I was writing about so closely it was eerie.

Here’s what I believe: books know more than we do.

I first read that concept in Madeleine L’Engle’s book Walking on Water. I believed it then, and I believe it even more so now - because I’ve actually witnessed it happen.

I write something that comes seemingly out of nowhere, that turns out to be the perfect setup for an idea that occurs to me much later.

I write something that feels true and heartfelt and later actually happens.

I write something and read it back and think wow, I have no idea where that came from. Cool.

When we listen to the book, it leads us.

When we listen to the book, it shows us that it’s in charge, not us.

And that is such a relief.

It’s a relief to know that I don’t have to come up with an entire book on my own. It exists somewhere, in its perfect form, and I’m merely trying to “get it down,” as Julia Cameron says in The Artist’s Way.

I don’t always do my books justice. But I do my absolute best to write the best book I possibly can.

And I trust that it knows more than I do, always.

Want to spend six months with me listening to your book and learning how to channel in deeper and deeper ways? Make sure you’re on the waitlist for my Writing Brave Mastermind. I’ve got a couple events coming up this month exclusively for folks on the waitlist, including a Meet Your Editors panel.