Three Magic Words*

Lucy sat in the dark morning quiet, only the hum of the space heater filling the room… the hum AND the buzzing in her brain. She needed three magic words. Pop! Ping! Zow! Not exactly. More like… Sleep. Write. Yoga. 

She’d already failed at sleep. That’s why she was writing at 4 o’clock in the morning.

Write… In these moments, it felt more like drudgery than magic.

Yoga… she wanted that word to disappear. Her subconscious seemed to be waking her up (i.e. making her lose sleep), so she wouldn’t have to go at all. Fascinating! 

What if there were three more words?

Agent. Ease. Published… oh, those felt better.

She’d written the book—her novel. It was 95% ready to go… maybe even 99% if you counted all the hours she’d already invested.

Agent. Poof! Could it be that easy? She would write the Universe today and let Her know she was ready.

Ease. Now that was an essence worth following.

So…Yoga felt clunky. Sleep proved elusive, but Writing was beginning to feel like freedom. She’d keep that one, too!

And Published?… well, that was a dream, not a magic word.

What did that leave?

Write? Yes. Ease? Yes. Trust? Sigh… It all came down to trust.

When/if writing felt clunky (because she always came back to writing), then what? She knew there was still magic in listening to the writing.

Ease didn’t necessarily mean easy… that’s what made it magic.

And, Trust? She needed to trust the writing. Trust that ease was truth. Trust she knew her heart was true at least 95% of the time… maybe even 99%.

The magic was in there somewhere!

What are your three magic words?

* “Write a scene that involves three magic words. Write for at least 10 minutes. Write by hand, in your notebook.” Sarah Selecky