Hey Writer, Do you Believe in Signs?
By Heather Webb | August 24, 2023 |
Am I showing a freakish side to my personality by admitting that I believe in signs? Probably, but really, aren’t writers considered a little kooky? Yeah. We look for meaning where there is none—and then create some. We opt for fiction to make our story believable when the facts are just too weird. We craft imaginary people and put them through the most ridiculously difficult things on the page to elicit emotion from our readers. And some of us look for signs, or perhaps a better way to say it is, we’re open enough to our surrounding world to find answers we’re seeking.
Searching for Answers
When I first started writing, I dreamed about a real-life person for two weeks before I decided to grab a biography and look them up. She became the subject of my first novel. While deciding what to write about for my next book, I was traveling out of town to a writer’s conference and ended up walking into two different establishments with faux statues of Rodin’s Thinker. In the airport on my return, I headed to the baggage claim and saw that it was backlit by several large screens that flashed ads. The screen above my waiting luggage was stuck—on an image of Rodin’s Thinker. I laughed aloud and said to no one in particular, okay, okay. YES. I will write that book. It may seem silly, but I listen to an idea that presents itself to me, in whatever way it comes.
There’s another really magical thing happens to me sometimes. I’m in the midst of a work-in-progress and there’s a particular aspect I’m stewing over. I can’t seem to nail down the direction I’d like to take. I hem and haw for days or weeks, or months, and in the meantime, I do what I always do. Ponder, explore, discard. And I read. One day, I’m minding my own business and reach for a book that I’ve had on my shelf for ages but haven’t yet read. Undoubtedly, it’s something I’ve wanted to get to and have told myself I’d circle back to a million times. (So many books, so little time, amiright) But suddenly this book is the only book I see, as if I’m drawn in by its gravity.
This is where the magic comes in. I read the novel and suddenly, the answer to my craft question in my WIP is right there, in this book that has been on the backburner for no specific reason–and it holds the key! It demonstrates the kind of structure I need to use, or an emotional thread I’m trying to develop, or insight into a character that mirrors the one I’m hoping to capture on the page. Next thing you know, I’m covered with goosebumps and I absolutely marvel in that magic. This has happened to me so often, that I almost wonder if I am subconsciously buying books that I somehow know I need, later.
It also makes me wonder how any writer can say they don’t have time to read. To read is to expand your skills in a very real way. It’s the fundamental core of your writing. To read is to open a pathway into the beating heart of your own work.
I suppose what I’m trying to say is that woo-woo makes up a rather large part of our passion and profession. It’s as if our creative energy is interconnected by a colorful highway that we can’t always see but somehow know is there, and when we’re paying attention, we glimpse the very vivid, very real signs. Sometimes, we have to be run over by them, but the more open we are to the world around us, to the messages and signs, the more often they begin to appear. The more often they begin to trust us. And ultimately, these golden, beautiful little nuggets enrich our work—and our writing life…or maybe that’s just me?
Do you believe in signs? Have you experienced something magical while working on your WIP?
Heather Webb is the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of historical fiction. As a freelance editor and an adjunct in a MFA in Creative Writing program, Heather has helped many writers sign with agents and go on to sell at market. When not writing, she feeds her cookbook addiction, geeks out on history and pop culture, and looks for excuses to head to the other side of the world. To date, her books have been translated to seventeen languages.
Yes! Signs are simply are the subconscious coming into focus. We are constantly bombarded by stimuli. If we didn’t limit our conscious perception, we’d go insane. So we filter. Writers (indeed artists of all kinds) tend to have numerous filters to choose from, like mental eye glasses. The mind truly is a wondrous and magical cauldron.
Oh yes, I’ve received those magical signs, though I call it the universe bringing the writer what is needed when it’s needed.
Or. Could it be that it’s not a matter of signs but a matter of seeing what was there all along? It makes me wonder what we miss.
I completely agree. Happens to me a lot. A fiend of mine calls it confirmations of our current project or intent.
Oh, you don’t even want to know how woo-woo I’m willing to get. In regard to your final question, every time I think I should or can walk away from this crazy-making gig, another magical thing happens. It’s the magic that keeps me going.
Thanks for reminding me, Heather! Wishing you the best sort of signs and magical days to come.
Oh, you are talking my language here, Heather. Signs and synchronicities. Very real. Very awesome. My take is that we build up a field around us when we engage deeply in something and that field attracts similar energies. Entanglement theory? Yes. Magic? Absolutely. For me this is one of the greatest joys of doing this work, which is often solitary, hard, and frustrating. Thank you for a beautiful post, and may the Force continue to be with you!
Oh, definitely! I just completed The Great Race, a story about a mother-daughter team driving cross-country in a 1905 Franklin automobile. There were so many signs pointing to making a Franklin a “character” in the story that I had to run with it. So much fun!
