Hello Reader,

As someone who works with writers for a living, I'm constantly on the look-out for stories. And if I can't uncover the actual story, well, I make one up. I dream about things like the mystery of the elderly lady down the street from me who puts fully dressed mannequins on her front porch, changing out their poses and outfits seasonally. Or the magic of the barred owl who brings her babies to meet us each summer. Or the secret inner world of the man in our neighborhood who dons 1980s-era workout clothes to powerwalk the neighborhood each day, his fists punching the air as he goes.

Sometimes, I'm not just a spectator, merely watching the story unfold. That's my favorite part, really. I mentioned earlier that I got to spend a few days in Santa Barbara with some of my book coaching colleagues in November. But I didn't tell you about the best part of the whole event--a tarot card reading from my friend and Magickal Bard extraordinaire Margaret McNellis.

I've been struggling for some time with the long waits, the excruciating near-misses, and the common advice to stick to a single genre/age-category as you build a writing career. So I sat down at the table with Margaret hoping for some clarity on what to do. I thought the cards would either tell me to stick with the two MG anthologies that are out on submission to Big Five editors right now. Or to focus instead on my YA fantasy novel-in-verse, which is currently struggling to find a home. Or to bag it all and focus on this ambitious new historical fantasy that's distracting me with its multiple POVs and timelines. A tiny voice in the back of my mind even suggested that perhaps the cards would tell me to stick with coaching and forget the writing altogether (she says that a lot and I'm getting better and better at telling her to pipe down).

I didn't say any of this out loud. So shivers raced up my spine when Margeret turned over the Empress. I won't deep dive into my reading here, but suffice it to say the Empress is a power card and one that, in the context of the rest of the reading, told me loud and clear it is OK to be a rebel and break the rules, to buck conventions and forge my own path. That I have the power to make things happen despite the unique challenges the publishing world keeps throwing my way. And that was exactly what I needed to hear.

We close our eyes to these signs all the time. And sure, maybe they're our subconscious guiding us, but that's worth noting too. Because the body knows what the mind is afraid to imagine. Intuition is there, just waiting for us to get curious and start to tell ourselves a story that makes meaning from seemingly unrelated details.

So I challenge you to look for signs as you go through this next week. Is there a recurring theme that keeps showing up in your inbox, your news feed, your podcast episodes, the songs on the radio? Tell yourself a story about what you see. Find the magic, the power, the energy, seize it and make it your own.

Finding Your Archetype

Still don't believe me about all those signs? I get it. It's pretty woo (but if you're new here, you'll soon discover that one of my paradoxes is a mix of craft deep-dives and extreme woo).

Well, read-on, ye of little faith!

I met someone the week after the tarot card reading who works in women's empowerment. And since that's my jam, we started talking about how we could collaborate. She sent me a link to a quiz she thought my readers would like, that was all about love and self-care. And I do think you'd love it. But the link I clicked was about finding my Archetypal Super-Power. Because I may be woo, but I'm also a scientist at heart, and I wanted to collect an additional datapoint to either confirm or deny my interpretation of Margaret's reading.

Friends, I got the Queen. The description of which included the ability to envision the future and get others to see it too. And that's when I decided I'd better write about all this in my newsletter.

Bonus (if woo's not your thing)...

Just before Thanksgiving, I was over on Jane Friedman's blog talking about one of my favorite novel planning tools: the messy longform synopsis. In it, I not only walked you through my step-by-step process for creating said synopsis, but offered a bonus tool called the Tent Pole Scenes Outline that helps impose a little pantser-friendly structure on your story planning.

If you've already got the Tent Pole Scenes Outline, check out "Ready, Set, DRAFT!" a downloadable full of execises I use to help my clients get unstuck.

Hope you find these tips and tools helpful as you write your story! If you do, would you mind telling a friend about Wyrd Words Weekly? Word of mouth makes all the difference for small businesses like mine.

Many thanks,

Julie