Finding gems with fellow writers…
I found a blue stone! Unexpected treasures on the trail.
I wandered a new trail with writer-friend Rebekah Manley last week. We walked through crowded juniper trees, open meadows, and along an overpass with an intense canopy of green at our feet. We spotted a rosy-red house finch, a few hummingbirds, and a couple fellow hikers making the most of the morning cool. This path was new to me—Bex was showing the way, so I wandered with wide eyes and a full heart.
Isn’t it lovely to have a guide?
Bex led me through a dense juniper grove into a sacred space decorated with ribbons and chimes by folks in the neighborhood. It was a place for making wishes, for stating desires, for saying true things.
Bex and I love to set intentions together. We also love to talk about intention-setting itself—how it’s been prettily packaged and commercialized and made into something for us to buy.
But when I set intentions with her, I feel that 1) I can do anything, and 2) I don’t have to do a damn thing. This walk was a little like that. Wow, I can do anything. I don’t have to do anything. WHOA, there’s a blue stone!
I thought about the way we uncover beautiful things when we aren’t looking for them, how a walk in the woods can illuminate the truth. It’s like by not trying at all, we crack the code, see the light, hear the answer. But here’s the thing—it’s really not for lack of trying. Showing up in creative community takes effort. It takes energy to make plans, park the car, walk a trail in July. It is cultivating community—writerly partnership, artistic allies, supportive peers—that makes for these seemingly random discoveries. It’s because we’ve shown up. It’s because we’ve done the work.
That blue stone is not a stone at all. It’s a seed, one I’ve planted in community and found growing in a wild, quiet place. I would not have found it on my own.
What if for this next creative season, we claimed community as our greatest resource? What if we aimed to wander, allowing community to guide us in unexpected ways? What might we discover together?
Pausing in a sacred space. Photo by trail guide and writer friend Rebekah Manley.
Guided Writing: Planting Your Blue Stone
Quick recommendation: Do this once for yourself and then once again for your character. Swap with a trusted artist-friend to help set intentions with gentleness and generosity.
Observe yourself desiring something in the creative life—it could be a completed project, acceptance to an artist residency, an award for a literary submission. Option Two: Observe your character desiring something for themselves.
Take a few moments to imagine either of these visuals. What do you see about yourself or your character in this moment of wanting/waiting/desiring? What does it look like to want something? Write for six minutes.
Now imagine that you or your character plants this desire in the earth. Describe the physical makeup of this thing—what does it look like? Is it a blue, sparkly, polished stone? A coil of rainbow ribbons? Talk to the page about the process of finding a home in the earth for this seed. And consider this: Who is with you when you plant? Who is there with you (or your character) as you gently plant this seed? Write for eight minutes.
Now imagine returning to this spot of earth after some time away—could be hours, days, months, whatever you choose (or what feels right for your character). What has sprouted? How is it wildly different from the seed itself? Write for eight minutes.
Take a few minutes to reflect. How did this guided writing make you feel? Write for a few minutes, or as long as you like.
Finally, one last breath. Sit for a moment with these imaginings/discoveries and the way you feel. Thank yourself again for taking this time. Thank yourself for returning to the page and planting seeds. Thank your mind and all its storytelling layers.
Want Tarot-inspired writing prompts? Subscribe to The Fool & the Page or follow @foolandthepage on Instagram for regular updates.