Heather, I wouldn’t be me without writing. And yes there were signs. Sometimes choices. At an early age I preferred reading to any sport you could name. And when I was outside with my friends, my mind would wander…a phrase, an idea, something in nature, so that I began keeping journals of my every day life. I have written three novels, and I post on my blog every week. WU is the first thing I read every morning, so thankful for this community and the people who share my passion.
Although I often referred to myself an author before I trained as a professional coach, I will tell you that the coach training has done everything to make “my being an author”–of characters, of stories, of books, of my own life–that much deeper. So much so has it done this that I have had many Velveteen Rabbit moments when I can feel I have become real yet again.
In my coaching practice what you have so elegantly referred to is wisdom or Sage (per Shirzad Chamine whom I’ve trained under as well). I spent so many years knowing I could write. Knowing I loved it. Knowing I would be happy to be a writer. But conditioning is tricky, especially when it’s apparently good on the surface, and it had my brain largely locked down creatively, limited. Of course, really freeing up Sage also means your pre-teen starts calling you weird. Sigh. We can’t have it all, can we?
Heather, I will say I hope someone quotes this part specifically and shares it, “It’s as if our creative energy is interconnected by a colorful highway that we can’t always see but somehow know is there, and when we’re paying attention, we glimpse the very vivid, very real signs. ” as it is meaningful and lovely.
If my 20-something self was reading your post and the comments, I would urge her to work with a coach or, even better, train to be a coach, as coaching is all about learning to see that “colorful (interconnected) highway” every day without need to question where it is or what destination will come next. Seeing it every day really does happen. Thank you again, Heather, for sure touching imagery.
I have always said that if I need something, it always seems to magically appear. I don’t know that I believe it actually does, or that some force sends signs, but I do believe that if we are tuned into certain synchronicities, we can receive inspiration and validation when we need it. We just have to be looking. Love this.
Yes! I call these signs “God-winks.” It’s a confirmation as Linda said above. And it is truly amazing how the very thing I need appears. Magical indeed. Thanks for a lovely post!
Thank you, Heather,
I don’t like all signs. I especially dislike those I should have recognized but didn’t. But your wonderful post reminds me that some are answers to my questions and others are answers to questions I haven’t asked yet. I admire your openness to your world. It sounds like you are always in the moment. I’m always in some moment, but not necessarily this one. I have depended on questions rather than signs, searching rather than recognizing, and my belief that when the student is ready, the teacher appears. Maybe if I weren’t looking so hard, I’d find it easier.
How timely! I’m wrestling with whether or not a recent sign is “real” or just wishful thinking on my part. (Not to do with my writing, but with a big life change.) If I keep believing it was a real sign of the direction I should take, will it help to make it so, or will it just set me up for a big disappointment?
As far as my writing goes, I do have moments of inspiration when ideas that perfectly solve a plot problem come to me while I’m in one of my characters’ heads, so to speak. That seems magical to me, and I accept such inspiration with gratitude. Interesting topic. Thanks for posting!
Hi, Heather. I’ve enjoyed all of your novels and it’s nice to know that you followed the signs. My only experience in that regard was with my current work-in-progress. I used to travel to a conference each year in Atlantic City and, during the four-hour drive, I had a lot of time to think. I envisioned a novel set in New Jersey that addressed political polarization, but on a human level. I was playing with the idea of triangles and there are three childhood friends with vastly different political views and there is also a love triangle. I’m having a lot of fun with it. I loved, Strangers in the Night, and I can’t wait for your next one.
Heather, I do believe the universe winks at us occasionally, and it’s great when we catch it.
I just read today’s post from George Saunders’ great Story Club Substack in which he says, “This little voice in my head said, “Aha! It’s OK to allow yourself, in certain periods, to overrule your dogma about working slowly and carefully and just accept the fruits of the subconscious – this is also a way of working. You can, in fact, work both ways – you can work in any way. Accept all ways – accept all gifts of the subconscious.”
Sounds like you and George should discuss this over a cocktail.
I am totally open to signs. I believe I receive them from my Mum and Dad whenever I ask for one, not necessarily connected to writing, but mostly confirmation that they are still there and helping me. I also have a vision board where everything on there has come to pass, and I crammed a lot onto that most recent board! Not always in quite the way I might envisage, but isn’t that true of all life? “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need.”
Whether we have a muse, or whether our subconscious is working behind the scenes to make things happen, I believe we are guided in some way if we just open ourselves up to the possibilities.
YES! I’ve been tinkering with a story idea outside my normal genre for the past few weeks. I’ve had quite a few signs that I’ve interpreted as go for it. Now this post :)
Great post! And yes, I agree absolutely about those signs from the universe. I am currently writing a novel whose protagonist has an unusual ability to communicate with animals – she’s less good at communicating with her fellow humans. While I was pondering how best to capture her voice, I had a truly strange experience when I came upon a trapped bird in a near-death situation and managed to free it successfully to the great relief of its flock. It was an amazing privilege to do this. I gained insights into my character’s thoughts and feelings, and I actually used the scenario as the opening scene of the book. ”On the way to work she saved a life.”