On my walks around my hometown, I often think about whatever I’m writing. So it seems perfectly natural to me that I should attract not only ideas and fragments of phrases or poems, but also the means to set them down on paper, including pens and pencils, which I often find just waiting for me to rescue them.

Just as material stuff seems to expand to fill the space allotted to it, so it is with our writing life. The more mental space we devote to the pursuit of writing — the more we signal our commitment to writing to the universe through word and deed — the more ideas and relevant books and articles, and inspiring encounters we’ll begin to have.

Here’s an amazingly simple technique that my friend and mentor Rob Gilbert once suggested on his Success Hotline (973.743.4690): If you have the seed of an idea for a short story or play or novel that intrigues you, you can nurture it along by getting an everyday manila folder and carrying it around with you. Almost magically, you’ll find yourself attracting nuggets of information, glimmers of inspiration, snippets of conversation, and all manner of useful tidbits to stoke and sustain you. 

I’ve used this technique more than once and it’s always worked for me. Like many writers, I’m always awed and heartened by the way I seem to draw just what I need when I need it, or how some seemingly unrelated artistic endeavor supplies me with the missing link to a project I’m working on. These moments of synchronicity are not only to be cherished, but to be courted. So give your work the chance to thrive by focusing on it intently and you’ll be surprised at what you attract. Gifts frm the Universe are everywhere, just waiting for us. Write on!