born of intuition, sculpted by revision, fulfilled in the reader’s imagination

Friends,

Today, I’m zooming out from the close‑up work of craft and word choice to the wide‑angle sweep of the writing process: discovery, shaping, sharing.

Authorship Is Conversation

Listening

Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way. —Ray Bradbury.

Every individual has a creative source that lives deeper than the ego: intuition.

Intuition is the conversation within—the part of you that knows before you know.

Your work is to listen.

We translate intuition through individual creativity no matter our profession, whether through words, paints, music, cuisine. If we listen carefully, our intuition will shape how we teach, create code, garden, build a legal debate…

Intuition is less a resource to be mined and more a relationship to be tended.

For storytellers this means quieting the mind, creating space for the voice of intuition to emerge: Listen without interrogation, allowing whatever phrasing arrives, even if it feels strange or incomplete.

As an author, I’ve felt the energy surge when connected to intuition, when I’m “in the zone.” The energy flowing through my pen is palpable when I turn off my brain and let words wander at will.

Turn off the ego. Let words flow without restraint, without editing.

Wait, you say, how could an editor not edit her own work?

Discovery

I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in. —Robert Louis Stevenson

Something—a character or a passionate thought—seeks to be heard through you. Listen to the voice and fill your notebook, computer page, or voice to text page with abandon.

Let the words flow, let everything that needs to be said flow until the energy wanes.

Then set it aside.

After you let that sit for a couple of days (or weeks), and the love glow that comes with a newly discovered work settles, look objectively at your work.

Then talk with your inner editor.

Dialogue

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. ―Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Airman’s Odyssey

Revision is deliberate shaping of what intuition has entrusted to you.

Intuition and inner editor have a heart to heart. All the beautiful ramblings and awareness and avenues of exploration and description so necessary for world building now need to be trimmed and polished for the third party—your readers.

Everything your writing session gives you is important for you the author. Nothing is wasted if it helps you build a better story. But readers don’t have patience for ramblings.

The inner editor is the ambassador who negotiates with intuition to fine tune words into something that will reach readers with a compelling clarity and precision so they not only engage with your character or idea but will ask for more.

Trialogue

I think books are like people, in the sense that they’ll turn up in your life when you most need them. —Emma Thompson

The reader becomes the cocreator, the one who walks the path you mapped and may even discover vistas you didn’t know were there.

Everyone in the trialogue is vital.

If you fret over word choice or commas in your creating session, you’ll suffocate the voice of intuition before she’s finished.

If you ignore word choice and punctuation while your inner editor is at work, your work will ramble, and readers will put your work aside before they’ve understood your message.

If you don’t have readers, how will your message settle into the world?

Maybe you’re writing simply for yourself: inner exploration. Dialogue between heart and brain is also important. For this, no editor or audience is needed. Maybe one day that inner dialogue will want to engage in a trilogue.

Each member of the trialogue must have ample time and place.

Listen to the voice of intuition when you’re in the zone; turn off the editor and audience until she finishes.

Engage your inner editor to polish and tune into your readers, but not so much that you edit all the life out of the original voice.

Read what others are writing.

Balance. Listen. Blend and balance voice with style and rules.

Practice. Perfection is not the goal.

Strength and beauty and evocation are the goals.

Touch your readers so your message is heard.

Who knows what this world can become if we listen with curious attention to our intuition, shape our message with mindful intention, and spend more time being present with each other with respect and dignity.

Curious attention. Mindful intention. Respectful engagement.

A powerful trialogue.

May your writing adventure be a bountiful trialogue, exploring and navigating this chaotic yet beautiful world.

Revisions & Revelations will step back for a moment during the holiday swirl, then return with a six‑part series on removing the veils of vagueness to reveal clear, crisp storytelling.

Until next time, make practice fun and maintain a mindful eye with great patience.

Always with patience!