Thoughts & Manifestings
Grateful for your love 🙏
I’d like to get a little vulnerable here for a moment, if I may. I don’t normally do this, but I could use your help on a between-the-lines level…
Last month I applied for a long-shot opportunity to change my life. Which gets my heart racing, even writing this euphemistic intro stringing it out for narrative tension. Yet at the same time, the very thought of sharing this with you sets off klaxons in the deepest ingrained security-system of my soul…
You see I grew up not exactly superstitious, but somewhat-to-ratherstitious about speaking aloud the future joys of something I want most fervently—lest it be whisked away by jealous fates (knock on wood). Masked of course, in the stoic (and logical) notion of not getting my hopes up high enough to be dashed.
But recently I learned about the concept of manifesting (or what used to be called prayer, before praying got all pious and political) and realized I better share this longtime fervent hope out loud, instead of letting it wither under a basket. So allow me to tap into the collective spirit here with you, and channel a little extra soul juice into my moonshot attempt to land 1 of 10 spots for 1500+ applicants.
I know the magic works, because looking back I’ve accidentally manifested plenty in my life—not all of it positive; and much tangential instead of runways to what I actually want. In this case though, my intention is clear, conscious, and tuned to my desired new future present (thanks to
’s workshop on the subject).
So here’s what I did, where I’d like your help…
Pursuant to my goal of going fulltime fiction by 40 (next October), I applied for a coveted fiction fellowship at Stanford—which offers emerging novelists 2 years of full financial (and community) support to work on promising projects.
So now you know. Now you’re a co-conspirator. Accomplice to me bending the universe around my ardent intent to deliver good fiction full-time, for readers to devour and delight in.
Manifest with me:
Picture the day I get my Stegner Fellowship acceptance—doublechecking to make sure it’s real—as my vagus line erupts with electricity, anticipation sizzling through and out my fingertips and toes. Heart pounding into the breach, surging hot iron excitement through my veins and muscles and mind. Ready to bound over the nearest wall or smash through the stubbornest blinking cursor. Feeling invincible against the slings & arrows of doubt and time-sucking work commitments, pummeling headlong into this new deep focus and dream career…
Rise with me each morning smelling the Bay again, giggling with gratitude that my whole workweek is now devoted to getting my 2 promising novel projects off the ground and worthy of readers (see below).
Can you picture it…? I can; my scalp is tingling. Join me if you will, in observing that multiverse bubble hard enough to phase-shift our reality into that version of events.
Fellowship starts next fall and I’ll find out April 1st (yeah…)—so if you think of it between now and then, put in a good word for me with your preferred spiritual source, higher power, and/or classic god of any mythology.
And envision me opening that envelope/email/phonecall in the spring and telling you it worked, we did it—that I’m a 2026 Stegner Fellow, embarking on a long career making a good living writing powerful novels for smart readers like you! 🙏
Want more juicy details? Here’s my entertaining & revealing Stegner Statement of Plans w/ novel blurbs (full subscribers only; consider it a coin in the fountain 🤓)