When was the last time you listened to this? I need it again this week. Share a gif or description of your creative genius spirit... Can you relate or describe an example... of this? RUN LIKE HELL... Talk like the empty corner. Talk to the sky.

This morning, while making my morning rounds in the garden, I found kale leaves full of holes. The culprits? Tiny cabbage worms no bigger than my fingernail. Left alone for another day or two, they could have stripped the plants bare. While I plucked every last one off, I couldn't help thinking about the manuscript I'm currently editing.(Gardening and writing have more in common than most people realize.) Healthy gardens begin with rich soil, strong seeds, and consistent care. The same is true for books. The soil is you. Your experiences, your curiosity, your willingness to keep learning. The seeds are your ideas, the stories that want to grow into something wonderful but need time, nurture, and the patience of Job. And the growing conditions are the countless decisions that determine whether your story merely survives or truly flourishes. Ideas alone aren't enough. A manuscript needs attention. It needs watering, pruning, and protecting. It needs someone willing to notice the small things before they create big problems. Later this morning, I opened the manuscript on my desk and found a few "cabbage worms." Not glaring flaws, but small holes that, left unattended, would quietly diminish the reader's experience. Because that's the deal with writing. Small details separate an okay book from one readers can't put down. Every manuscript needs something different. Some need pruning. Some need encouragement. Some need structure. Some simply need someone willing to walk through each page asking, "How can this be even better?" It's tedious, exhausting work. But I've never had an author tell me they regretted putting in the extra care. If you're somewhere in the middle of writing your book today, keep tending to it. Day after day, you'll see the hard work and patience pay off. Your readers will be grateful you hung in there until your idea grew into a beautiful, beneficial gift to the world. 🌿

So it is only Wednesday, and it has already been the best week. In the spirit of the DONE LIST (measuring what you HAVE DONE, not what you still have to do... or SHOULD have done), I am practicing what I preach. I see why it works ... again. \ ✅ 2 days into my 30-day The Miracle Morning challenge. Thanks, Hal Elrod, I am loving the book. ✅ I shared a secret I am brewing with my friend Rose Conway. I picked her brain about literary agents, etc., and as we are known to do, we talked books ... a lot. ✅ Thanks to author, friend and co-conspirator Stephanie Mikulasek for a super supportive conversation this week. I needed that. ✅Getting to talk to 5x NYT Bestselling ghostwriter David Jahr, APR, every month has been a fun new development. ✅ Today I finally get to talk with Jennifer Wilkov after months of watching her in the publishing circles I run in. Looking forward to it. ✅ One of our authors, Dr. Selen Turner, is making significant progress and has had some book breakthroughs this week. That is always fun. ✅ I am getting ready to fly to Boston for the BookThinkers conference, where I will connect with Steve Sarner (former VP GoodReads) , Jenn T. Grace (publisher) and see Anjanette “AJ” Harper (rereading her book on the plane), Jim Kwik and many others... I am starting to get excited. Looking forward to meeting Nick Hutchison in person. ✅ I will be meeting up with a cluster of Skoolers at Cheers for shenanigans.