Quick story:
Years ago, I went on a writing retreat in Rhode Island. I knew one person (my friend Becky).
The retreat leader, Suzanne Kingsbury, explained the method we would be using: We’d write together, then read what we wrote out loud. And then we’d give feedback on what we liked about what we heard.
Ok.
Is that it? When do we get to the part where you tell me how to improve, though? How is telling me good things going to make me better? I was dubious.
Suzanne (ebullient, piles of black hair, dangly earrings, more exotic bird than human) said to me, Let’s go for a walk.
We walked along the water and she asked me what I wanted to write.
I said, “I’d love to write a book,” and then quickly denounced my own efforts and explained why it couldn’t possibly happen.
She smiled (she knew my type).
Then: She told me about what she’d heard in my own writing, what she loved, and how if I wanted to write a book, I could.
I wrote my butt off that weekend, in ways I never have, about things I never had. I left a different person than when I arrived. I didn’t miss a retreat after that.
A few years later, I became certified as a Gateless instructor. I not only was writing tons of stuff, but now helping other people use the method to create what they most wanted. I even started using it in my brand consulting, and it elevated that work.
Most importantly, I kept writing.
And just a few weeks ago, I sold that book.
It’s tentatively titled Stop Searching for Your Passion, due out from Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books in spring 2022.
I can’t quite believe it myself.
I wanted you to be among the first to know.
I could not and would not have done it without the Gateless Method. Which is why I believe it’s worth experiencing first hand—whether you write or not. Even if a book is the furthest thing from your mind (but especially if it’s not).