I was listening to an interview with Wayne Dyer, the well-known author of "new thought" self-help books and a regular staple on Public Television. Turns out that when Wayne writes a book, it starts by him first getting the title. After he "gets" a title, he asks his art staff to prepare a book cover. Then he takes the book cover, puts it on another book, and sets it in front of him. The new book, he says, just kind of "comes" to him after that. Almost writes itself.
If you believe that you create your own reality, that imagination produces results, that focusing on something will bring you what you want, that the Universe will fulfill all needs or wishes, that if you see something as being done, it will be done.....well, it makes a lot of sense. At least, Wayne Dyer believes that. And, interestingly enough, so do I!
I knew years and years ago that my first book would someday be called "Legs in the Attic." Friends still remind me that I used to say that years ago before I even wrote my first novel. And, I knew what I wanted on the cover well before the book actually got written. And, when the time came to actually write it, both the title and the cover made perfect sense! Likewise, I knew when I took the picture of the chipmunk in front of Mt. Rainier years and years ago, that that picture was special and would someday grace a book cover. And when the title "The Man Who Couldn't Dream" came to me for this second novel, the story still hadn't come. Again, the title and the cover were done well before the novel got written.
Unlike Wayne, I have no "art staff"--there is just me and cover creator software. And I don't put it on an old book and set it in front of me, I simply put it as the background on my computer's desktop. But the principle is still the same. If you see something as done, as completed--both in your mind and in front of you each day--with a little time and help from the Universe, it will actually become reality! That's the law of the Universe.
I know my third novel is only months away from being written and out there. How do I know that? Well, the title came to me in a rather extraordinary way several weeks back. It will definitely be called "Think of the Sunflower." And the cover design popped into my head very shortly after that. It currently stares at me daily from my desktop. And guess what? The plot line rambled into my thoughts very shortly after that! "Stuff" for the book is "coming" to me quite regularly now! I just need the time to sit down and put it all on paper.
And as Wayne Dyer and I both know: that's just how writing--and life--really works!
If you believe that you create your own reality, that imagination produces results, that focusing on something will bring you what you want, that the Universe will fulfill all needs or wishes, that if you see something as being done, it will be done.....well, it makes a lot of sense. At least, Wayne Dyer believes that. And, interestingly enough, so do I!
I knew years and years ago that my first book would someday be called "Legs in the Attic." Friends still remind me that I used to say that years ago before I even wrote my first novel. And, I knew what I wanted on the cover well before the book actually got written. And, when the time came to actually write it, both the title and the cover made perfect sense! Likewise, I knew when I took the picture of the chipmunk in front of Mt. Rainier years and years ago, that that picture was special and would someday grace a book cover. And when the title "The Man Who Couldn't Dream" came to me for this second novel, the story still hadn't come. Again, the title and the cover were done well before the novel got written.
Unlike Wayne, I have no "art staff"--there is just me and cover creator software. And I don't put it on an old book and set it in front of me, I simply put it as the background on my computer's desktop. But the principle is still the same. If you see something as done, as completed--both in your mind and in front of you each day--with a little time and help from the Universe, it will actually become reality! That's the law of the Universe.
I know my third novel is only months away from being written and out there. How do I know that? Well, the title came to me in a rather extraordinary way several weeks back. It will definitely be called "Think of the Sunflower." And the cover design popped into my head very shortly after that. It currently stares at me daily from my desktop. And guess what? The plot line rambled into my thoughts very shortly after that! "Stuff" for the book is "coming" to me quite regularly now! I just need the time to sit down and put it all on paper.
And as Wayne Dyer and I both know: that's just how writing--and life--really works!