When a Book Has a Mind of Its Own

It turns out the book I've been writing is a small part of a much bigger book

My mom, amazing author Diane E. Lock, shares that as she began writing this book (it's perhaps my favorite of hers), she watched a then-support character strut out onto the top of her monitor, sit down with her legs crossed and dangling over the screen, and tell my mom how it was gonna be.

That character became Laura Costello, and boy did she have an interesting life in store for her!

I've been thinking about Laura recently.
And books, too.
How they don't really go where we think they're going to
How they have a mind of their own.

Nearly two weeks ago, my new book announced itself while I was looking out at the sun setting over the hill and fields to the north of my home here in Maine.

Here is my cover mockup!

I was like OF COURSE.
It's as near as I've ever come to shouting "Eureka!”

The first thing I did was call Mom :)

The book I was writing, Hug Yourself, is about mindset games that have been helpful for me, and that I sometimes play with clients or in workshops.

These last several months have been such a struggle for me in writing that book.
I felt constrained.
Confined by the narrow scope.
Frustrated, too, because I knew these were worthwhile, fun and exhilarating.
So why did I keep finding myself banging my head on my keyboard?

I almost gave it up – I felt like Don Music composing Mary Had A Bicycle!

I offer grateful thanks to my wonderful friend Kim, who talked me through my impulse to abandon it altogether – and then came this moment where I realized, that that book is a small part of this new memoir.

I think it finally fell into my head in such a lovely way because I've integrated and lived through the subject matter.

I've even had a fun idea for the memoir that I'm currently living in… More on that in, oh, a couple years.
Right now that book is in my Future Book file, which feels like the perfect spot for it while I work on this one.

I've also decided that I've been putting lots of undue pressure on myself, sharing chapters and excerpts of a book that isn't finished yet.

So for you lovely paid supporters, instead of a chapter or an excerpt, I will be sharing monthly updates about how it's going.
Thanks for your patience with me in figuring this all out.
And thanks for your support. It means more than you know.

Writing, much like healing, is not linear. Today it all feels a bit like wandering through peaks and valleys.

That can be pretty challenging for my thinking brain, which does like things all neat and tidy.

Sometimes those shadowy valleys and vertigo-inducing peaks can be tricky to navigate.
Traveling through them is worth it, though, because when I trust the process, they always give way to eureka moments and a renewed enthusiasm.

Whatever you're working on, friend, may there be lots of eureka moments and renewed enthusiasm for you <3

Thanks for being here.
Love,
Kay